#6 Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time

2025 Album Rank

6

2011 Album Rank

6

Total Points

2711

Year Released

1966

Billboard 200 Chart Peak

10

Weeks at #1

N/A

RIAA Sales Certification

1,000,000 (Platinum)

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Pet Sounds Album Details

Released in May 1966, Pet Sounds is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and emotionally profound albums in the history of popular music. Created under the visionary leadership of Brian Wilson, the album marked a dramatic departure from The Beach Boys' earlier surf rock sound. With introspective lyrics, complex harmonies, and elaborate orchestral arrangements, Pet Sounds explored themes of longing, disillusionment, and spiritual yearning, setting a new standard for what pop music could achieve artistically.

Songs like Wouldn't It Be Nice, God Only Knows, and Caroline, No combined innocence and melancholy in a way that resonated deeply with listeners. Brian Wilson utilized unconventional instruments including bicycle bells, Theremins, Coca-Cola cans, and dog whistles, alongside the talents of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Though it was initially met with modest commercial success in the U.S., Pet Sounds went on to influence countless artists and is now considered a landmark of pop sophistication.

Interesting Facts About Pet Sounds

• Brian Wilson wrote and produced the majority of Pet Sounds while the rest of the band was touring Japan, enlisting lyricist Tony Asher to help craft the album's deeply personal themes.
• God Only Knows was one of the first major pop songs to use the word "God" in its title, which initially concerned the label, but it has since been hailed as one of the greatest love songs ever written.
• Paul McCartney has called the song God Only Knows his all time favorite song.
• The album was a direct response to The Beatles' Rubber Soul; in turn, Pet Sounds inspired Paul McCartney during the making of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
• Though not a huge seller at the time in the U.S., Pet Sounds was far more successful in the U.K., where it reached No. 2 on the charts and received widespread critical acclaim.
• Caroline, No, released as a Brian Wilson solo single, closes the album with the sound of a passing train and his dogs barking, an elegiac touch meant to evoke the passage of time and lost innocence. Brian is the only band member to appear on the song.
• The instrumental track Let's Go Away for Awhile was originally intended to have lyrics but was left as an orchestral piece because Wilson believed it was "too beautiful" to be sung over.
• Wilson used the Wrecking Crew, a group of elite Los Angeles session musicians, to bring his ambitious arrangements to life, many of whom also worked on Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" productions.
• Mike Love was reportedly skeptical of the album's departure from the band's earlier sound, leading to tensions that foreshadowed future rifts within the group.
• Despite his hearing loss in one ear, Wilson conducted and arranged all the instrumental sessions himself, carefully layering tracks using pioneering multi-track techniques.
• The instrumental song Pet Sounds was originally titled Run James Run and was intended by Brian to be used as a theme in a James Bond movie.
• Sloop John B is a cover version of The John B. Sails, a folk song that first appeared in the 1917 novel by Richard Le Gallienne called Pieces of Eight. The Beach Boys version has some minor lyric changes. It was also a top 100 hit for Jimmie Rodgers in 1960 with the title The Wreck of the John B.
• The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 for its cultural and historical significance.

Pet Sounds Tracklist

1. Wouldn't It Be Nice - Reached #8 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
2. You Still Believe in Me
3. That's Not Me
4. Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
5. I'm Waiting for the Day
6. Let's Go Away for Awhile
7. Sloop John B - Reached #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
8. God Only Knows - Reached #39 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
9. I Know There's an Answer
10. Here Today
11. I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
12. Pet Sounds
13. Caroline, No - Reached #32 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart

• Next Album: #5. Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
• Previous Album: #7. Waht's Going On by Marvin Gaye