Pet Sounds#Reissues and expanded editions

File:The Beach Boys Convention Hall 1965.jpg, Al Jardine, Brian and Dennis Wilson, and Mike Love]]

The Beach Boys' sixth album, All Summer Long (July 1964), concluded their beach-themed period, after which their music shifted toward an increasingly divergent stylistic and lyrical direction.{{sfn|Bogdanov|Woodstra|Erlewine|2002|pp=72–73}} In January 1965, 22-year-old Brian Wilson, leader of the band, declared his withdrawal from touring to concentrate on songwriting and studio production.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=63–64}}{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=59}} The rest of the group—Brian's brothers Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine—continued touring without him; session musician Glen Campbell initially filled his role, followed by Bruce Johnston, who, alongside Terry Melcher, had been a Columbia Records staff producer and member of the Ripchords and Bruce & Terry.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=89}}

Through 1965, Wilson showcased great advances in his musical development with the albums The Beach Boys Today! and Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!).{{sfn|Schinder|2007|pp=111–112}}{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=59–61, 66–67}} Released in March, Today! departed from the group's earlier sound through orchestral arrangements, introspective themes, and a move away from surfing, car, and simplistic love motifs.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=60–61}} Its lyrics adopted an autobiographical tone, portraying narrators as vulnerable, neurotic, and insecure,{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=13}} while the second half of the record contained five songs with a unified theme.{{cite magazine |last1=Guriel |first1=Jason |title=How Pet Sounds Invented the Modern Pop Album |magazine=The Atlantic |date=May 16, 2016 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/how-pet-sounds-invented-the-modern-pop-album/482940/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520165843/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/how-pet-sounds-invented-the-modern-pop-album/482940/ |archive-date=May 20, 2022}} Summer Days, issued three months later, bridged Wilson's progressive style with the band's pre-1965 approach.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=65}}

On July 12, Wilson began recording "Sloop John B" but temporarily shelved the track to focus on Beach Boys' Party!, an informal studio album created to meet Capitol Records' demand for a Christmas release.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|pp=66–67}} That October, he and his wife, 17-year-old Marilyn Rovell, moved from West Hollywood to a home on Laurel Way in Beverly Hills,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=101}} where he later stated he spent subsequent months contemplating "the new direction of the group".{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=72–73}} Between October and December, he refined "Sloop John B" and recorded six new compositions, including "The Little Girl I Once Knew", which was released as a single in November.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=101–105}} In December, Capitol issued "Barbara Ann" from Party! as a single without consulting the band; Wilson publicly dismissed it as unrepresentative of their upcoming work.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=105}} From January 7 to 29, 1966, the bandmates toured Japan and Hawaii.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=108, 111}}

File:At the pet sounds studio 1966.jpg

In 1965, Wilson met Tony Asher, a 26-year-old lyricist and advertising jingle writer, at a Los Angeles recording studio.{{refn|group=nb|1965 is the date given by most sources. Others state that Wilson had met Asher during a social gathering at Schwartz's house. Carlin dates the initial meeting between Asher and Wilson to early 1963.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=188}} }} After exchanging song ideas, Wilson learned of Asher's abilities through mutual acquaintance Loren Schwartz.{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Interview with Tony Asher |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Tony_Asher_Interview.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427192653/http://albumlinernotes.com/Tony_Asher_Interview.html |archive-date=April 27, 2022 |url-status=live}} That December, Wilson proposed a lyric collaboration to Asher, seeking a new creative partnership "completely different" from his prior work.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=76}}{{refn|group=nb|December 1965 is the date given by Carlin.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=76}} Asher recalled that Wilson called him when the rest of the band were out of the country.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=77}}}} Asher accepted, and their writing sessions began within ten days, starting with "You Still Believe in Me".

Wilson and Asher collaborated over a two-to-three week period in early 1966, likely January through February, writing at Wilson's home.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=81}}{{refn|group=nb|This is Charles Granata's rough estimation. As of 2003, most of the documentation that could have provided a more definitive chronology of the album's writing had been lost.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=81}} Carlin dates the start of the writing sessions to December 1965.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=81}} In 2009, Wilson himself recalled that he may have been writing with Asher as early as November 1965.}} Sessions typically started with Wilson introducing musical fragments—such as chord patterns or melodic ideas he had developed over time—discussing records for their distinctive feel, or proposing a lyrical theme. Their preliminary sketches, which they referred to as "feels",{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=84}} were developed with occasional marijuana use.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=91}}{{refn|group=nb|Wilson's writing process, as he described in 1966, started with finding a basic chord pattern and rhythm that he termed "feels", or "brief note sequences, fragments of ideas". He explained, "once they're out of my head and into the open air, I can see them and touch them firmly. They're not 'feels' anymore."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=73}}}} Lyrics were typically completed prior to recording sessions, which often commenced immediately after composition,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=81}} though studio booking times were never planned in advance.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=93}}

{{quote box|align=left|width=25%|quote=

It felt like we were writing an autobiography, but oddly enough, I wouldn't limit it to Brian's autobiography [...] We were working in a somewhat intimate relationship, and I didn't know him at all, so he was finding out who I was, and I was finding out who he was.

|source=—Tony Asher}}

Asher maintained that his primary role was to provide feedback on Wilson's developing melodies and chord progressions, though they exchanged ideas throughout the process. Regarding their lyrical collaboration, he explained, "The general tenor of the lyrics was always his [...] and the actual choice of words was usually mine. I was really just his interpreter."{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=16}} Asher later cited significant musical contributions to "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", "Caroline, No", and "That's Not Me"{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=145}} and claimed conceptual input on three songs.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=88}} He agreed to receive 25% of publishing royalties, a share he considered disproportionate to his contributions.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=79}}

In Marilyn's recollection, Brian worked on Pet Sounds virtually nonstop, and that when he was home, "he was either at the piano, arranging, or eating."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=75}} Asher recalled, "I wish I could say Brian was totally committed [to writing the songs]. Let's say he was{{nbsp}}... um, very concerned."{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=19}} After their songs were completed, Asher observed a few recording sessions, mostly those involving string overdubs.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=114}}

Wilson collaborated on two additional tracks. "I Know There's an Answer", written before working with Asher, was co-written with Beach Boys road manager Terry Sachen.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=114}} In 1994, Mike Love received retroactive co-writing credits for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "I Know There's an Answer",{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|pp=22, 25}} though his contributions—aside from "I'm Waiting for the Day"—are generally regarded as minimal.{{cite web |last=Elliott |first=Brad |date=August 31, 1999 |title=Pet Sounds Track Notes |url=http://www.bradelliott.com/writings/ps2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124175327/http://www.bradelliott.com/writings/ps2.html |archive-date=January 24, 2009 |access-date=March 3, 2009 |publisher=beachboysfanclub.com}} The remaining two instrumental tracks, "Let's Go Away for Awhile" and "Pet Sounds", were composed by Wilson alone. They were originally recorded as backing tracks for existing songs, but by the time the album neared completion, he decided that the tracks were more effective without vocals.{{cite magazine |date=May 21, 1966 |title=Brian Pop Genius! |url=http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd420/kwan_dk/MMMay211966.jpg |url-status=live |magazine=Melody Maker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224133015/http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd420/kwan_dk/MMMay211966.jpg |archive-date=February 24, 2021}}

Commentators frequently cite Pet Sounds as a concept album, with some considering it the first such work in rock music.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=249}}{{refn|group=nb|Author Carys Wyn Jones attributes this characterization to the record's "uniform excellence" rather than an explicit narrative or musical motif,{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=44}} while Lambert acknowledges the album's "unifying threads of melodic figures and harmonic devices".{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=250}} }} Wilson had sought to create "a complete statement" with Pet Sounds, inspired by the Beatles' Rubber Soul, released in December 1965.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=44}} The American edition of Rubber Soul, reconfigured by Capitol to emphasize a cohesive folk rock sound,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=72}} struck Wilson as a unified work free of filler tracks—uncommon at a time when albums primarily served to promote singles.{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p=80}}{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=114}}{{refn|group=nb|The absence of a single on the North American release further reinforced its identity as an artistic whole.}} Contrasting the Beach Boys' earlier albums, which sometimes included lighter material,{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p=80}} Wilson viewed Rubber Soul as a challenge to elevate his approach,{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=114}} declaring to his wife, "I'm gonna make the greatest album! The greatest rock album ever made!"{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=75}}

File:Phil Spector with MFQ 1965.png (center) at Gold Star Studios, where he developed his Wall of Sound method (1965)]]

Carl highlighted his brother's greater admiration for Phil Spector over the Beatles, with Brian frequently crediting Spector's methods as foundational to his own production style.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=120–121}}{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=225}} Brian identified Pet Sounds as an "interpretation" of Spector's Wall of Sound formula,{{cite web |title=INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN WILSON OF THE BEACH BOYS IN EARLY 1980'S |publisher=Global Image Works |url=http://www.globalimageworks.com/clip-brian-wilson-interview-beach-boys-1874_023?id=45092 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726074318/http://www.globalimageworks.com/clip-brian-wilson-interview-beach-boys-1874_023?id=45092 |archive-date=July 26, 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 18, 2014}} with the production informing the album's intended "concept".{{sfn|Tunbridge|2010|pp=173–174}} He stated: {{blockquote|If you take the Pet Sounds album as a collection of art pieces, each designed to stand alone, yet which belong together, you'll see what I was aiming at. [...] It wasn't really a song concept album, or lyrically a concept album; it was really a production concept album.{{sfn|Tunbridge|2010|pp=173–174}}}}

Musicologist Michael Zager contrasted Pet Sounds with Rubber Soul, writing that the former more closely aligns with Spector's Wall of Sound through its incorporation of the technique's hallmarks.{{sfn|Zager|2012|p=218}} Wilson said that he was especially fascinated with combining color tones to create new textures, aiming to emulate those aspects of Spector's productions.{{sfn|Moorefield|2010|pp=16–17}} In a 1988 interview, he framed the Beach Boys via Pet Sounds as "messengers" of Spector's work, stating his goal was to expand upon Spector's innovations.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=225}}

Wilson later credited Rubber Soul as his "main motivator" for Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Cunningham|1998|p=76}}{{refn|group=nb| Asher recalled Wilson playing him the album and declaring a desire to surpass it,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=104}} while Johnston remembered Wilson praising its thematic cohesion after a Christmas 1965 listening session.{{cite web |title=Exclusive – Bruce Johnston on the Making of Pet Sounds |url=http://www.udiscovermusic.com/exclusive-bruce-johnston-on-the-making-of-pet-sounds |website=uDiscover Music |date=May 16, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620124210/https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/exclusive-bruce-johnston-on-the-making-of-pet-sounds/ |archive-date=June 20, 2021}} In a 2002 foreword for Mojo, Wilson wrote that although he had already begun working on some of the songs, the urge to express his feelings after hearing Rubber Soul led to his decision to seek out a new lyricist.{{sfn|Wilson|2002 |pp=4–5}} Conversely, he told David Leaf in 1996 that he believed he was introduced to the LP by Asher. In 2009, he said he wrote "God Only Knows" with Asher the morning after listening to the album for the first time.}} He explained that while inspired to create music "on the same level" as Rubber Soul, he was not interested in replicating the Beatles' sound.{{cite web|last1=Himes|first1=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Himes|title=Surf Music |work=Rock and Roll: An American History |publisher=teachrock.org |url=http://teachrock.org/media/essays/surf_himes_with_maia_edits_2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125223127/http://teachrock.org/media/essays/surf_himes_with_maia_edits_2.pdf |archive-date=November 25, 2015 |url-status=dead}} In 2009, Wilson said that although "Rubber Soul didn't clarify my ideas for Pet Sounds", the Beatles' use of sitar had inspired his choice of instrumentation for the album.{{cite news |last=Carlin|first=Peter Ames |author-link=Peter Ames Carlin |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/beatles/article6818698.ece |work=The Times Online |date=September 12, 2009 |title=Brian Wilson on the Beatles' Rubber Soul}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In a 1966 interview, he contrasted their approaches, suggesting his arrangements would have expanded tracks like "Norwegian Wood" with orchestration, "background voices", and "a thousand [other] things".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=72}}

File:Rodgers and Hammerstein and Berlin and Tamiris NYWTS.jpg's songwriting craftmanship (pictured in 1948; Rodgers and Hammerstein with Irving Berlin)]]

Asher disputed the notion that he and Wilson had followed templates set by the Beatles or rock in general, recalling Wilson aimed to craft "classical American love songs" akin to Cole Porter or Rodgers and Hammerstein.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=77}} During their collaboration, they exchanged musical influences, with Asher introducing Wilson to jazz recordings, being promptly "blown away" by records such as Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" (1932) and Hampton Hawes' "All the Things You Are" (1955).{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=139}}{{refn|group=nb|Asher also shared standards like "Stella by Starlight", believing their harmonic complexity would appeal to Wilson's interest in unconventional progressions, such as those in "The Warmth of the Sun" (1964).{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=138–139}}}} Asher remembered Wilson's limited familiarity with Tin Pan Alley songs and orchestral jazz structures: "He didn't know much about jazz or jazz standards, but he knew the Four Freshmen."{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=138–139}} Drawing from his own studio experience, Asher advocated for incorporating classical instruments like violins, cellos, and bass flutes into the arrangements.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=93}}

In 1966, Wilson likened his work to that of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David songwriting team.{{sfn|Priore|2005|p=64}} Nelson Riddle's orchestral arrangements also influenced Wilson's approach,{{sfn|Toop|1999 |p=134}} and biographer Jon Stebbins felt Riddle's impact was more pronounced than Spector's on the album.{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|pp=74–75}}{{refn|group=nb|Musician Jim Irvin agreed that the "dense, lush arrangements" were indebted "at least as much to Nelson Riddle" as they were to Spector's arranger, Jack Nitzsche.{{sfn|Irvin|2007|p=64}}}} Reflecting in 1996, Wilson characterized his collaboration with Asher as operating on a "little wavelength", emphasizing artistic integrity over competition with contemporaries like Spector or Motown: "It was [...] to do it the way you really want it to be."{{refn|group=nb|In a March 1966 interview, Wilson acknowledged contemporary music trends' influence on his work, though Marilyn later stated he was singularly focused on creating "the greatest rock album ever", unconcerned with industry developments.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=70}} }}

{{quote box

| align =

| width = 25%

| quote = I got into marijuana and it opened some doors for me and I got a little more committed to [...] the making of music for people on a spiritual level. | source = —Brian Wilson, 1994{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=102}}

}}

During his first LSD trip in April 1965, Wilson had what he considered to be "a very religious experience" and claimed to have perceived God.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=87, 136}} Spirituality subsequently formed a core inspiration for the album.{{cite web |last1=Beets |first1=Greg |title=Pet Sounds Fifteen Minutes With Brian Wilson |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2000-07-21/77984/ |website=Austin Chronicle |date=July 21, 2000}} He frequently emphasized the album's spiritual qualities in interviews,{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=244}} later explaining that he and his brother Carl conducted prayer sessions, aimed at global healing,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=102}} that transformed the studio atmosphere into "a religious ceremony."{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=244}} During these sessions, Carl proposed "a special album" following their spiritual practices.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=102}} Brian explained in 1994, "We prayed for an album that would be a rival to Rubber Soul. It was like a prayer, but there was some ego there."{{cite AV media notes|title=Brian Wilson: I Just Wasn't Made for These Times|year=1995|last=Was|first=Don|author-link=Don Was|type=Documentary film}}

Pet Sounds contrasted with the group's earlier celebrations of adolescence, exemplified through lyrics wishing to be older rather than younger ("Wouldn't It Be Nice").{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=234}}{{cite web |last1=Rogovoy |first1=Seth |title='Pet Sounds' On The Road: Revisiting The Sad Genius Of Brian Wilson |url=http://www.wbur.org/artery/2016/06/14/pet-sounds-brian-wilson |publisher=WBUR |date=June 14, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521163247/https://www.wbur.org/news/2016/06/14/pet-sounds-brian-wilson |archive-date=May 21, 2022}} Asher stated that Wilson sought to create songs relatable to adolescents: "Even though he was dealing in the most advanced score-charts and arrangements, he was still incredibly conscious of this commercial thing. This absolute need to relate."{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=17}} Carl reflected that the album recurrently explores themes of disillusionment and lost innocence associated with the realization that "everything's not Hollywood" in adulthood. Critics Richard Goldstein and Nik Cohn found that the album's melancholic lyrics sometimes jarred with its music,{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=146}} with Cohn describing it as "sad songs about loneliness and heartache; sad songs even about happiness."{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=146}}{{refn|group=nb|Rolling Stone editor David Wild characterized the lyrics as "intelligent and moving, but [...] not pretentious", comparing them to Tin Pan Alley's craftsmanship.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=90}}}}

{{quote box|align=left|width=25%|quote=People always thought Brian was a good-time guy until he started releasing those heavy, searching songs on Pet Sounds. But that stuff was closer to his personality and perceptions.

|source=—Dennis Wilson{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=62}}}}

Much of the album's pessimistic and dejected lyric content stemmed from Wilson's marital struggles,{{sfn|White|1996|p=251}} exacerbated by his drug use.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=48, 53, 56–57}}{{refn|group=nb|Soon after his first LSD experience, Brian began suffering from auditory hallucinations{{cite magazine |year=2006 |title=Brian Wilson – A Powerful Interview |url=http://abilitymagazine.com/past/brianW/brianw.html |url-status=live |magazine=Ability |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218082138/https://abilitymagazine.com/past/brianW/brianw.html |archive-date=December 18, 2013 |access-date=February 10, 2014}} and significant paranoia throughout the year.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=48}} He attributed LSD's influence to it "[bringing] out the insecurities in me, which I think went into the music",{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=58}} and credited marijuana with encouraging his creative growth.{{cite news |last1=Varga |first1=George |title=Brian Wilson talks 'Pet Sounds,' 50 years later |url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jun/26/brian-wilson-and-al-jardine-disucss-pet-sounds |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=June 26, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160627135815/http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jun/26/brian-wilson-and-al-jardine-disucss-pet-sounds/ |archive-date=June 27, 2016}}}} According to Asher, he and Wilson drew from extensive discussions about their experiences and feelings concerning women and relationship dynamics to inspire their songs.{{refn|group=nb|These discussions encompassed Wilson's doubts about his marriage, his "sexual fantasies", and his "apparent" attraction to his sister-in-law, Diane.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=144}} His wife interpreted songs like "You Still Believe in Me" and "Caroline, No" as directly addressing their marriage.{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p=84}} }} Asher later clarified that their songwriting conversations remained "theoretical" rather than explicitly autobiographical, focusing on hypothetical scenarios such as "a kid who doesn't fit in".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=107}}

Pet Sounds is sometimes suggested to be a song cycle{{sfn|Schinder|2007|pp=114–115}}{{Sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}} portraying the unraveling of a romantic relationship.{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|p=21}}{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=249}} Author Scott Schinder argued that Wilson and Asher had crafted a song cycle about "the emotional challenges accompanying the transition from youth to adulthood", paired with "a series of intimate, hymn-like love songs".{{sfn|Schinder|2007|pp=114–115}} Music historian Larry Star traced a thematic progression from "youthful optimism [...] to philosophical and emotional disillusionment" across its track sequencing.{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=265}}

While Pet Sounds exhibits unified emotional themes, no deliberate narrative was planned.{{sfn|Tunbridge|2010|p=173}} Asher stated that he and Wilson never discussed a specific concept, though he acknowledged Wilson's potential to unconsciously shape one.{{refn|group=nb|Responding to the songwriters' denials of a conscious lyric theme, journalist Nick Kent observed that the album's lyrics predominantly depict a male protagonist's struggles with self-identity and crises of faith in love and life, excluding "Sloop John B" and the instrumentals.{{sfn|Kent|2009|pp=23–24}} Granata writes that while these tracks disrupt the album's "thematic thread", they enhance its pacing.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=89}}}} Musicologist Philip Lambert argued that Wilson likely intended a narrative framework, influenced by his familiarity with similar "theme albums" by Frank Sinatra and the Four Freshmen.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=116–117}}{{refn|group=nb|Lambert distinguishes "theme albums"—collections of songs linked by shared lyrical content but lacking musical cohesion—from concept albums, which integrate recurring melodic, harmonic, or structural elements into a unified artistic presentation.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=250}} With regards to the issue of authorial intent, he felt that artists' commentaries on their work may reflect external agendas or lack objectivity, and that the artwork itself should remain the primary basis for analysis.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=245}} }}

Building on the foundations of The Beach Boys Today!, Pet Sounds advanced Wilson's exploration of intricate arrangements and thematic cohesion.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=61–63}}{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=37}} Musicologist Marshall Heiser identified key distinctions in the album's sonic approach compared to the group's earlier output: a heightened spatial and textural dimensionality; "more inventive" chord progressions and voicings; rhythmic frameworks emphasizing percussion over conventional backbeats; and orchestrations drawing from Les Baxter's exotica "quirkiness" and Bacharach's "cool" pop sensibilities rather than Spector's "teen fanfares".{{cite journal |last1=Heiser |first1=Marshall |title=SMiLE: Brian Wilson's Musical Mosaic |journal=The Journal on the Art of Record Production |date=November 2012 |issue=7 |url=http://arpjournal.com/smile-brian-wilson%E2%80%99s-musical-mosaic/ |access-date=April 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415032648/http://arpjournal.com/smile-brian-wilson%E2%80%99s-musical-mosaic/ |archive-date=April 15, 2015 |url-status=dead}} Wilson seldom used string ensembles prior to Pet Sounds;{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=154}} the first documented instance was "The Surfer Moon" (1963).{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=289}}

Musicologist Daniel Harrison contends that Wilson's development as a composer and arranger on Pet Sounds was incremental relative to his earlier work, maintaining that the album's unconventional harmonic progressions and hypermetric disruptions had extended techniques already demonstrated in songs such as "The Warmth of the Sun" and "Don't Back Down", both from 1964.{{sfn|Harrison|1997|p=39}} Granata describes the album as a culmination of Wilson's songwriting artistry, although he had transitioned "from writing car and surf songs to writing studious ones" by 1965.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=59}} Writers often refer to the second side of Today! as a precursor to Pet Sounds.{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|p=62}}{{refn|group=nb|Music journalist Alice Bolin characterized Today! as bridging the group's doo-wop roots with "the lush and orchestral" style of Pet Sounds,{{cite web |last1=Bolin |first1=Alice |title=The Beach Boys Are Still Looking at an Impossible Future |url=https://www.popmatters.com/160169-when-i-grow-up-to-be-a-man-2495839691.html |website=PopMatters |date=July 8, 2012}} while Scott Interrante highlighted Wilson's early experimentation with blending ballad and uptempo structures, adding that Today! had reflected the optimism of adolescence in contrast to Pet Sounds{{'}} melancholic tone.{{cite magazine|last1=Interrante|first1=Scott|title=When I Grow Up: 'The Beach Boys Today!'|url=http://www.popmatters.com/post/180342-when-i-grow-up-the-beach-boys-today/|magazine=PopMatters|date=March 31, 2014}} Leaf identified the Today! outtake{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=67}} "Guess I'm Dumb", later produced as a 1965 single for Glen Campbell, as a leap in Wilson's development, being "one of the first records that consolidated all [Brian's] ideas into a coherent sound" that culminated in Pet Sounds{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=69}} Howard referenced "Please Let Me Wonder" as further signaling Wilson's progression toward his subsequent project.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=58}}}} Musicologist John Covach identifies the "California Girls" single as anticipating "the more intensely experimental" approach of Pet Sounds,{{sfn|Covach|2015|p=202}} while Carl, Dennis, and Jardine later traced its B-side "Let Him Run Wild" as marking their recognition of Wilson's evolving production style leading into Pet Sounds.{{cite magazine|last1=Felton|first1=David|title=The Healing of Brother Brian: The Rolling Stone Interview With the Beach Boys|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=November 4, 1976|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-healing-of-brother-brian-the-rolling-stone-interview-with-the-beach-boys-19761104}}{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Comments by Al Jardine|title=The Pet Sounds Sessions|others=The Beach Boys|year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet|chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Comments_by_Al_Jardine.html}}

{{quote box

| align =

| width = 25%

| quote =I thought of it as chapel rock [...] commercial choir music. I wanted to make an album that would stand up in ten years.

| source = —Brian Wilson{{sfn|Irvin|2007|p=64}}

}}

Pet Sounds blends elements of pop, jazz, classical, exotica, and avant-garde music, according to Stebbins, who argues that the album defies singular categorization: "There isn't much rocking here, and even less rolling. Pet Sounds is at times futuristic, progressive, and experimental. [...] and the only blues are in the themes and in Brian's voice."{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|pp=151–152}} Johnston heard persistent doo-wop and R&B influences.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=35}} Further to the album's R&B heritage, music journalist Noah Berlatsky stated that several characteristics of the Beach Boys' sound "which seem coded white", such as "the fussy arrangements", "pure harmonies", and "childish vulnerability", had originated from a "pop R&B" tradition.{{refn|group=nb|Berlatsky argued that while Pet Sounds is rarely regarded as an R&B album and, in some respects, is seen as a counter to R&B traditions, this perception had been shaped by prevailing stereotypes about race, authenticity, and vulnerability, particularly regarding soul music, typically viewed "as less important—or more often just forgotten altogether."}}

The album's classification as rock music has been challenged. Journalist D. Strauss argued that its quality and subversion of rock traditions was what contributed to its significance in rock history. He proposed that categorizing it as easy listening (or "elevator music") reveals the album as "historically grounded, if incredibly ambitious". Wilson drew from older popular music styles, as did Spector, and some of his innovations had precedents in incidental music and Muzak arrangements from the previous decade; Strauss added, "Teenagers were so busy sneering at their parent's music that they neglected to notice".{{cite news |last1=Strauss |first1=D. |date=December 8, 1997 |title=Pet Sounds : It's Not Rock 'n' Roll, But We Like It |newspaper=The New York Observer |url=http://observer.com/1997/12/pet-sounds-its-not-rock-n-roll-but-we-like-it/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224165903/https://observer.com/1997/12/pet-sounds-its-not-rock-n-roll-but-we-like-it/ |archive-date=February 24, 2021}} Wilson's orchestrations also drew stylistic parallels to exotica producers such as Baxter, Martin Denny, and Esquivel, particularly through the incorporation of culturally diverse timbres.{{cite web |last=Leone |first=Dominique |author-link=Dominique Leone |date=September 8, 2006 |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds: 40th Anniversary |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9371-pet-sounds-40th-anniversary/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702120341/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9371-pet-sounds-40th-anniversary/ |archive-date=July 2, 2014 |access-date=July 22, 2014 |website=Pitchfork}}{{refn|group=nb|Denny's former bandmember Julius Wechter contributed percussion to the album,{{cite news |last1=Long |first1=Kyle |title=Brian Wilson talks Pet Sounds, Chuck Berry, Four Freshmen, exotica and more |url=https://www.nuvo.net/music/brian-wilson-talks-pet-sounds-chuck-berry-four-freshmen-exotica/article_2091ec4c-25ca-11e7-9845-373be8b5185e.html |work=Nuvo |date=April 20, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308140626/https://nuvo.newsnirvana.com/music/brian-wilson-talks-pet-sounds-chuck-berry-four-freshmen-exotica/article_2091ec4c-25ca-11e7-9845-373be8b5185e.html |archive-date=March 8, 2021}} and Wilson indicated in his second memoir that he had enjoyed Baxter's "big productions that sounded sort of like Phil Spector",{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|p=179}} but stated an unfamiliarity with Denny and "exotica music" in a 2017 phone interview.{{cite news |last1=Long |first1=Kyle |title=Brian Wilson talks Pet Sounds, Chuck Berry, Four Freshmen, exotica and more |url=https://www.nuvo.net/music/brian-wilson-talks-pet-sounds-chuck-berry-four-freshmen-exotica/article_2091ec4c-25ca-11e7-9845-373be8b5185e.html |work=Nuvo |date=April 20, 2017}} }}

{{listen

| filename = I Know There's an Answer.ogg

| title = "I Know There's an Answer" sections

| pos = left

| description =Pet Sounds contrasts with contemporaneous psychedelic pop in its "intimacy", yet its use of reverb, "whisper"-like textures, and abrupt shifts create a "somewhat trippy effect", according to Consequence contributor Zach Ruskin.{{cite web |last1=Ruskin |first1=Zach |title=You Still Believe in Me: An Interview with Brian Wilson |url=https://consequence.net/2016/05/you-still-believe-in-me-an-interview-with-brian-wilson/ |website=Consequence |date=May 19, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521163716/https://consequence.net/2016/05/you-still-believe-in-me-an-interview-with-brian-wilson/ |archive-date=May 21, 2022}} Wilson cited the tack piano and organ mix here as an example of himself applying Spector's formula.{{sfn|Moorefield|2010|p=16}}

}}

Commentators have variously categorized the album as progressive pop,{{multiref2

|1={{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Troy L. |date=October 2, 2019 |title=100 greatest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame albums |work=Cleveland.com |url=https://www.cleveland.com/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/10/293367e4b1/100_best_albums_by_rock_roll_h.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321024341/https://www.cleveland.com/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/10/293367e4b1/100_best_albums_by_rock_roll_h.html |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |ref=none}}

|2={{cite web |last1=Rolli |first1=Bryan |date=June 26, 2015 |title=The 10 Most Disappointing Follow-Up Albums |url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/most-disappointing-follow-up-albums.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603053609/https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/most-disappointing-follow-up-albums/ |archive-date=June 3, 2021 |magazine=Paste |ref=none}}

|3={{cite news |last1=Mattei |first1=Matt |date=April 29, 2017 |title=Genius behind Beach Boys Brian Wilson to perform at F.M. Kirby Center |work=Times Leader |url=https://timesleader.com/features/655153/genius-behind-beach-boys-brian-wilson-to-perform-at-f-m-kirby-center |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506065536/https://www.timesleader.com/features/655153/genius-behind-beach-boys-brian-wilson-to-perform-at-f-m-kirby-center |archive-date=May 6, 2021 |ref=none}}

|4={{cite web |last1=Moore |first1=Sam |date=August 5, 2019 |title=The 12 greatest albums about Los Angeles, California |url=https://www.nme.com/features/the-best-albums-about-la-2529685 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310101044/https://www.nme.com/features/the-best-albums-about-la-2529685 |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |website=NME |ref=none}}

|5={{cite magazine |last1=McStarkey |first1=Mick |date=August 17, 2021 |title=The Beach Boys battle: Why does Brian Wilson hate Mike Love? |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/why-does-brian-wilson-hate-mike-love-the-beach-boys/ |url-status=live |magazine=Far Out |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125162028/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/why-does-brian-wilson-hate-mike-love-the-beach-boys/ |archive-date=November 25, 2021 |ref=none}} }} the descriptor used in its initial marketing,{{sfn|Leaf|1978|pp=87–88}}{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=81}} as well as chamber pop,{{multiref2

|1={{cite magazine |last1=Lynch |first1=Joe |date=June 13, 2016 |title=Following Tragedy, Brian Wilson Provides Some Peace With 'Pet Sounds' Concert at Northside Fest |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7401413/brian-wilson-pet-sounds-northside-festival |url-status=live |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321024728/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7401413/brian-wilson-pet-sounds-northside-festival |archive-date=March 21, 2021}}

|2={{cite web |last1=DeVille |first1=Chris |date=September 26, 2016 |title=Ex Reyes – "Only You" Video |url=http://www.stereogum.com/1899931/ex-reyes-only-you-video/mp3s/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321024707/https://www.stereogum.com/1899931/ex-reyes-only-you-video/premiere/ |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |website=Stereogum |ref=none}}

|3={{cite news |last1=King |first1=Kevin |date=April 12, 2017 |title=Masterpieces set to be performed |work=Winnipeg-Sun |url=http://www.winnipegsun.com/2017/04/12/masterpieces-set-to-be-performed |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321024728/https://winnipegsun.com/2017/04/12/masterpieces-set-to-be-performed |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |ref=none}}

|4={{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=Fred |title=Review: Bécs – Fennesz |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/bécs-mw0002630319 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424032204/https://www.allmusic.com/album/b%C3%A9cs-mw0002630319 |archive-date=April 24, 2017 |access-date=April 25, 2017 |website=AllMusic |ref=none}}}} psychedelic pop,{{multiref2

|1={{cite web |last1=Sacher |first1=Andrew |title=Beach Boys Albums Ranked Best to Worst |url=http://www.brooklynvegan.com/beach-boys-albu/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612175459/https://www.brooklynvegan.com/beach-boys-albu/ |archive-date=June 12, 2017 |access-date=April 21, 2017 |website=Brooklyn Vegan|date=February 9, 2016 }}

|2={{cite web |last1=Staff |title=The Nine Best Concerts in Phoenix Next Weekend |url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/the-nine-best-concerts-in-phoenix-this-weekend-8439415 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421092811/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/the-nine-best-concerts-in-phoenix-this-weekend-8439415 |archive-date=April 21, 2017 |access-date=April 21, 2017 |website=The New Phoenix Times |ref=none}}

|3={{cite news |last=Levy |first=Piete |date=October 24, 2013 |title=Brian Wilson; Chris Tomlin; Blue October; Kate Nash; Limousines; Jacuzzi Boys; City and Colour |newspaper=Journal Sentinel |location=Milwaukee |url=http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/musicandnightlife/brian-wilson-chris-tomlin-blue-october-kate-nash-limousines-jacuzzi-boys-city-and-colour-cohe-b99122-229107771.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119003603/https://archive.jsonline.com/entertainment/musicandnightlife/brian-wilson-chris-tomlin-blue-october-kate-nash-limousines-jacuzzi-boys-city-and-colour-cohe-b99122-229107771.html/ |archive-date=November 19, 2018 |ref=none}}}}{{cite news |last1=Marcus |first1=Jeff |date=September 18, 2012 |title=Psychedelic era yielded great music, but fewer picture sleeves |url=http://www.goldminemag.com/article/psychedelic-era-yielded-great-music-but-fewer-picture-sleeves |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417092358/https://www.goldminemag.com/articles/psychedelic-era-yielded-great-music-but-fewer-picture-sleeves |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |work=Goldmine}} and art rock.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=49}}{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=74}}{{cite news |last1=Foster |first1=Patrick |last2=Lenaham |first2=Jim |date=May 20, 2016 |title=Dad Rock still believes in 'Pet Sounds' at 50 |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/05/20/dad-rock-pet-sounds/84681028/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622000730/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/05/20/dad-rock-pet-sounds/84681028/ |archive-date=June 22, 2021}} "Baroque pop"{{cite web |last1=Semley |first1=John |title=Where to dive into Frank Zappa's weird, unwieldy discography |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/where-to-dive-into-frank-zappas-weird-unwieldy-dis-83545 |website=The A.V. Club |date=August 9, 2012 |access-date=August 14, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923005933/https://music.avclub.com/where-to-dive-into-frank-zappa-s-weird-unwieldy-discog-1798232804 |archive-date=September 23, 2018}}{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/beach-boys-thats-why-god-made-the-radio_n_1569368.html |title=Beach Boys 'That's Why God Made the Radio' Review: Brian Wilson Writes 50th Anniversary Album |work=The Huffington Post |access-date=October 22, 2013 |first=John|last=Carucci|date=June 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310074307/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/beach-boys-thats-why-god-made-the-radio_n_1569368.html |archive-date=March 10, 2016 |url-status=dead}} was absent from early critical discussions about Pet Sounds and emerged later in 1990s critiques of artists it influenced.{{sfn|Howland|2021|pp=210–217}} The contemporary music press avoided the label, favoring "progressive" instead.{{sfn|Howland|2021|p=217}} Academic John Howland argued in 2021 that the album's "baroque-pop" traits were almost exclusive to "God Only Knows".{{sfn|Howland|2021|pp=210–217}}{{refn|group=nb|While Spector similarly employed dense orchestration, baroque pop distinguished itself through melancholy first-person Romantic narratives, intimate string arrangements, and classical-influenced melodies with reduced blues elements.{{sfn|Janovitz|2013|p=81}} Other genres attributed to the album have included pop rock,{{cite news |last=Katz |first=Larry |date=January 25, 1998 |url=http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/19980125/News/301259893 |title=A 'Pet Sounds' Apotheosis |newspaper=The Standard-Times |access-date=April 29, 2017}} psychedelic rock,{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=104}}{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=xi}} experimental rock,{{sfn|Lowe|2007|p=219}}{{cite web |last1=Fordham |first1=Ann |title=Review: Brian Wilson at Riverside Theatre, 7 April 2016 |url=http://www.musicinsight.com.au/reviews/review-brian-wilson-at-riverside-theatre-7-april-2016/ |website=Music Insight |date=April 8, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329064602/http://www.musicinsight.com.au/reviews/review-brian-wilson-at-riverside-theatre-7-april-2016/ |archive-date=March 29, 2019}} avant-pop,{{cite news |last1=Carlin |first1=Peter Ames |author-link1=Peter Ames Carlin |date=September 7, 2010 |title=Brian Wilson discusses his inner Gershwin, the Beatles and UFOs |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/carlin/index.ssf/2010/09/brian_wilson_discusses_his_inner_gershwin_the_beatles_and_ufos.html |work=The Oregonian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308215527/https://www.oregonlive.com/carlin/2010/09/brian_wilson_discusses_his_inner_gershwin_the_beatles_and_ufos.html |archive-date=March 8, 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Grimstad |first1=Paul |title=What is Avant-Pop? |url=http://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/9/music/what-is-avant-pop |website=Brooklyn Rail |date=September 4, 2007 |access-date=October 1, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011225010/https://brooklynrail.org/2007/9/music/what-is-avant-pop |archive-date=October 11, 2016}} experimental pop,{{cite web |last1=Collins |first1=Simon |date=February 5, 2016 |title=Brian Wilson revisits his Pet project |url=https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/30735864/beach-boys-legend-brian-wilson-surfs-back-to-good-vibrations/ |work=The West Australian |access-date=February 27, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216204659/https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/30735864/beach-boys-legend-brian-wilson-surfs-back-to-good-vibrations/ |archive-date=February 16, 2016}} symphonic rock,{{sfn|Priore|2005|p=31}} and folk rock.}}

Pet Sounds is typically categorized among other pioneering psychedelic rock albums,{{cite web |last1=Maddux |first1=Rachael |title=Six Degrees of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds |url=http://www.wonderingsound.com/connections/six-degrees-of-the-beach-boys-pet-sounds/ |publisher=Wondering Sound |date=May 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124623/http://www.wonderingsound.com/connections/six-degrees-of-the-beach-boys-pet-sounds/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016}} although many commentators have been reluctant to name the Beach Boys in discussions of psychedelic music.{{refn|group=nb|Vernon Joyson, in his book The Acid Trip: A Complete Guide to Psychedelic Music, recognized the album's psychedelic elements, but excluded it from significant coverage, arguing that the band had "essentially predated the psychedelic era".{{sfn|Joyson|1984|p=8}}}} Stebbins writes that the album is "slightly psychedelic—or at least impressionistic."{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|p=152}} Wilson himself felt that while some songs contain psychedelic elements, the album overall was "not psychedelic". Academics Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell attribute the psychedelic sound to Wilson's production approach—eclectic instrumentation, echo, reverb, and Spector-inspired techniques—which created layered soundscapes where "voice and music interweave tightly".{{sfn|Hegarty|Halliwell|2011|p=23}}{{refn|group=nb|DeRogatis, in his book about psychedelic rock, contrasts the album's introspective tone with the Beatles' post-LSD focus on societal issues.{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=34}} Hegarty and Halliwell also describe Pet Sounds as combining "personal intimacy" with a "trippy feel" linked to Wilson's LSD use, distinguishing it from contemporaneous psychedelic music such as the San Francisco sound.{{sfn|Hegarty|Halliwell|2011|p=23}} }} Cultural historian Dale Carter cites dense sonic textures, structural complexity, novel instrument combinations, shifting tonal centers, and hypnotic rhythms as psychedelic qualities present in the Beach Boys' mid-1960s output.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=178}}{{refn|group=nb|Among other reasons given for the album's perceived psychedelic quality, DeRogatis argued that its layered melodies mirror the gradual revelations of a psychedelic experience, unfolding new details with repeated listens.{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=36}} Musician Sean Lennon suggested that psychedelic music often involves epic, ambitious records, and likened experiencing Pet Sounds in full to temporarily "entering another world", akin to an LSD trip.{{cite web |last1=Masley |first1=Ed |date=May 12, 2014 |title=Interview: Sean Lennon on Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger |url=http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/05/04/interview-sean-lennon-ghost-saber-tooth-tiger/8708967 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150205142857/http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/05/04/interview-sean-lennon-ghost-saber-tooth-tiger/8708967/ |archive-date=February 5, 2015 |work=The Arizona Republic}}}}

Pet Sounds incorporates tempo changes, metrical ambiguity, and uncommon tone colors that, according to musicologist James Perone, distinguish it from virtually "anything else [...] in 1966 pop music".{{sfn|Perone|2012|p=28}} His analysis highlights the closing track "Caroline, No" for its wide tessitura shifts, expansive melodic intervals, and choice of instruments, alongside Wilson's structural and textural innovations in composition and orchestration.{{sfn|Perone|2012|p=28}} Wilson combined standard rock instrumentation with intricate layers of vocal harmonies{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=114}} and many instruments which had rarely, if ever been used in rock.{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=38}} This included ukulele, sleigh bells, accordion, French and English horns, timpani, vibraphone, and tack piano—all of which had appeared on Today!{{cite web |url= http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/custommusic2/craigslowinskicom.pdf |title= The Beach Boys – The Beach Boys Today! |last= Slowinski |first= Craig|year=2007 |access-date=October 27, 2012}}—in addition to bass harmonica, güiro, bass clarinet, bongos, glockenspiel, banjo, bicycle horn, Coca-Cola cans, and Electro-Theremin.

{{listen|pos=right

|filename=Here Today Pet Sounds.ogg|title=Instrumental break from "Here Today" (1996 stereo mix)|description="Here Today" is described by AllMusic as one of Wilson's most ambitious arrangements, blending the "complexity of an orchestral piece with the immediacy of a good pop tune".{{cite web |last=Guarisco |first=Donald A. |title=Here Today |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/here-today-t2827570 |website=AllMusic |access-date=May 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205053544/http://www.allmusic.com/song/here-today-t2827570 |archive-date=December 5, 2010}}

}}

Arranger Paul Mertens, who later worked with Wilson on live renditions of the album, observed that Wilson's approach to orchestration involved adapting classical instrumentation to rock sensibilities rather than superimposing classical elements onto rock frameworks: "Brian was [not] trying to introduce classical music into rock & roll. Rather, he was trying to get classical musicians to play like rock musicians."{{cite news |last1=Appelstein |first1=Mike |date=July 20, 2016 |title=Brian Wilson's Latest Tour May Be Your Last Chance to Hear Him Perform Pet Sounds Live |work=Riverfront Times |url=http://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/brian-wilsons-musical-director-paul-mertens-talks-about-pet-sounds/Content?oid=3086082 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207020047/https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/brian-wilsons-musical-director-paul-mertens-talks-about-pet-sounds/Content?oid=3086082 |archive-date=February 7, 2017}}{{refn|group=nb|Referring to "Wouldn't It Be Nice", Perone opined that the track sounded "significantly less like a rock band supplemented with auxiliary instrumentation [...] than a rock band integrated into an eclectic mix of studio instrumentation."{{sfn|Perone|2012|pp=28, 30}}}}

Tracks on Pet Sounds typically featured around a dozen unique instruments, ranging from the comparatively sparse "That's Not Me" (six instruments) to the expansive "God Only Knows" (over 15). Wilson frequently employed doubling—a technique where two instruments play the same melody—to reinforce structural clarity, enhance depth, and achieve a spacious sonic quality. Though it had been used for centuries in orchestral and classical arrangements, its use in contemporary rock was predominantly restricted to electric bass. He expanded the practice across diverse instruments, including violins and accordions.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=158}} In Pet Sounds, electric and acoustic basses were also frequently doubled, and played with a hard plectrum.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=160, 162}} Drums were employed less for steady rhythm than for textural and tonal effects.{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|p=130}}

File:Brian Wilson Pet Sounds.jpg

Compared to earlier Beach Boys albums, Pet Sounds contains fewer vocal harmonies, but greater complexity and variety.{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|p=281}} Instead of simple "oo" harmonies, the band shifted toward intricate vocal counterpoint and used doo-wop-style nonsense syllables more frequently than on previous releases.{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|pp=277–278, 315}} Wilson's signature falsetto appears seven times, his highest count on a Beach Boys album since Surfer Girl (1963), excluding Today!.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=157}} His vocals dominate the album, with lead roles on five tracks, shared leads on two, and chorus contributions on two others.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=189}} Wilson's voice occupies 16 minutes of the 36-minute runtime, three minutes more than the combined total of other members.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=189}}

Wilson employed a vertical compositional approach using block chords rather than horizontal classical structures and often juxtaposed contrasting chords between hands, incorporating clashing notes that resulted in polytonality.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=141}} The album predominantly features chords that are slashed, diminished, major seventh, sixths, ninths, augmented, or suspended,{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|pp=193–194, 314}} with augmented and ninth chords appearing less frequently.{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|p=314}}{{refn|group=nb|This contrasted with the Beach Boys' reliance on simple triads on earlier albums.{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|pp=193–194, 314}}}} Every track is in a major key,{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=326}} some of which are unusual choices; for instance, "You Still Believe in Me" uses B—a key with numerous sharps and flats that keyboardists typically avoid—while "That's Not Me" is in F{{music|sharp}}, the key farthest from C.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=141}}

File:God Only Knows diagram.png signatures.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=115–116}} Pictured is a visual representation of the harmonic structures present in the verse and chorus of "God Only Knows".]]

The album's harmonic structure features four tracks maintaining a single strongly established key: "You Still Believe in Me" (B), "I'm Waiting for the Day" (E), "Sloop John B" (A{{music|flat}}), and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" (B{{music|flat}}).{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=116}} Most other songs shift between primary and secondary keys or lack a definitive tonal center.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=115–116}} Two tracks—"That's Not Me" and "Let's Go Away for Awhile"—begin and end in distinct keys; others integrate secondary key areas for phrases and sections—"Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "God Only Knows"—or momentary tonicizations ("Here Today", "Pet Sounds", and "Caroline, No").{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=116–117}}

Song structures largely adhere to conventional forms: three tracks follow the AABA quatrain format, while eight use verse-chorus frameworks.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=115–117}}{{refn|group=nb| "I'm Waiting for the Day" extends a verse-refrain structure through three repetitions before concluding with unrelated thematic material.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=145}}}} Exceptions include "That's Not Me", structured as a binary form with developmental repetition, and "Let's Go Away for Awhile", comprising two contrasting sections without reprise.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=115}}{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=145}} Three tracks—"You Still Believe in Me", "Let's Go Away for Awhile", and "Pet Sounds"—feature two distinct, non-repeating sections.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=145}}

Lambert posits that the album's "overall unity" is reinforced by shared musical elements that had evolved from Wilson's approaches on Today!,{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=117}} and that these elements, while subtle, were deliberate on Wilson's part, aligning with his aspiration for an album that "felt like it all belonged together".{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=227}} Techniques in Today!, such as recurring scale motifs that permeate arrangements and vocal lines, reached fuller realization in Pet Sounds tracks like "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)", where ascending stepwise vocal phrases (G{{music|flat}} to C{{music|flat}}) receive mirrored instrumental responses.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=117}}{{refn|group=nb|"Kiss Me Baby" had featured a four-note titular motif transformed through choral interplay and instrumental reinforcement, while "Good to My Baby" constructed its melodic framework around persistent stepwise patterns mirroring lyrical themes of emotional ambivalence.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=117}}}} According to Lambert, this arch-shaped motif serves as a unifying thread throughout the album, appearing in the concluding organ phrase in "I Know There's an Answer" and the vibraphone progression during the second half of "Let's Go Away for Awhile", among other tracks.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=118}}{{refn|group=nb|A reversed version appears in the closing of "Wouldn't It Be Nice", the instrumental accompaniment throughout "I'm Waiting for the Day", while interlocking standard/inverted bassline forms in "God Only Knows", with chromatically altered variants emerging in the first half of "Let's Go Away for Awhile".{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=118}} }}

{{listen|filename=Beach Boys-Pet Sounds.ogg|title=Intro of "Pet Sounds"

|description=The title track features a Leslie speaker-processed lead guitar{{cite AV media notes |first=Russ |last=Waspensky |chapter=Pet Sounds Session List |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Pet_Sounds_Session_List.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022223319/http://albumlinernotes.com/Pet_Sounds_Session_List.html |archive-date=October 22, 2021}} and incorporates cyclic motifs prevalent throughout Pet Sounds, including a major submediant (VI) shift, arch-shaped melodic figures, and descending bass line.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=131}} }}

Tertian modulations (by thirds) are frequent.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=141}} Perone argued that the album's musical continuity stemmed from "Wilsonian" traits, such as a descending third interval concluding verses in "You Still Believe in Me" and a "madrigal sigh" motif in "That's Not Me" (where the motif punctuates each verse line), "Don't Talk", and "Caroline, No".{{sfn|Perone|2012|pp=28, 30}} Bass lines, often chromatic,{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=90}} prioritized melodic movement over tonic emphasis.{{sfn|O'Regan|2014|p=185}} Descending 1–5 patterns are a recurring device, one that Wilson had applied before, but not in work leading to Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=118–120}}{{refn|group=nb|Lambert speculated that Wilson's rekindled interest in this device, which he had used on Surfin' Safari and Surfin' U.S.A., may have been inspired by "I'll Be Back" from Beatles '65 (the American version of Help!).{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=120}}}} Recorded early in the sessions, the album's title track features a prominent bass descent from B{{music|flat}} to F (through A{{music|flat}}, G, and G{{music|flat}}), which served as a foundational motivic element, becoming a structural inspiration for subsequent tracks.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=118}}{{refn|group=nb|For example, "Here Today" employs a similar descending bass line (1–{{music|flat}}7–6–{{music|flat}}6–5) but substitutes a secondary dominant on {{music|flat}}7 for the {{music|flat}}VII chord used in "Pet Sounds". Wilson later highlighted this motif by drawing attention to the trombone in the choruses. The opening of "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" begins with another descending bass progression, while "Let's Go Away for Awhile" incorporates a harmonically varied descent.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=118–120}}}}

The use of major and minor submediants, which establish tonic–submediant (I–vi/VI) relationships in all key-shifting tracks except "God Only Knows", is cited by Lambert as another "important source of overall unity".{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=116}}{{refn|group=nb|This pattern begins in "Wouldn't It Be Nice", modulating from F to D, and recurs in tracks like "That's Not Me" (A to F{{music|sharp}} major) and "Let's Go Away for Awhile" (F to D). Side B continues the motif: "Pet Sounds" shifts to G major within B{{music|flat}} while "Here Today" and "Caroline No" employ minor submediants. The sole exception is "God Only Knows", which modulates up a fourth instead of using submediant relations.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=116}} Lambert adds that while submediant key relations were new to Wilson's "intra-album thematic" approach, earlier Beach Boys albums had featured diverse tonal shifts—one "specific precedent" being "Your Summer Dream" (1963)—and similar techniques had occasionally appeared in contemporaneous pop; however, for Wilson, influenced by jazz harmony, such progressions were habitual.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=117}}}} Author Jim Fusilli observes that Wilson frequently departs from and returns to the composition's "logic" to cement "emotional intent", but never "unbridled joy", as he had with "The Little Girl I Once Knew".{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p=75}} Lambert locates this technique in Wilson's use of diminished seventh chords, "almost always [appearing] at a dramatic moment", such as in "Don't Talk" (on the word "eyes" in "I can see so much in your eyes") and "God Only Knows" (on the words "sure about it" and "livin' do me").{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=91}}

File:Exterior of 6000 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles (cropped).jpg on Sunset Boulevard (2019)]]

Recording for Pet Sounds primarily occurred between January 18 and April 13, 1966, across 27 sessions.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=126}} Three tracks—"You Still Believe in Me", "Pet Sounds", and "Sloop John B"—were initiated earlier, with the latter partially recorded in July and December 1965.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=108}} Most instrumental tracks were recorded at Western Studio 3 of United Western Recorders, while Gold Star Studios hosted sessions for "Good Vibrations" and the backing tracks of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times".{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=112, 115, 117}} Sunset Sound Recorders was used for the instrumental of "Here Today".{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=122}} Wilson produced the album largely with his usual engineer, Chuck Britz, a staff member at Western.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=130–131}}

Since the 1963 Surfer Girl sessions,{{sfn|Dillon|2012|pp=24–25}} Wilson had gradually integrated Spector's choice of studio musicians, a group later known as "the Wrecking Crew", into Beach Boys records.{{sfn|Moorefield|2010|p=16}}{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=114}} Regular participants included Hal Blaine (drums), Glen Campbell and Billy Strange (guitar), Al de Lory (piano), Steve Douglas (saxophone) Carol Kaye (Fender bass), Larry Knechtel (Hammond organ), Don Randi (piano), Lyle Ritz (upright bass), Ray Pohlman (bass and guitar), and Julius Wechter (percussion).{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=136}} He relied on studio musicians to execute his increasingly complex arrangements, particularly as the band members were frequently touring,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=136}} with Pet Sounds marking the first Beach Boys project in which he almost exclusively used these musicians for the backing tracks.{{cite web |last1=Slowinski |first1=Craig |title=Introduction |url=http://www.beachboysarchives.com/page2 |website=beachboysarchives.com |publisher=Endless Summer Quarterly |access-date=May 14, 2022 |date=2006}} Carl, who sporadically contributed guitar parts during sessions, later reflected that the technical demands of the recordings had exceeded the group's collective abilities: "It really wasn't appropriate for us to play on those [Pet Sounds] dates—the tracking just got beyond us."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=160}}

File:Brian Wilson Pet Sounds 2.jpg

Backing track sessions typically lasted at least three hours, with Britz recalling that most time was spent refining sounds, as Wilson knew "exactly" which instruments he wanted and insisted on assembling all musicians simultaneously, despite the financial impracticality.{{cite AV media notes |chapter=In the Studio |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/In_The_Studio.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427191940/http://albumlinernotes.com/In_The_Studio.html |archive-date=April 27, 2022}} By layering combinations of instruments (such as multiple types of keyboards) playing in unison, slight tuning discrepancies between them produced a chorusing effect, a phasing texture unattainable through electronic means.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=158}}

Wilson characterized himself as "sort of a square" around these musicians, starting with each instrument's sound individually, typically beginning with keyboards and drums, followed by violins if not overdubbed. Sessions lacked pre-rehearsals, and he usually arrived with only rudimentary musical drafts.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=139}}{{refn|group=nb|Wilson retained his musical ideas mentally until recording sessions and rehearsed individual sections rather than full arrangements, leaving the musicians unfamiliar with complete songs until tracking began. Accordionist Frank Marocco recalled the process as initially chaotic, though Wilson consistently unified the elements to match his vision by the session's conclusion. Despite the seemingly improvised workflow, Wilson adhered to pre-session plans developed during hours of solitary piano work.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=143}}}} He typically composed full arrangements mentally but conveyed them through shorthand notation prepared by session musicians, with separate charts for different instrumental groups.{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Interview with Brian Wilson |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Interview_w_Brian_Wilson.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427191939/http://albumlinernotes.com/Interview_w_Brian_Wilson.html |archive-date=April 27, 2022}} His approach relied on the musicians' improvisational skills; instead of detailed written scores, he hummed or vocalized parts during recording.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=139}} Blaine recalled using basic chord charts handwritten on standard paper, which Wilson photocopied for the group; they would adjust parts based on his feedback during takes.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=140}} While maintaining creative control, he welcomed additional input from these musicians and occasionally retained their mistakes if he felt they enhanced the recording.{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=114}}{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=144}}

File:Scully 280 4-track tape recorder, Ardent Studios (cropped).jpg four-track 280 tape deck, identical to the model used for Pet Sounds{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=108}}]]

Compared to Spector's Wall of Sound, Wilson's productions achieved greater technical complexity through his use of four-track and eight-track recording.{{cite AV media notes |first=Mark |last=Linett |author-link=Mark Linett |chapter=Notes on Recording and Mixing |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Recording_Mixing_Notes.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427203719/http://albumlinernotes.com/Recording_Mixing_Notes.html |archive-date=April 27, 2022}} While Spector recorded live ensemble takes in mono on three-track machines,{{cite web |last1=Buskin |first1=Richard |title=CLASSIC TRACKS: The Ronettes 'Be My Baby' |date=April 2007 |website=Sound on Sound |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr07/articles/classictracks_0407.htm |access-date=August 19, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160620224552/https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-ronettes-be-my-baby |archive-date=June 20, 2016}} Wilson employed a Scully four-track 288 tape recorder for initial backing tracks, later transferring them to eight-track.{{sfn|Moorefield|2010|p=18}} Instruments were grouped across three tracks: drums, percussion, and keyboards; horns; and bass with additional percussion and guitar. A fourth track held temporary reference mixes, later replaced by overdubs like strings. Once Wilson was satisfied with a track, Britz provided a 7½ IPS tape copy for him to take home for further evaluation.

Principal recording commenced on January 18 with the basic track for "Let's Go Away for Awhile" at Western Studio 3. Sessions for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" began at Gold Star Studio A on January 22, while "Caroline, No" was tracked at Western Studio 3 on January 31. February saw more activity: "I Know There's an Answer" (February 9), "Don't Talk" (February 11), "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" (February 14 at Gold Star), and "That's Not Me" (February 15) were all recorded at Western Studio 3. March sessions included "I'm Waiting for the Day" (March 6) and "God Only Knows" (March 10) at Western, alongside "Here Today" (March 10 or 11 at Sunset Sound).

{{quote box

| align = left

| width = 25%

| quote =[...] it took us quite a while to adjust [...] because it wasn't music you could necessarily dance to—it was more like music you could make love to.

| source = —Al Jardine{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=166}}

}}

Pet Sounds is sometimes considered a Brian Wilson solo album,{{sfn|Hoskyns|2009|p=106}}{{sfn|Bogdanov|Woodstra|Erlewine|2002|p=72}}{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|p=20}} including by Wilson himself, who later called it his "first solo album" and "a chance to step outside the group and shine".{{sfn|Umphred|1997|p=31}} Except for Mike Love, who received phone previews of tracks from Wilson, other band members were not consulted during production,{{sfn|White|1996|p=254}} though Brian had played excerpts to Dennis and Carl during their time in Japan.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}} Upon returning to the studio on February 9,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=111}} the bandmates were presented with recordings that jarred with their expectations.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=149}}

File:Mike Love Pet Sounds.jpg

Critiques among the band members focused on lyrics rather than music,{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=85}} with additional concerns about replicating the complex arrangements in live performances.{{cite magazine |last=Sky |first=Rick |date=November 2, 2016 |title=Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds – Royal Albert Hall, 28 October 2016 Live Review |url=http://www.contactmusic.com/brian-wilson/music/brian-wilson-presents-pet-sounds-royal-albert-hall-28-october-2016 |url-status=live |magazine=Contactmusic.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119160423/https://www.contactmusic.com/brian-wilson/music/brian-wilson-presents-pet-sounds-royal-albert-hall-28-october-2016 |archive-date=January 19, 2021}} In his 2016 memoir, Brian claimed Carl embraced the album while Love and Dennis initially did not.{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|p=182}} Dennis, in 1976, dismissed rumors of dissent as "interesting", insisting no member matched Brian's talent or opposed his vision.{{cite interview |interviewer=Pete Fornatale |title=WNEW-FM |type=Interview: Audio |location=New York City |date=November 1976 |subject=Wilson, Dennis}}; {{YouTube|cVItbEJBkJM|Dennis Wilson – Pete Fornatale Interview 1976}} Carl rejected such reports as "bullshit", declaring universal affection for the project during its creation{{cite magazine |last1=Robertson |first1=Sandy |date=April 19, 1980 |title=The Beach Boys: The Life of Brian |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beach-boys-the-life-of-brian |magazine=Sounds |via=Rock's Backpages |url-access=subscription}} and later stating in 1996, "We knew that this was really good music."{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Comments by Carl Wilson |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet|chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Comments_by_Carl_Wilson.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427191940/http://albumlinernotes.com/Comments_by_Carl_Wilson.html |archive-date=April 27, 2022}} Love stated his sole objection targeted the original lyrics of "I Know There's an Answer".{{sfn|Love|2016|p=131}}{{refn|group=nb|Jardine described Love as "very confused" by the album's direction, calling him a "formula hound" dependent on clear hooks.}}

Brian, in 1976, remembered arguments about the project being "too arty",{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=114}} while Marilyn later said that his bandmates had struggled "to understand what he was going through emotionally and what he wanted to create [...] they didn't feel what he was going through and what direction he was trying to go in." Asher stated the bandmates—"certainly Al, Dennis, and Mike"—frequently voiced objections such as "What the fuck do these words mean?" and "This isn't our kind of shit!", recalling "those were tense sessions."{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=83}} Notwithstanding such remarks, he added that the bandmates never "really challenged Brian" on his direction for the group because they had felt "they weren't talented enough" to make such judgments.{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=22}} He said Love's objections centered on the album's suitability for the Beach Boys' brand—reservations which Jardine shared{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=84}}—rather than its artistic quality.{{cite AV media |title=Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile |medium=Documentary |year=2004 |people=Leaf, David (Director)}} Jardine recalled initial hesitance toward the stylistic shift, saying the material required adjustment{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=166}} but that he "grew to really appreciate it as soon as we started to work on it".{{cite magazine |last1=Sharp |first1=Ken |date=July 28, 2000 |title=Alan Jardine: A Beach Boy still riding the waves |url=http://www.brianwilsonfans.com/page11.php |url-status=dead |magazine=Goldmine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130109022135/http://brianwilsonfans.com/page11.php |archive-date=January 9, 2013}}

According to Brian, his bandmates were concerned that he might depart for a solo career, as he dominated the album's artistic direction.{{cite magazine |last1=Cromelin |first1=Richard |date=October 1976 |title=Surf's Up! Brian Wilson Comes Back From Lunch |magazine=Creem}} He acknowledged their resistance to his vocal prominence, stating he "wanted people to know it was more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys album."{{sfn|Umphred|1997|p=32}} Love later wrote that he had desired "a greater hand in some of the songs and been able to incorporate more often my 'lead voice,' which we'd had so much success with."{{sfn|Love|2016|p=135}} Brian conceded that tensions eased when the group accepted the project "was still the Beach Boys" despite being "a showcase" for himself: "In other words, they gave in. They let me have my little stint."{{sfn|Leaf|1978|pp=85–86}}

File:Carl Brian Al.jpg

Vocal overdubs occurred at Western and CBS Columbia Square{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=123}} from February to April. The bandmates often arrived unprepared, with Britz recalling minimal rehearsal as they typically began singing immediately. Jardine explained that Brian individually coached each member on their vocal parts at a piano. Following nightly playback sessions, members occasionally opted to re-record sections they deemed improvable.{{cite web |last1=Sharp |first1=Ken |title=Al Jardine of the Beach Boys: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About "SMiLE" (Interview) |url=http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/04/02/al-jardine-smile-beach-boys-interview |website=Rock Cellar Magazine |access-date=July 2, 2014 |date=April 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714111352/http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/04/02/al-jardine-smile-beach-boys-interview/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=dead }}

{{Listen

|pos=right

|filename=Wouldn't It Be Nice vocals.ogg

|title=Group vocals of "Wouldn't It Be Nice"

|description=Isolated vocals excerpt of "Wouldn't It Be Nice". Mike Love remembered, "We would [sing] over again until it was right. [Brian] was going for every subtle nuance that you could conceivably think of."

}}

The vocal sessions demanded unprecedented precision for the group,{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=168, 172}} with Love recalling Brian's meticulous scrutiny of harmonies, often requiring multiple retakes for minor pitch deviations. Love affectionately nicknamed Brian "dog ears" at the sessions due to his acute auditory sensitivity and insisting on exacting tonal and rhythmic accuracy, sometimes discarding completed tracks the following day to re-record them.{{cite AV media notes |first=Brad |last=Elliot |chapter=Pet Sounds Liner Notes |title=Pet Sounds |others=The Beach Boys |year=1999 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=CD Liner |chapter-url=http://www.beachboysfanclub.com/ps-liner.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210144947/http://beachboysfanclub.com/ps-liner.html |archive-date=February 10, 2017}}

Recording employed Neumann U-47 (for Dennis, Carl, and Jardine) and Shure 545 microphones (for Brian's leads),{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Musician Comments: Chuck Britz |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Chuck_Britz.html |access-date=May 28, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615095656/http://albumlinernotes.com/Chuck_Britz.html |archive-date=June 15, 2015}} with Love requiring an additional microphone for his lower register. Brian allocated six tracks for individual vocals to refine balance during mixing. Mono overdubs utilized eight-track recorders, reserving one channel for supplementary layers. Columbia Studios hosted five songs, being the sole Los Angeles facility equipped with eight-track technology during the sessions: "God Only Knows", "Here Today", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", and "I'm Waiting for the Day".{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=133–134}}

Tape effects were limited to slapback echo and reverb. Mark Linett, who engineered Wilson's recordings after the 1980s, states that the reverb resembles plate reverb units more than echo chambers, explaining that the album's distinctive sound stems from reverb being applied during live recording sessions rather than added afterward, as is common in modern music production.{{cite magazine |last1=Smotroff |first1=Mark |title=Pet Project |magazine=EQ |date=June 1996 |volume=7 |issue=6 |url=http://lukpac.org:8080/~lukpac/public/EQ%20decrypted.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141203195535/http://lukpac.org:8080/~lukpac/public/EQ%20decrypted.pdf |archive-date=December 3, 2014}} Wilson often isolated reverb on the timpani, a technique audible in "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "You Still Believe in Me", and "Don't Talk".{{sfn|Everett|2008|p=24}}

{{quote box

| align = right

| width = 25%

| quote = It was full of noise. You could hear him talking in the background. It was real sloppy. He had spent all this time making the album, and zip—dubbed it down in one day or something like that. [When we said something to him about it] he took it back and mixed it properly. I think a lot of times, beautiful orchestrated stuff or parts got lost in his mixes.

| source = —Saxophonist Steve Douglas recalling the album's draft mix{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Musician Comments: Steve Douglas |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Interview_w_Brian_Wilson.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427191939/http://albumlinernotes.com/Interview_w_Brian_Wilson.html |archive-date=27 April 2022}}

}}

Late overdubs, such as strings for "Don't Talk" (April 3) and a final adjustment for "I Know There's an Answer" (around April 17), completed the album's principal recording. Mixing occurred within days in a single nine-hour session,{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|p=20}} initially planned for vocal overdubs on "Let's Go Away for Awhile" before Capitol redirected it to mixing.{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|p=24}} Most time was spent blending vocals with the pre-mixed mono instrumental track.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=179}}

The original mono mix featured numerous technical flaws that contrasted with its refined arrangements and performances,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=179}} alongside countertextural aspects emphasizing its recorded nature.{{sfn|Lowe|2007|pp=38, 219}} Among the most prominent examples: an audible tape splice occurs in "Wouldn't It Be Nice" between the chorus and Love's bridge vocal entrance, while a distant conversation was accidentally captured during the instrumental break of "Here Today" amid a vocal overdub.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=180}} Biographer David Leaf characterized these imperfections as "not sloppy recording, [but] part of the music".{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=82}} Wilson's mixing process faced technical constraints, such as simultaneously recording overdubs while mixing existing tracks and combining multiple recordings into a single mono channel in real time, which risked unintended artifacts like noise or oversights due to limited monitoring. Granata posits Wilson "felt that performance and feeling outweighed technical perfection", akin to Spector's production ethos, and may have overlooked minor anomalies that were less noticeable on 1960s playback systems.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=189}}

A true stereo mix of Pet Sounds was not pursued in 1966 due to logistical constraints. Wilson deliberately mixed in mono, as Spector often did, believing it offered greater control over sound reproduction, unaffected by variables in speaker placement or playback systems. At the time, most consumer audio equipment and broadcasts were monophonic.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=126–127}} Another factor was Wilson's near-total deafness in his right ear.{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|p=138}} The unprecedented production costs totaled $70,000 (equivalent to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|70000|1966|r=-4}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}).{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=146}}

{{listen|pos=

|filename=Beach Boys-wouldn t it be nice.ogg|title=Intro of "Wouldn't It Be Nice"|description="Wouldn't It Be Nice" introduces the album with a sound often mistaken as a harp.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=106}} The instrument is a 12-string mando-guitar plugged directly into the recording console.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=145, 149}}}}

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" portrays a young couple longing for adult independence.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=90}} Asher cited it as the sole track for which he wrote lyrics to match Wilson's fully composed melody.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=91}} Recording the band's vocals required more studio time than any other song, as the group struggled to meet Wilson's standards for their performance.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=168, 172}}

"You Still Believe in Me" introduces introspective themes later echoed throughout the album,{{sfn|Perone|2012|pp=28, 30}} exploring self-awareness of personal shortcomings amid his partner's enduring devotion.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=92}} Wilson characterized the song as depicting a man's emotional vulnerability through an effeminate perspective.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=150}} He and Asher crafted its ethereal introduction by plucking piano strings with a bobby pin.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=150}}

File:Dennis Wilson 1966.jpg |date=June 1967 |url-access=subscription|via=Rock's Backpages}}]]

"That's Not Me" features multiple key modulations and mood shifts,{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|pp=55–56}} and is the track that most closely resembles a conventional rock song.{{cite web |last=Mason |first=Stewart |title=Song review |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/thats-not-me-t6417939 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428155309/https://www.allmusic.com/song/thats-not-me-mt0033359914 |archive-date=April 28, 2022 |website=AllMusic}} Its lyrics depict a young man's journey toward self-realization, concluding that companionship outweighs solitary ambition.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=93}} The track is distinguished as the only one on the album with most instrumental parts performed by the band members themselves.

"Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" is among the most harmonically complex songs that Wilson ever wrote,{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=123}} centering on non-verbal communication between lovers.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=94}} Granata highlights the track's "exquisite use" of word painting, exemplified by a bassline mimicking a heartbeat on the lyric "Listen to my heart beat", reinforced by timpani accents.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=94, 154}} Departing from his earlier work, Wilson incorporated a string sextet (violins, viola, and cello) to achieve a "dark, expressive" tone that Granata likens to the style of Johannes Brahms.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=155}}

"I'm Waiting for the Day" follows a protagonist attempting to comfort a guarded, emotionally wounded love interest.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=94}} It blends jazz chords with doo-wop progressions alongside orchestral instrumentation featuring timpani, English horn, flutes, and a string section interlude.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=242–244}} Carl praised the arrangement's dramatic shifts between minimalist verses and harmonically rich choruses, calling it "perhaps one of the most dynamic moments in the album."{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p=92}} Originally registered as Brian's solo composition in 1964, it was co-credited to Love, who made a minor adjustment to Brian's lyrics.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=242–244}}

File:Burt Bacharach 1972.JPG" on the work of Burt Bacharach (pictured).{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=96}} ]]

"Let's Go Away for Awhile" is the first instrumental, featuring 12 violins, piano, four saxophones, oboe, vibraphones, and a Coca-Cola bottle used as a guitar slide.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=95}} In 1966, Wilson considered the track to be "the finest piece of art" he had made up to that point, adding that every component of its production had "worked perfectly". Musicologist Larry Starr highlights the piece's unusual AABCC structure as an example of the album's occasional formal experimentation.{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=265}}

File:SpongeFleetNassauBahamas-c1900.jpg" is a traditional folk song about a boat from Nassau (pictured circa 1900) ]]

Jardine proposed adapting the traditional Caribbean folk song "Sloop John B", which he knew from the Kingston Trio.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=96–97}} Wilson's arrangement blended rock with marching band instrumentation, incorporating flutes, glockenspiel, bass saxophone, bass, guitar, and drums.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=149}} Jardine likened the result to John Philip Sousa's marches.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=98}} Wilson modified the original lyric from "this is the worst trip since I've been born" to "I've ever been on", a revision possibly alluding to psychedelic experiences.{{cite news |last=Matthew |first=Jacobs |date=April 16, 2013 |title=LSD's 70th Anniversary: 10 Rock Lyrics From The 1960s That Pay Homage To Acid |work=HuffPost |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/lsd-70th-anniversary_n_3092536.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224135246/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lsd-70th-anniversary_n_3092536 |archive-date=February 24, 2021}}{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=35}}

Wilson included "Sloop John B" at Capitol's insistence, anticipating its commercial success following its single release.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=98}} Commentators often refer to the track as diverging thematically from the album's introspective love songs and personal reflections, being the only composition not written by Wilson. Fusilli contends that its textural elements—including "chiming" guitars, doubled basses, and staccato rhythms—align with the album's sonic palette.{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p={{page needed|date=June 2020}}}} Perone and music historian Jim DeRogatis highlight its thematic consistency with the album's exploration of emotional displacement, particularly through lyrics expressing a longing to escape difficult circumstances.{{sfn|Perone|2012|p=28}}{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=35}} The refrain "I want to go home" echoes motifs present in the title of "Let's Go Away for Awhile" and lyrics of the later track "Caroline, No".{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=35}}{{clear}}

{{listen|pos=left

|filename=God Only Knows choral fantasy.ogg|title=Bridge of "God Only Knows"|description=The basic rhythmic feel of "God Only Knows" blends harpsichord, piano, sleigh bells, and strings with slapback echo.{{sfn|Zak|2001|p=88}} Lambert describes the song as the album's "musical high point".{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=127}}

}}

"God Only Knows" depicts a narrator contemplating the end of a romantic relationship, asserting that life without their partner could only be fathomed by God.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=244}} It challenged pop music conventions of the mid-1960s by explicitly referencing "God" in its title and lyrics—an action then considered taboo, with at least one recent prior instance of a radio ban due to a song containing words such as "hell" and "damn".{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=82}} Wilson and Asher debated the risks of limited airplay, as well as the deceptive opening line, "I may not always love you".{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=100–101}} Wilson credited Asher with ultimately broadening his songwriting approach, inspiring the song through discussions of standards like "Stella by Starlight". Its harmonic structure features an ambiguous tonal center,{{sfn|Harrison|1997|p=39}} an element cited by musicologist Stephen Downes as contributing to its innovation within pop music and the Baroque style it emulates.{{sfn|Downes|2014|pp=36–38}}

File:Al Jardine Pet Sounds.jpg" featured a lead vocal from Jardine]]

"I Know There's an Answer", initially titled "Let Go Your Ego" and "Hang On to Your Ego",{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=104–105}} portrays an individual reluctant to advise others on improving their lifestyle.{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|p=90}} Its lyrics sparked internal controversy over perceived allusions to drug culture.{{sfn|Love|2016|pp=105, 131–132}}{{refn|group=nb|Loren Schwartz, who introduced Wilson to LSD, later reflected that Wilson experienced "the full-on ego death. It was a beautiful thing."{{sfn|Carlin|2006|pp=174–175}}}} Wilson later stated that the original chorus contained "an inappropriate lyric" which he dedicated "a lot of thought" before revising,{{cite magazine |last1=Valania |first1=Jonathon |title=Bittersweet Symphony |magazine=Magnet |date=August–September 1999 |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.music.artists.beach-boys/gI4CokP5A7Q}} resulting in a song he later described as rejecting escapist LSD culture.{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|pp=179–180}} The track feature a bass harmonica solo performed by session musician Tommy Morgan.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=150}} According to Lambert, "More so than any other song on the album, this one celebrates instruments and instrumental colours."{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=128}}

"Here Today" is narrated from an ex-boyfriend's perspective{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|p=24}} warning of inevitable heartbreak in new relationships.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=105}} Wilson described the track as an experiment in basslines, aiming to feature a bass guitar played an octave higher as the lead instrument.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=163}} It was the last song written for the album.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=248}}{{refn|group=nb|Asher said, "'Here Today' contains a little more of me both lyrically and melodically than Brian."{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=16}}}} Perone suggested that the high-register bass echoes elements of "God Only Knows", interpreting the narrator as cautioning the latter's protagonist about the impermanence of romantic promises.{{sfn|Perone|2012|p=29}}

"I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" addresses social alienation.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=106–107}} Wilson described the song as depicting someone like himself "crying because he thought he was too advanced" and might "leave people behind".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=108}} The instrumentation incorporates harpsichord, tack piano, flutes, temple blocks, timpani, and an Electro-Theremin performed by its inventor Paul Tanner.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=151–152}} Lambert called the chorus vocals, constructed through repeat overdubbing, emblematic of his "progressive vision for the album".{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=130}}

"Run, James, Run" served as the working title for the second instrumental track, "Pet Sounds", initially intended for use in a James Bond film. Its percussion involved Coca-Cola cans and a güiro. Perone observes that while the piece emphasizes lead guitar—aligning with the Beach Boys' surf music background—its "elaborate arrangement", featuring layered "auxiliary percussion", "abruptly changing textures", and minimal use of traditional rock drumming, distinguishes it from a surf composition.{{sfn|Perone|2012|p=29}} Lambert interprets the track as a "musical synopsis" of the album's key themes and a reflective pause for the narrator following the emotional climax of "Here Today".{{sfn|Lambert|2008|pp=114–115, 131}}

File:SP 6461 Above Caliente PRS SPec Apr71x4.jpg

"Caroline, No" grapples with lost innocence.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=110}} Asher conceived the title as "Carol, I Know", which Wilson misheard as "Caroline, No"—a revision Asher deemed more impactful.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=111}} Wilson considered the song "probably the best I've ever written", framing it as a melancholic reflection on irretrievable love.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=112}} The track opens with the sound of a struck Sparkletts water cooler jug{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=149}} and concludes with a fade-out featuring Wilson's dogs barking alongside sounds of passing trains sampled from the 1963 sound effects album Mister D's Machine.{{cite magazine |last1=Runtagh |first1=Jordan |date=May 16, 2016 |title=Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds': 15 Things You Didn't Know |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/beach-boys-pet-sounds-15-things-you-didnt-know-186297/ |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028112353/https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/beach-boys-pet-sounds-15-things-you-didnt-know-186297/ |archive-date=October 28, 2021}}

"The Little Girl I Once Knew", which may be considered part of the Pet Sounds sessions, was not included on the album. Writer Neal Umphred speculated that the song might have been considered for the LP and would have probably been included had the single been more commercially successful.{{sfn|Umphred|1997|p=36}}

On October 15, 1965, Wilson recorded an instrumental titled "Three Blind Mice" with a 43-piece orchestra; the piece was unrelated to the nursery rhyme of the same name and later debuted on the Beach Boys' 2011 compilation The Smile Sessions. That day, he also recorded instrumental renditions of "How Deep Is the Ocean?" and "Stella by Starlight".{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=102}} Leaf states the latter song was reportedly a coincidence, as it was a favorite of Asher.{{cite AV media notes |first=David |last=Leaf |author-link=David Leaf |chapter=Pet Sounds – Perspective |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Pet_Sounds_-_Perspective.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026083526/http://albumlinernotes.com/Pet_Sounds_-_Perspective.html |archive-date=October 26, 2021 |url-status=live}} Biographer Mark Dillon surmised these recordings were experimental exercises in capturing orchestral sounds, possibly preparing for the string ensemble used in "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)", and likely never intended for release.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=71}} Another instrumental, "Trombone Dixie", was recorded on November 1.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=103}} According to Wilson, "I was just foolin' around one day, fuckin' around with the musicians, and I took that arrangement out of my briefcase and we did it in 20 minutes. It was nothing, there was really nothing in it."{{cite magazine |first=Jacopo |last=Benci |title=Brian Wilson interview |magazine=Record Collector |date=January 1995 |issue=185 |location=UK}} It was released as a bonus track on the album's 1990 CD reissue.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=103}}

During late 1965, portions of the Pet Sounds sessions were dedicated to experimental endeavors, including an extended a cappella rendition of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" that highlighted its round structure. Granata described the track as "very low-key and relatively simple", praising its "effectively lavish layer of recorded vocal harmonies".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=102}} As part of his experiments, Wilson recorded humorous skits and sound effects for a proposed psychedelic comedy album.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=102}} At least two of these sketches—"Dick" and "Fuzz"—survive, featuring Wilson, a woman named Carol, and the Honeys. The recordings remain officially unreleased.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=102}}{{refn|group=nb|In "Dick", Carol asks Wilson, "What's long and thin and full of skin and heaven knows how many holes it's been in?", then responds to Wilson's guess ("Dick?") with, "No, a worm", followed by both individuals bursting into forced laughter. Wilson requested six retakes.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=102}}}}

File:Good Vibrations Single Advertisement - October 1966.jpg", initially an outtake from the Pet Sounds sessions]]

Between February and March 1966, Wilson recorded "Good Vibrations", initially a co-authorship with Asher, who recalled the song originated from Capitol's demand for a new single.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=112, 205}} Wilson ultimately delivered "Sloop John B" to the label instead and excluded "Good Vibrations" from the album, despite objections from the band.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=98, 112}} Its replacement by the title track was documented in a March 3 Capitol memo.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=118, 120}}

The front cover depicts the band members—Carl, Brian, and Dennis, Love, and Jardine (left to right)—feeding apples to goats at the San Diego Zoo while wearing coats and sweaters.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=85}} A green band header displays the artist name, album title, and track list,{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=85}} partially using the Cooper Black typeface.{{cite web |author=Ellie Violet Bramley |date=April 10, 2017 |title=Just my type: how Cooper Black became 2017's most fashionable font |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/apr/10/just-my-type-how-cooper-black-became-2017s-most-fashionable-font |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812173820/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/apr/10/just-my-type-how-cooper-black-became-2017s-most-fashionable-font |archive-date=August 12, 2017 |access-date=August 12, 2017 |work=The Guardian}}{{cite web |last=Eisinger |first=Dale |date=August 28, 2013 |title=9. Entry into Music – The Complete History of the Cooper Black Font in Hip-Hop |url=http://www.complex.com/style/2013/08/cooper-black-font-hip-hop-album-covers/entry-into-music |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812174403/https://www.complex.com/style/2013/08/cooper-black-font-hip-hop-album-covers/ |archive-date=August 12, 2017 |access-date=August 12, 2017 |work=Complex}} Johnston, who had joined the band unofficially, is absent due to contractual restraints with Columbia Records.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=93, 116–117}} The back cover includes a monochrome montage of the touring band performing onstage, posing in samurai attire during their Japan tour, and two images of Brian.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=85}}

Jardine expressed disappointment with the zoo photo, stating he had wanted something "more sensitive and enlightening".{{cite news |last1=Luling |first1=Todd Van |date=May 16, 2016 |title=The Beach Boys Finally Confirm Those Legends About 'Pet Sounds' |work=HuffPost |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/beach-boys-pet-sounds_us_5730fcd5e4b096e9f09258e4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314171105/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beach-boys-pet-sounds_n_5730fcd5e4b096e9f09258e4 |archive-date=March 14, 2022}} Johnston dubbed it the "worst cover in the history of the record business",{{cite web |last1=Sharp |first1=Ken |title=Bruce Johnston On the Beach Boys' Enduring Legacy (Interview) |url=https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/09/04/bruce-johnston-interview-beach-boys/ |website=Rock Cellar Magazine |date=September 4, 2013 |access-date=September 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919063506/http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/09/04/bruce-johnston-interview-beach-boys/ |archive-date=September 19, 2018 |url-status=dead }} while biographer Peter Ames Carlin deemed the back cover's design "even worse" than the front.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=85}} Author Peter Doggett contrasted its aesthetic with mid-1960s sophisticated cover art by contemporaries like the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, calling it "a warning of what could happen when music and image parted company: songs of high romanticism, an album cover of stark banality."{{sfn|Doggett|2016|p=393}}

File:Brian+Wilson+Pet+Sounds+Era+Brian.jpg]]

In his memoir, Love wrote that Capitol organized the cover shoot after proposing the album title Our Freaky Friends, with the animals representing the "freaky friends".{{sfn|Love|2016|p=133}} When asked about the cover's origin in 2016, Wilson could not remember who suggested the zoo.{{cite web |last1=Gilstrap |first1=Peter |date=June 16, 2016 |title=The epic tale of the Beach Boys and the 'Pet Sounds' goats |url=http://curious.kcrw.com/2016/06/the-epic-tale-of-the-beach-boys-and-the-pet-sounds-goats |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711071124/https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand/the-epic-tale-of-the-beach-boys-and-the-pet-sounds-goats |archive-date=July 11, 2021 |website=KCRW}} Jardine recalled that Pet Sounds had already been selected as the title prior to the shoot, initially misunderstanding "pet" as slang for romantic encounters, and attributed the final concept to Capitol's art department. Though some sources cite Remember the Zoo as a working title,{{cite news |last1=Varga |first1=George |date=June 26, 2016 |title=Who got the Beach Boys' goat at the San Diego Zoo? |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sdut-beach-boys-did-not-enjoy-pet-sounds-zoo-photo-2016jun26-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918202302/https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sdut-beach-boys-did-not-enjoy-pet-sounds-zoo-photo-2016jun26-story.html |archive-date=September 18, 2021}} this originated as a 1990s fan-created hoax.{{cite web |last1=Doe |first1=Andrew G. |date=n.d. |title=Unreleased albums |url=http://bellagio10452.com/unreleased.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918202254/http://bellagio10452.com/unreleased.html |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |access-date=September 18, 2021 |website=Bellagio 10452}}

{{external media

| float = left

| video1 = {{YouTube|id=DCM3i-nykp0|The Beach Boys Pet Sounds Shoot at San Diego Zoo 1966}}

}}

The cover photo was taken on February 10, 1966, by photographer George Jerman.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=115–116}} Local KFMB-TV reporters filmed the shoot; their footage was lost until 2021.{{cite news |last1=Zevely |first1=Jeff |title=Discovered: Lost footage of Beach Boys at the San Diego Zoo in 1966 |url=https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/zevely-zone/lost-footage-beach-boys-san-diego-zoo/509-2a90313f-8b22-425a-80f5-a12c381deceb |access-date=March 31, 2021 |date=February 9, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418060555/https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/zevely-zone/lost-footage-beach-boys-san-diego-zoo/509-2a90313f-8b22-425a-80f5-a12c381deceb |archive-date=April 18, 2021}} A San Diego Union report stated the group visited the zoo for their album Our Freaky Friends, with zoo staff initially objecting to the title but relenting when told animals were popular with teenagers. The Beach Boys had aimed to capitalize on this trend before the rock band the Animals,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=117}} who had released an album titled Animal Tracks months earlier.{{cite web |website=AllMusic |title=Animal Tracks |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000120672 |first=Bruce |last=Eder |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308073550/https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000120672 |archive-date=March 8, 2021}} The zoo banned the group, accusing them of mishandling animals, though the ban was later lifted.

During the March 1966 dog barking studio session for "Caroline, No", Brian proposed photographing Carl's horse at Western Studio, an exchange that was documented on tape.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=165}}{{refn|group=nb|Brian asked Britz: "Hey, Chuck, is it possible we can bring a horse in here without ... if we don't screw everything up?", to which an audibly startled Britz responds, "I beg your pardon?", with Brian then pleading, "Honest to God, now, the horse is tame and everything!"{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=83}}}} Brian later told biographer Byron Preiss the album was named "after the dogs ... That was the whole idea".{{sfn|Preiss|1979|p=54}} Love credited himself with coining the title Pet Sounds,{{sfn|Love|2016|p=133}} a claim Wilson and Jardine endorsed in 2016. Love recalled suggesting the title in a studio hallway, inspired by the zoo photos and animal sounds on the record."{{cite AV media notes |first=Mike |last=Love |author-link=Mike Love |chapter=The Making of Pet Sounds: Preface |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/The_Making_of_Pet_Sounds.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026092427/http://albumlinernotes.com/The_Making_of_Pet_Sounds.html |archive-date=October 26, 2021}} Wilson consulted Asher, who disapproved, feeling that the title had "trivialized what we had accomplished".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=82}}

Carl stated in 1996 that he was uncertain who devised the title, but recalled that it originated from Brian's concept of compiling his favorite musical "pet sounds", remarking, "It was hard to think of a name for the album, because you sure couldn't call it Shut Down Vol. 3.{{refn|group=nb|In the 1990s, Brian attributed the title to Carl.{{cite AV media notes |first=David |last=Leaf |author-link=David Leaf |chapter=Song by Song Notes |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Song_by_Song_Notes.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427193319/http://albumlinernotes.com/Song_by_Song_Notes.html |archive-date=April 27, 2022}}}} Brian also suggested the name paid homage to Phil Spector through shared initials (PS).{{cite news |last1=O'Hagan |first1=Sean |author-link1=Sean O'Hagan (journalist) |date=January 5, 2002 |title=A Boy's Own Story |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/jan/06/features.review87 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314004011/https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/jan/06/features.review87 |archive-date=March 14, 2021}} Wilson's 1991 memoir claims the title was inspired by Love dismissively asking, "Who's gonna hear this shit? The ears of a dog?"{{sfn|Harrison|1997|p=54}}—a statement Love denied in 2016.{{cite magazine |last1=Hedegaard |first1=Erik |date=February 17, 2016 |title=The Ballad of Mike Love |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-ballad-of-mike-love-20160217 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222021009/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-ballad-of-mike-love-170168/ |archive-date=February 22, 2022}}

On March 7, Wilson's first solo record, the "Caroline No" single (B-side "Summer Means New Love" from Summer Days) was released,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=124}} igniting speculation about his departure from the Beach Boys.{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=23}} It charted at number 32 during a seven-week stay.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=124}} The Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" (B-side "You're So Good to Me" from Summer Days), issued March 21, reached number 3.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=122}}

After completing Pet Sounds, Wilson played the album for his wife, who later described the experience as profoundly moving and "spiritual", recalling they both cried, while he worried its complexity might alienate listeners.{{cite AV media notes |chapter=The Observers: Marilyn Wilson |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Marilyn_Wilson_Comments.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427203720/http://albumlinernotes.com/Marilyn_Wilson_Comments.html |archive-date=April 27, 2022}} Capitol staff reacted with confusion to the album's unconventional style. Producer Nik Venet believed Wilson "was screwing up", claiming he was "no longer looking to make records" but seeking industry attention and antagonizing his father with unrelatable songs and melodies.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=186}} Capitol A&R director Karl Engemann supported Wilson, later recalling that while he recognized the album's departure from the Beach Boys' earlier surf-themed hits, he was swayed by Wilson's enthusiasm. During a sales meeting, marketing personnel reportedly expressed disappointment.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=186}}{{refn|group=nb|According to Love, "I was with Brian when we went up to Capitol to play the album for Karl. He was a heck of a nice guy, and even though he liked Pet Sounds a lot, he asked if we couldn't make more records like the old [surf] stuff."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=186}}}} The executives initially debated rejecting the album but approved it after several meetings, including one where Wilson used a tape recorder with pre-recorded answers to address their concerns.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=131}}

Pet Sounds was released on May 16, debuting at number 106 on the Billboard charts. It had initial sales of 200,000 copies.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=134}} In the U.S., it peaked at number 10 on July 2 and remained on the chart for ten months, a moderate commercial performance compared to the band's earlier albums.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=184}} Total sales were estimated at 500,000 units,{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=85}} but the RIAA did not grant it immediate gold certification—the first Beach Boys album since 1963 to lack this designation upon release.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=134}}

File:Cashbox27unse 40 0013.jpg magazine in May 1966. Dennis, Johnston, Melcher, Asher and Britz can also be seen.]]

Granata described the promotional campaign as "halfhearted" and "self-serving",{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=186}} while journalist Peter Doggett disputed claims of deliberate sabotage, which he called "a pop myth", asserting Pet Sounds was promoted as heavily as the Beach Boys' prior releases.{{sfn|Doggett|2016|p=372}} Capitol's campaign for the album included full-page Billboard ads and radio spots that maintained the group's established image without acknowledging the album's new direction. The radio spots featured comedy skits by the band that omitted musical excerpts, depending solely on their name recognition.{{sfn|Butler|2012|pp=231–232}} Johnston and Carl later criticized Capitol's efforts, alleging insufficient promotion compared to past releases.{{cite AV media notes |chapter=Comments by Bruce Johnston |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Comments_Bruce_Johnston.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513220440/http://albumlinernotes.com/Comments_Bruce_Johnston.html |archive-date=May 13, 2022}} Carl suggested the label relied on existing airplay instead. Some observers surmised Capitol viewed the album as commercially risky, targeting older general audiences over the band's core younger female demographic.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=47}}

Two months after the album's release, Capitol issued the compilation Best of the Beach Boys, which earned rapid RIAA gold certification{{sfn|Carlin|2006|pp=85–86}} and further hindered Pet Sounds{{'}} commercial performance{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=186}} According to Engemann, the label's marketing team had doubted Pet Sounds{{'}} commercial potential and sought to bolster quarterly sales.{{cite AV media notes |chapter=The Observers: Karl Engemann |title=The Pet Sounds Sessions |others=The Beach Boys |year=1997 |publisher=Capitol Records |type=Booklet |chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Karl_Engemann_Comments.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008112204/http://albumlinernotes.com/Karl_Engemann_Comments.html |archive-date=October 8, 2021}} Contemporary reports state some stores received the compilation instead of Pet Sounds when ordered.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=141}} On July 18, the single "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (B-side "God Only Knows") was released, peaking at number 8.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=142}} Billboard later ranked the album at number 43 on its "Top Pop Albums of 1966" chart.{{sfn|Rosenberg|2009|p=230}}

In 2000, Pet Sounds was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA based on verifiable sales data, though Capitol estimated total sales exceeding two million copies.{{refn|group=nb|Capitol executive Mike Etchart speculated the album had likely reached double-platinum status (two million sales) in the U.S., attributing discrepancies to incomplete archival records and complications from licensing agreements with Warner Bros. in the late 1960s.{{cite magazine |last=Boehlert |first=Eric |date=March 10, 2000 |title=Lost Paperwork to Blame for 'Pet Sounds' Meager Sales Numbers |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lost-paperwork-to-blame-for-pet-sounds-meager-sales-numbers-20000310 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York, New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104050820/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lost-paperwork-to-blame-for-pet-sounds-meager-sales-numbers-187200/ |archive-date=November 4, 2018 |access-date=December 21, 2016}}}} Certification required documented shipment records, which Capitol struggled to provide due to lost or scattered paperwork from 1966 to 1985.{{refn|group=nb|The label initially withdrew its certification request when unable to locate historical sales figures but later submitted partial data from the prior 15 years, resulting in a gold certification for approximately 670,000 units sold. RIAA awarded account for shipments to retailers, differing from SoundScan's tracking of individual sales, which reported 210,000 copies sold between 1991 and 2000.}}

{{quote box|

|quote=Personally, I think the group has evolved another 800 per cent in the last year. We have a more conscious, arty production now that's more polished. It's all been like an explosion for us. [...] it's like I'm in the golden age of what it's all about.

|source=—Brian Wilson quoted in Melody Maker, March 1966{{cite magazine |last=Grevatt |first=Ren |title=Beach Boys' Blast |magazine=Melody Maker |date=March 19, 1966|page=3}}

|width = 25%

|align = right

}}

Carl stated that while the Beach Boys recognized shifting music industry trends, Capitol had maintained a fixed perception of the group that conflicted with their desired artistic presentation. In March, the band hired Nick Grillo as their manager after switching management firms{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=120}} and recruited Derek Taylor, the Beatles' former press officer, as their publicist.{{sfn|Butler|2012|p=231}} Taylor's reputation helped provide a credible external perspective on the band's evolving image and activities.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=91–93}} Responding to Brian's complaints regarding public perception of his talents,{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=27}} Taylor championed him as "a genius" as part of an effort to rebrand and legitimize the group.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=120, 142}}

In the UK, the band experienced limited commercial success until March 1966, when "Barbara Ann" and Beach Boys Party! both reached number 2 on the Record Retailer charts.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=122}} Two singles were issued in April: "Sloop John B" peaked at number 2, while "Caroline, No" did not chart.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=122, 124}} Capitalizing on their rising British popularity, the group filmed two music videos for Top of the Pops—one for "Sloop John B" and another for "God Only Knows"—with Taylor as director.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=130–131}}{{refn|group=nb|The first video was shot at Brian's Laurel Way residence with Dennis as cameraman; the second, filmed near Lake Arrowhead, depicted the band (excluding Johnston) wearing grotesque horror masks while playing Old Maid.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=130–131}} }} Though intended to incorporate excerpts from "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Here Today", the BBC slightly edited the "God Only Knows" video to reduce runtime. The "Sloop John B" video debuted on April 28.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=130–131}}

The band's British distributor EMI initially had no plans to release Pet Sounds in the UK as of late May but later scheduled its November release to coincide with the band's British tour.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=136, 139}} From May 16 to 21, Johnston and Taylor stayed at London's Waldorf Hotel to promote the album locally.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=134}} Through London-based producer Kim Fowley's connections, musicians, journalists, and guests including Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney and Who drummer Keith Moon attended repeated album playbacks in their suite.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=134–135}} Fowley likened the event to the Beatles' 1964 arrival at LaGuardia Airport, describing Johnston as "Jesus Christ in tennis shoes" and the album as "the Ten Commandments".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=191}} Moon facilitated Johnston's exposure on British television and introduced him to Lennon and McCartney.

File:Petsoundsadtext.jpg

EMI rush-released Pet Sounds in the UK on June 27 due to popular demand,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}} where it peaked at number 2, behind the soundtrack album for The Sound of Music (1965),{{sfn|Stanley|2013|p=163}} and remained in the top ten for six months.{{sfn|Gillett|1984|p=329}} Taylor is widely recognized as having been instrumental in this success, due to his longstanding connections with the Beatles and other industry figures in the UK.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=152}} The music press there carried advertisements saying that Pet Sounds was "The Most Progressive Pop Album Ever!"{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=81}}{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=207}} while Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham—also the Beach Boys' UK publisher{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=87}}—purchased a full-page Melody Maker advertisement declaring it "the greatest album ever made".{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=88}} The third UK single, "God Only Knows" (B-side "Wouldn't It Be Nice"), was released on July 22 and reached number 2.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=142}}

Pet Sounds became one of the five bestselling UK albums of 1966.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}} Capitalizing on the success of Beach Boys singles like "Barbara Ann", "Sloop John B", and "God Only Knows", EMI issued multiple existing Beach Boys albums in the UK market, including Party!, Today!, and Summer Days.{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=476}} Best of the Beach Boys spent five weeks at number 2 through year's end.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217020406/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1966.php|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1966.php|first=Sharon|last=Mawer|title=Album Chart History: 1966|publisher=The Official UK Charts Company|date=May 2007|archive-date=December 17, 2007|access-date=October 8, 2019}} By the final quarter of 1966, the Beach Boys surpassed British acts like the Beatles as the UK's top-selling album artists.{{cite magazine |last1=Andrews |first1=Grame |date=March 4, 1967 |title=Americans Regain Rule in England |magazine=Billboard Magazine |volume=79 |issue=9 |pages=1, 10 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=CykEAAAAMBAJ |page=1}} |access-date=April 27, 2013}}

In the U.S., early reviews of Pet Sounds varied from negative to cautiously favorable, according to Carlin.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=85}} Billboard called the album an "exciting, well-produced LP" with "two superb instrumental cuts" and highlighted the "strong single potential" of "Wouldn't It Be Nice"{{cite magazine |last1=Billboard{{'}}s Review Panel|title=Album Reviews|magazine=Billboard|date=May 28, 1966|volume=78|issue=21|page=68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PT1|access-date=April 19, 2016}} in a belated review.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=134}} Leaf, writing in 1978, said that while American critics had offered sporadic praise for the album, some fans spread word to avoid the "weird" new Beach Boys release.{{sfn|Leaf|1978|pp=86–87}}

Conversely, British music journalists had an overwhelmingly favorable response,{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=201–202}}{{sfn|Leaf|1978|pp=76, 87–88}} a reception partly attributed to promotional efforts by Taylor, Johnston, and Fowley.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=201–202}} Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner later recalled that British fans viewed the Beach Boys as "years ahead" of the Beatles and hailed Wilson as a "genius". Disc and Music Echo critic Penny Valentine praised the album as "Thirteen tracks of Brian Wilson genius", describing it as "far more romantic" than the group's typical upbeat fare: "sad little wistful songs about lost love and found love and all-around love."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=202}} Norman Jopling of Record Mirror reported that the LP had been "widely praised" and subjected to "no criticism". He prefaced his review as "unbiased", writing that his only "real complaint" with the album was the "terribly complicated and cluttered" arrangements,{{cite magazine |last1=Jopling |first1=Norman |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (Capitol) |magazine=Record Mirror |date=July 2, 1966 |url=http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-capitol}} and speculated it would primarily appeal to existing fans.{{sfn|Morgan|2015|p=109}} A contrasting review in Disc and Music Echo argued the album's "ambitious" instrumentation and contemporary relevance would attract "thousands of new fans", declaring it a "superb, important, and really exciting collection" that elevated the group's previously uneven output.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}}

Melody Maker surveyed musicians on whether Pet Sounds was revolutionary or "as sickly as peanut butter", concluding the album had a "considerable" impact on artists and industry figures.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}} Three of nine respondents—Keith Moon, Manfred Mann's Mike d'Abo, and Scott Walker of the Walker Brothers—disagreed that the album was revolutionary. D'Abo and Walker preferred the Beach Boys' earlier work, as did journalist and television presenter Barry Fantoni, who favored Today! and said Pet Sounds was "probably revolutionary, but I'm not sure that everything that's revolutionary is necessarily good".{{cite magazine |magazine=Melody Maker |title=Pet Sounds, the Most Progressive Pop Album ever OR as sickly as Peanut Butter |date=July 30, 1966}} Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend criticized the album as "too remote and way out" and tailored for "feminine" audiences,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}} though he later praised "God Only Knows" as "simple", "elegant", and "stunning when it first appeared; it still sounds perfect".{{cite web |url=http://www.brianwilson.com/brian/musicians.html |title=Musicians on Brian: Pete Townshend |publisher=Brian Wilson.com |access-date=March 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222124723/http://brianwilson.com/brian/musicians.html |archive-date=February 22, 2009}}

File:Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov) 01 by L. Bakst.jpg's 1888 symphony Scheherazade.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=201}}{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}}]]

By contrast, Spencer Davis of the Spencer Davis Group stated he became "a fan" of the Beach Boys after repeated listens of the album, calling Wilson "a great record producer."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}} Eric Clapton, then with Cream, said his band "loved the album" and deemed Wilson "without doubt a pop genius."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}} Andrew Loog Oldham told the magazine: "I think that Pet Sounds is the most progressive album of the year in as much as Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade was. It's the pop equivalent of that, a complete exercise in pop music."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=139}} In separate Melody Maker coverage, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones voiced his dislike of the album's songwriting, despite enjoying the record and its harmonies, while John Lennon acknowledged that Wilson was "doing some very great things".{{cite magazine|asin=B01AD99JMW|title=The History of Rock 1966|url=https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryOfRock1966/|date=2015|magazine=Uncut|pages=52, 141}} By late 1966, the magazine declared Pet Sounds and the Beatles' Revolver joint recipients of its "Pop Album of the Year" honor, explaining that its panel had deadlocked in debate before compromising on the dual selection.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=168}}

File:Brian Wilson,1960s.jpg

Wilson later stated that while Pet Sounds was well-received in Britain, he viewed its commercial underperformance in the U.S. as the collective public rejection of his artistry. His wife recalled that the tepid response "destroyed Brian", causing him to lose faith in music and others: "then when people would talk about it later, tell him how great it was, even if it was just a year later, he didn't want to hear about it. It reminded him of failing. And then he was more tortured." Reflecting on his brother's disappointment, Carl called the album "like going to church, a labor of love", and lamented that Brian missed experiencing its British success firsthand during the band's late 1966 UK tour, where its "full impact" became evident.

Asher recalled that neither he nor Brian initially regarded Pet Sounds as a "masterpiece", stating he was primarily impressed by its production and viewed it as a way to demonstrate rock's potential as a mature art form to figures like his parents and advertising colleagues.{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=26}} In 1975, Taylor stated that Wilson remained unfazed by the album's commercial performance, instead focusing on surpassing contemporaries such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=28}}

File:The Beach Boys September 16 1967 Billboard.png (December 1966)]]

Through the remainder of 1966, Wilson collaborated with lyricist Van Dyke Parks on Smile, an unfinished album Wilson described as "a teenage symphony to God" intended to surpass Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=204}} During its production, he revisited earlier psychedelic comedy concepts explored during Pet Sounds session outtakes. Released in October, the single "Good Vibrations" became a global hit.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=150}} Murray suggested the single's success helped clarify Wilson's artistic ambitions for listeners initially perplexed by the "un-hip orchestrations and pervasive sadness" in Pet Sounds.{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Noel |title=A beginner's guide to the sweet, stinging nostalgia of The Beach Boys |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/beginners-guide-sweet-stinging-nostalgia-beach-boy-210390 |newspaper=The A.V. Club |date=October 16, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620010325/https://www.avclub.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-the-sweet-stinging-nostalgia-of-1798273533 |archive-date=June 20, 2021}}

As Wilson's mental health declined, his participation in the Beach Boys diminished, prompting the group to release subsequent albums that were less ambitious and received little critical attention.{{sfn|Harrison|1997|pp=49, 53}} Wilson, in 1976, cited the band's 1968 release Friends as his second "solo album" after Pet Sounds.{{cite magazine |last1=Rensin |first1=David |title=A Conversation With Brian Wilson |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/a-conversation-with-brian-wilson |magazine=Oui |date=December 1976 |url-access=subscription}} The album was a commercial failure, leading the group's fanbase to abandon "any hope that [he] would deliver a true successor", according to a Mojo contributor.{{sfn|Mojo|2007|p=132}}

Wilson attempted several professional comebacks in subsequent years, including the 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You, which marked his brief return as the group's primary songwriter and vocalist.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=213}} He regarded Love You as a spiritual successor to Pet Sounds, citing its autobiographical lyrics,{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|p=197}} and his feeling of creative fulfillment regarding the work.{{sfn|Tobler|1978|p=93}} In 1988, he released his debut solo album Brian Wilson, aiming to revisit the sensibilities of Pet Sounds. Co-producer Russ Titelman promoted it as "Pet Sounds '88".{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=259}} It included "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long", a thematic follow-up to "Caroline, No".{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=98}}

The Beach Boys rerecorded "Caroline, No" with Timothy B. Schmit, featuring a new multi-part vocal arrangement, for their 1996 album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=100}} Following the album's release, tentative plans emerged for a project biographer Mark Dillon dubbed Pet Sounds, Vol. 2, which would have involved the band collaborating with Sean O'Hagan of the High Llamas.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|pp=102, 104}} Despite interest from record companies, the project remained unrealized.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|pp=107}} Later in the 1990s, Wilson and Asher resumed their songwriting partnership, composing at least four songs; only "This Isn't Love" and "Everything I Need" were released.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=324}}

{{See also|Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live|Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour}}

File:Brian Wilson 20160328 185747 Byron Bay (26182663245).jpg, 2016]]

In the late 1990s, Carl Wilson vetoed an offer for the Beach Boys to perform Pet Sounds in full for ten shows, citing the complexity of replicating the album's arrangements onstage and Brian's degraded vocal range.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=286}} Brian ultimately performed the album live as a solo artist in 2000 with a different orchestra in each venue, and on three occasions without orchestra on his 2002 tour{{cite web |last=Comerford |first=Will |date=May 10, 2000 |title=Brian Wilson To Perform Pet Sounds With Symphony Orchestra |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/871917/brian-wilson-to-perform-pet-sounds-with-symphony-orchestra/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326214150/http://www.mtv.com/news/871917/brian-wilson-to-perform-pet-sounds-with-symphony-orchestra/ |archive-date=March 26, 2022 |publisher=MTV}} to a favorable critical reception.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=231–233}} Recordings from Wilson's 2002 concert tour were released as Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=378}}

In 2013, Wilson performed Pet Sounds at two shows, unannounced, also with Jardine as well as original Beach Boys guitarist David Marks.{{cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=October 16, 2013 |title=Brian Wilson Pulls Off a Surprise 'Pet Sounds' Show in New York |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/brian-wilson-pulls-off-a-surprise-pet-sounds-show-in-new-york-20131016 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215122205/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brian-wilson-pulls-off-a-surprise-pet-sounds-show-in-new-york-62599/ |archive-date=December 15, 2018 |access-date=October 28, 2013}} From 2016 through 2020, Wilson toured Pet Sounds across Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada and the U.S., planned as his final performances of the album.{{cite magazine |last1=Reed |first1=Ryan |date=January 25, 2016 |title=Brian Wilson Plots World Tour, Final 'Pet Sounds' Performances |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/brian-wilson-plots-world-tour-final-pet-sounds-performances-20160125 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615141301/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brian-wilson-plots-world-tour-final-pet-sounds-performances-165354/ |archive-date=June 15, 2021}} Writing in 2016, Rolling Stone{{'}}s Dorian Lynskey credited Wilson's Pet Sounds performances with establishing a precedent for other artists to play "classic albums" in their entirety.{{cite magazine |last1=Lynskey |first1=Dorian |date=May 16, 2016 |title=Brian Wilson Entrances Bristol on Eve of 'Pet Sounds' 50th Anniversary |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/brian-wilson-entrances-bristol-on-eve-of-pet-sounds-50th-anniversary-20160516 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228222030/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/brian-wilson-entrances-bristol-on-eve-of-pet-sounds-50th-anniversary-203568/ |archive-date=December 28, 2021}}

{{Further|Recording studio as an instrument}}

{{quote box

| align =

| width = 25%

| quote = It's been said that, although hardly anyone bought the Velvet Underground's records, those who did ended up being inspired to start their own bands. In the case of the Beach Boys' 1966 opus Pet Sounds, it's likely that each of its 13 songs inspired its own subset of pop offspring [...]

| source = —Music critic Jeff Straton, 2000{{cite news |last=Stratton |first=Jeff |title=Bandwidth |url=http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2000-10-26/music/bandwidth/ |newspaper=New Times Broward-Palm Beach |date=October 26, 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105120357/http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2000-10-26/music/bandwidth/ |archive-date=5 November 2013}}

}}

Pet Sounds is widely regarded as among the greatest and most influential albums in music history.{{sfn|Abjorensen|2017|p=40}} Critical recognition typically emphasizes its ambition, innovative studio production techniques, and high compositional standards,{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=54}} solidifying Wilson's reputation for pioneering studio craftsmanship with its unprecedented attention to detail.{{sfn|Moorefield|2010|pp=16–17}} Philip Lambert, a university music professor who had authored book-length analyses on Wilson and Charles Ives,{{cite news |last1=Salazar |first1=Amanda |title=Baruch music professor of nearly 35 years dies at 63 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |date=March 18, 2022|url=https://theticker.org/6591/news/baruch-music-professor-of-nearly-35-years-dies-at-63/}} later described the album as "an extraordinary achievement – for any musician, but especially for the 23-year-old Wilson".{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=110}} Larry Starr, in American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3 (2006), writes that Pet Sounds epitomized "state-of-the-art pop music in every sense", systematically crafted to challenge conventional creative limits through its "diverse and unusual instrumentation", "virtuosic vocal arrangements", "advanced harmonies", and "occasional formal experiments".{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=265}}

File:Pet Sounds Mixing.jpg

Wilson wrote, arranged, and produced the album with meticulous control over every phase of its creation, an approach that Charles Granata—in his 2003 book covering the album's making—credits as redefining the role of record producers. While artists such as Les Paul, Sinatra, and Bob Dylan had previously functioned as their own producers, Wilson became the first major pop artist to comprehensively oversee all aspects of an album's production.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=115}} Virgil Moorefield, in The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music (2010), wrote that Wilson, building on the work of Leiber and Stoller, had sought to realize the full potential of the recording studio, effectively "composing at the mixing board" and using the studio itself as a musical instrument; as both songwriter and producer, he was involved in every detail of the sound production, making on-the-spot decisions about notes, articulation, and timbre, thereby merging the roles of composer, arranger, and producer—a model later adopted industry-wide.{{sfn|Moorefield|2010|p=19}}

Despite limited initial commercial success, its impact was immediate and far-reaching,{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=38}}{{Sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}}{{sfn|Covach|2015|pp=200–202}}{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=265}} later influencing artists across rock, pop, hip hop, jazz, electronic, experimental, and punk.{{cite web |last1=Hart |first1=Ron |date=April 12, 2016 |title=The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds Celebrates its 50th Anniversary: Artists Pay Tribute to the Eternal Teenage Symphony |url=http://pitchfork.com/features/article/9870-the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-celebrates-its-50th-anniversary-artists-pay-tribute-to-the-eternal-teenage-symphony/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309091718/https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9870-the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-celebrates-its-50th-anniversary-artists-pay-tribute-to-the-eternal-teenage-symphony/ |archive-date=March 9, 2022 |website=Pitchfork}} Lenny Waronker, then a staff producer at Warner Bros. Records, said that Pet Sounds elevated studio artistry among West Coast artists: "Creative record-making took a giant step and it affected everybody who was caught up in it. It was a landmark record".{{cite magazine |last1=Morris |first1=Chris |author-link1=Chris Morris (music writer) |title=Here Today|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_zQkEAAAAMBAJ/page/n45/ |magazine=Billboard |date=October 12, 1996 |url-access=registration}} In the UK, where it became a focal point in music circles, it signaled to songwriters that pop had ascended to a new level of creative ambition{{sfn|Hoskyns|2009|p=106}} while numerous groups furthered their exploration of experimental recording techniques.{{sfn|Gillett|1984|p=384}}{{refn|group=nb|English record producer Bobby Irwin echoed that Wilson's integration of songwriting, arranging, and studio experimentation set a new precedent, stating that "no one was doing what Brian was doing" in the contemporary pop landscape.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=115}}}} Historian John Robert Greene, in his 2010 book America in the Sixties, credits "God Only Knows" with redefining the popular love song;{{sfn|Greene|2010|p=155}} it is frequently praised as one of the greatest songs ever written.{{sfn|Downes|2014|pp=36–38}}

The album's production techniques remained foundational in modern music production through the 2010s.{{sfn|Zager|2012|p=181}} Composer Philip Glass, comparing its legacy to that of the Beatles' and Pink Floyd's recordings, felt that the album's "structural innovation", incorporation of classical elements in arrangements, and novel "production concepts", with hindsight, clarified its status as a defining work of its era.{{cite web |date=September 2007 |title=Brian Wilson |url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/Artist/A18317 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109112733/https://www.kennedy-center.org/Artist/A18317 |archive-date=November 9, 2018 |publisher=The Kennedy Center}} Atlantic contributor Jason Guriel wrote in a 2016 editorial—headlined "how Pet Sounds invented the modern pop album"—that Wilson's approach had anticipated contemporary methods reliant on digital tools and prefigured artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, and Radiohead, whose expansive studio projects echoed the album's ambition.

Guriel argued that Wilson served as a precursor to modern producer-centric pop through Pet Sounds, marking popular music's first extended exploration of auteurism, from which Wilson "patented" the archetype of the reclusive studio-bound genius.{{refn|group=nb|Guriel further characterizes the work as a catalyst to the concept of high-stakes, album-length statements, exemplified by artists such as Kanye West, whose releases had generated widespread cultural discourse: "Wilson brought an ambition to pop that it hadn't previously known and helped make heroes out of producers."{{cite magazine |last1=Guriel |first1=Jason |title=How Pet Sounds Invented the Modern Pop Album |magazine=The Atlantic |date=May 16, 2016 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/how-pet-sounds-invented-the-modern-pop-album/482940/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520165843/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/how-pet-sounds-invented-the-modern-pop-album/482940/ |archive-date=May 20, 2022}}}} Wilson's delivery of a masterwork album, together with his subsequent decline and aborted follow-up, later served as the object of comparisons between Syd Barrett, original frontman of Pink Floyd, and Kevin Shields, frontman of My Bloody Valentine,{{cite magazine|last1=Hill |first1=Scott |title=An Open Letter to My Bloody Valentine's Loveless |url=https://www.wired.com/2011/11/my-bloody-valentine-loveless/ |magazine=Wired |date=November 2011}} whose 1991 album Loveless was described by journalist Paul Lester as "the Pet Sounds of UK avant-rock".{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/mar/12/2 |title=I lost it |first=Paul |last=Lester |date=12 March 2004 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=27 December 2020 |archive-date=8 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208033237/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/mar/12/2 |url-status=live|authorlink=Paul Lester}}

{{Further|Cultural impact of the Beatles}}

Discussions of the greatest albums of all time frequently cite Pet Sounds alongside the Beatles' Revolver and Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, all released within four months in 1966. Liel Leibovitz described Pet Sounds and Blonde on Blonde as "two strands in the same conversation" that briefly transformed American popular music into "a religious movement".{{cite web |last1=Leibovitz |first1=Liel |author-link1=Liel Leibovitz |date=May 20, 2016 |title=Fifty Years Ago This Week, Two of Rock's Greatest Albums Were Released on the Same Day |url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/203086/bob-dylan-beach-boys-albums |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118015422/http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/203086/bob-dylan-beach-boys-albums |archive-date=January 18, 2018 |website=Tablet}} Geoffrey Himes argued that Wilson's innovative harmonies and timbres were as impactful as Dylan's incorporation of irony into rock lyrics. Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale commented, "What Brian came to mean was an ideal of naïveté and innocence [...] Pet Sounds was adult and childlike at the same time."{{sfn|Leaf|2022|p={{page needed|date=July 2022}}}}{{refn|group=nb|Charlie Gillett observed that the album's "naïve innocence" diverged from the skepticism permeating contemporary works by Dylan, the Beatles, and the Stones,{{sfn|Gillett|1984|p=384}} whereas Jon Savage saw that Pet Sounds preserved emotional sincerity amid cultural shifts, contrasting the Rolling Stones' "icy mod cool" with its tender vulnerability.{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=476}}}}

File:The Beatles and Lill-Babs 1963.jpg, George Harrison and John Lennon each championed Pet Sounds when it was released.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=135}} ]]

Rock historians also frequently link Pet Sounds to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in May 1967.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=57}}{{refn|group=nb|According to Jones, the interplay between the two bands during this era remains one of the most noteworthy episodes in rock history.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=56}}}} Paul McCartney often cited Pet Sounds as his all-time favorite album{{Sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}} and "God Only Knows" as "the greatest song ever written",{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=197–199, 227}} declaring in 1990 that "no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album."{{sfn|Zak|2001|p=209}}{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=74}} He credited Pet Sounds as an influence on his increasingly melodic bass-playing style, his Revolver composition "Here, There and Everywhere", and Sgt. Pepper.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=194, 197–199, 227}}{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=57}}{{refn|group=nb|According to Larry Starr, the "historical importance" of Pet Sounds is "certified" by McCartney's admission that it served as "the single greatest influence" on Sgt. Pepper.{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=265}} John Covach states that "Pet Sounds "prodded the Beatles to experiment more radically" with Sgt. Pepper,{{sfn|Covach|2015|pp=200–202}} while David Howard writes, "Undeniably, the song-cycle construction of Pet Sounds was the catalyst" for the Beatles' album.{{Sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}} }}

{{quote box

| align = left

| width = 25%

| quote =Pet Sounds had a lot to do with Sgt. Pepper. I remember talking to Paul McCartney and a couple guys and they were saying, "Sorry we ripped you off."

| source = —Dennis Wilson, 1977{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Gross (American writer)| title=The Beach Boys Are Back in Town |work=Swank |date=1977 |url-access=subscription |via=Rock's Backpages|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beach-boys-are-back-in-town}}

}}

Shared musical features adopted from Pet Sounds included upper-register bass lines, a larger emphasis on floor toms, and more eclectic and unorthodox combinations of instruments (including bass harmonica).{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=197–199}}{{sfn|Brend|2005|p=122}}{{refn|group=nb|According to musician Lenie Colacino, McCartney "didn't start using the upper register on his Rickenbacker bass until after he heard Pet Sounds. The bass parts for 'Here Today' directly influenced the way Paul played on 'With a Little Help' and 'Getting Better'."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=199}} Granata writes that, by the time the Beatles recorded Magical Mystery Tour (November 1967), "it was clear they'd fully assimilated the essence of Brian's eclectic arranging style."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=201}} Lambert observes that the structural key relationships in Pet Sounds parallel those Walter Everett identified in Sgt. Pepper, particularly the recurring use of B{{music|flat}} as a tonic key in four of six songs within the album's latter half.{{sfn|Lambert|2008|p=116}} }} George Martin stated that Wilson "gave the Beatles and myself quite a good deal to think about in trying to keep up with him",{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=198}} adding that "Without Pet Sounds [...] Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=135}}{{refn|group=nb|George Harrison reflected that the group had felt threatened by the album.{{cite episode|people=Wonfor, Geoff; Smeaton, Bob (Directors)|series=The Beatles Anthology|number=5|medium=Documentary series|network=ABC|year=1995}} Asked in 1966 for the musical person he most admired, Lennon named Wilson.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=73}} Singer Tony Rivers recalled "talking to John for about 20 minutes at the NEMS Enterprises Christmas party one year. And the main part of the conversation was the Beach Boys, and how great they were."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=135}} }}

Pet Sounds established a new benchmark for production and musical sophistication in the rock genre, according to Covach.{{sfn|Covach|2015|pp=200–202}} Greene identifies "Sloop John B" and the "psychedelic" title track as departures from rock's "casual" lyrics and melodies, pushing the genre into "uncharted territory" as part of the album's "astounding" level of "studio artistry"; he also positions Pet Sounds, alongside the Beatles' Rubber Soul and Revolver and the 1960s folk movement, as foundational to most trends in rock music after 1965.{{sfn|Greene|2010|p=155}}{{refn|group=nb|Greene further cites songs such as "Good Vibrations", Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" as later works influenced by the experimental trajectories initiated by Pet Sounds and the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows".{{sfn|Greene|2010|p=156}} }} Cue magazine reflected in 1971 that Pet Sounds made "the Beach Boys among the vanguard" and anticipated trends that were not widespread in rock music "until 1969–1970".{{cite journal |title=Pet Sounds |journal=Cue |date=1971 |volume=40 |issue=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwgwAQAAIAAJ}}{{refn|group=nb|In 1971, publication Beat Instrumental & International Recording wrote: "Pet Sounds took everyone by surprise. In terms of musical conception, lyric content, production and performance, it stood as a landmark in a music genre whose development was about to begin snowballing."{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmdLAAAAYAAJ |title=Pet Sounds |magazine=Beat Instrumental & International Recording |date=1971 |issue=93}}}}

Wilson's pioneering use of doubling for virtually every instrument—a technique previously limited to classical music—marked its first occasion in rock music within Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=158}} Rock critic Ben Edmonds wrote in 1971 that the album's "most impressive" feature had been "the fully integrated use of orchestration, an area glossed over all too lightly in those days." "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" was the first piece in popular music to incorporate the Electro-Theremin as well as the first in rock music to feature theremin-like sounds.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=240}} The album is also cited as a precursor to synthesizer adoption; music writer Jeff Nordstedt contends that Wilson's layered instrumental combinations, achieved without electronic tools, foreshadowed and "fueled the drive toward" the synthesizer's capacity to unify organic tones into novel timbres: "Wilson maniacally synthesized sounds on Pet Sounds before such a device was available."{{sfn|Nordstedt|2004|p=27}}

Pet Sounds marked the first instance of a rock group abandoning the conventional small-ensemble electric band format for an entire album. Music journalist Tim Sommer suggests that while other artists had occasionally diverged from this format for individual songs, the Beach Boys' work was unprecedented in creating a full-length album that could not be replicated by a typical four- or five-member amplified group. Strauss posits that the Beach Boys were also the first major rock act to challenge prevailing musical trends "and declare that rock really didn't matter" by prioritizing introspective themes over conventional rock subject matter, exemplified in "I Know There's an Answer", and combining youth culture with a "pathological innocence and yearning".

The juxtaposition of upbeat music with underlying moods of melancholy and longing, exemplified by "Wouldn't It Be Nice", became foundational to the power pop genre.{{cite web |last=Chabon|first=Michael |title=Tragic Magic: Reflections on Power Pop |url=http://michaelchabon.com/uncollected/musical/tragic-magic/|access-date=March 30, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 11, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411092844/http://michaelchabon.com/uncollected/musical/tragic-magic/}} Chicago Reader{{'s}} Noah Berlatsky posited that the Beach Boys, together with "Wilson's brand of vulnerable genius", helped bridge a gap between the polished pop harmonizing and "melancholy" of the Drifters and the "psychedelic" experimentation of the Chi-Lites, influencing the development of smooth soul.{{cite news |last1=Berlatsky |first1=Noah |date=July 1, 2016 |title=Brian Wilson, Pet Sounds, and the categorical denial of the sensitive black genius |work=Chicago Reader |url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/pitchfork-festival-2016-brian-wilson-pet-sounds-sufjan-twigs/Content?oid=22681115 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126230232/https://chicagoreader.com/music/brian-wilson-pet-sounds-and-the-categorical-denial-of-the-sensitive-black-genius/ |archive-date=November 26, 2021}}

{{Further|California Sound}}

File:The Mamas and the Papas Ed Sullivan Show 1968.JPG and orchestral pop, including such acts as the Mamas and the Papas (pictured), the Association, and the 5th Dimension ]]

The Beach Boys' rivalry with the Beatles played a significant role in advancing psychedelic music, as both groups pushed the boundaries of rock's stylistic and compositional range, inspiring later artists.{{sfn|Covach|2015|p=260}} Scholar Philip Auslander supports that, although psychedelic music is not typically associated with the Beach Boys, the album's "odd directions" and "experiments" were instrumental in creating opportunities for acts like Jefferson Airplane to achieve broader recognition.{{cite web |last1=Longman |first1=Molly |date=May 20, 2016 |title=Had LSD Never Been Discovered Over 75 Years Ago, Music History Would Be Entirely Different |url=https://mic.com/articles/143256/had-lsd-never-been-discovered-over-75-years-ago-music-history-would-be-entirely-different#.1lXG1R2k1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414204604/https://www.mic.com/articles/143256/had-lsd-never-been-discovered-over-75-years-ago-music-history-would-be-entirely-different |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |website=Music.mic}} DeRogatis places the album among the earliest psychedelic masterpieces, alongside Revolver and The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (October 1966).{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=xi}} Psychedelic albums sometimes regarded as "the British Pet Sounds" include the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle (1968){{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=165}} and Billy Nicholls' Would You Believe (1968).{{cite book |editor-last1=Cooper |editor-first1=Kim |editor-last2=Smay |editor-first2=David |title=Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-87921-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFKsR0K82hYC |language=en}}

{{quote box

| align =

| width = 25%

| quote =As far as a major, modern producer who was working right in the middle of the pop milieu, no one was doing what Brian was doing. We didn't even know that it was possible until he did it.

| source = —Jimmy Webb{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=115–116}}

}}

Pet Sounds influenced numerous artists and producers in Los Angeles' orchestral pop scene. According to music writer Noel Murray, while the Beach Boys' music diverged from the subsequent sunshine pop movement—a retrospective label for music originally categorized as "soft pop"{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=69}} or "soft rock"{{sfn|Stanley|2013|pp=178–179}}—the record's orchestration techniques were widely emulated by producers.{{cite web |last1=Murray |first1=Noel |date=April 7, 2011 |title=Gateways to Geekery: Sunshine Pop |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/sunshine-pop-54224 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106213429/https://music.avclub.com/sunshine-pop-1798225095 |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |access-date=November 27, 2015 |work=The A.V. Club |publisher=Onion Inc.}} Music historian and Saint Etienne founder Bob Stanley identifies Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper as foundational to soft rock, citing their use of instrumentation, found sounds, and avoidance of traditional rock dynamics. He writes that acts like Harpers Bizarre, the Association, and the Mamas and the Papas expanded this approach; their styles informed subsequent groups such as the 5th Dimension and Free Design, whose music was later termed "sunshine pop".{{sfn|Stanley|2013|pp=178–179}} Jimmy Webb, who penned songs for several of these groups, cited Pet Sounds as a benchmark work for musicians, engineers, and songwriters, declaring, "There's no way I can overemphasize its importance to us, in terms of inspiration and our development."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=238}}

Love's 1967 album Forever Changes, according to Hoskyns, is an "interesting" example within an "orchestral LA pop" lineage spanning "Spector through Pet Sounds to Jimmy Webb", characterizing Love's work as "acid punk with strings" that extended the "ornate style" to its zenith.{{sfn|Hoskyns|2009|p=127}}{{refn|group=nb|Forever Changes was recorded at Sunset Sound, the same studio that hosted the recording for "Here Today", and shared much of the same personnel as Pet Sounds, including the Wrecking Crew and studio staff engineer Bruce Botnick.{{sfn|Einarson|2010|pp=93, 95, 174}}}} Collaborating with former Beach Boys lyricist Gary Usher, Association producer Curt Boettcher applied the Pet Sounds aesthetic to Sagittarius' 1968 release Present Tense, whose recording also involved Bruce Johnston, Terry Melcher, and Glen Campbell.{{sfn|Hoskyns|2009|p=127}}{{refn|group=nb|Hoskyns described Present Tense as "a psych-pop masterpiece" with a "weirdness" parallel to Forever Changes.{{sfn|Hoskyns|2009|p=127}}}}

The album's impact extended to the mid-1970s soft rock subgenre later dubbed "yacht rock", a term retroactively applied to music characterized by jazz-influenced arrangements, introspective lyrics, and apolitical themes; in particular, the track "Sloop John B" is frequently cited as a precursor to the genre's occasionally nautical-themed lyrics.{{cite web |first=Jeff|last=Somers|date=March 22, 2023|title=The Bizarre History of Yacht Rock Music |url=https://www.grunge.com/831310/the-bizarre-history-of-yacht-rock-music/ |website=Grunge |publisher=Static Media |access-date=March 23, 2024}}

{{Further|Album era|Proto-prog}}

{{See also|Classificatory disputes about art}}

File:Queen News Of The World (1977 Press Kit Photo 02).jpg of bands like the Beatles, Queen (pictured), the Alan Parsons Project, and Supertramp]]

Pet Sounds is recognized for its role in the emergence of progressive pop, a genre that preceded progressive rock.{{cite web |last1=Reed |first1=Ryan |date=November 20, 2019 |title=A Guide to Progressive Pop |url=https://tidal.com/magazine/article/a-guide-to-progressive-pop/1-57187 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308120247/https://tidal.com/magazine/article/a-guide-to-progressive-pop/1-57187 |archive-date=March 8, 2022 |website=Tidal}} It is also cited as a pivotal work in establishing the album as a primary format for rock music.{{sfn|Stanley|2013|p=214}}{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=330}}{{refn|group=nb|According to critic Gary Graff, the album was pivotal in ushering in the "album era" of the late 1960s, alongside Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde,{{cite news|last=Graff|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Graff|title=Brian Wilson Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Landmark 'Pet Sounds'|date=September 22, 2016|newspaper=Daily Tribune}} whereas Stanley cites Pet Sounds alongside The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) and Rubber Soul.{{sfn|Stanley|2013|p=214}}}} Though Rubber Soul had recently popularized the idea of cohesive albums over collections of singles, it largely maintained fidelity to the live ensemble sound. Wilson expanded its "album-centered" approach by crafting music that wholly transcended traditional rock instrumentation.{{cite web |last1=Sommer |first1=Tim |author-link=Tim Sommer |date=May 16, 2016 |title=This Is Your Brain on 'Pet Sounds' |url=http://observer.com/2016/05/this-is-your-brain-on-pet-sounds/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510021842/https://observer.com/2016/05/this-is-your-brain-on-pet-sounds/ |archive-date=May 10, 2021 |website=The Observer}}{{refn|group=nb|Hoskyns contrasted Pet Sounds with Rubber Soul, stating that while the latter signaled pop music's maturation, Pet Sounds represented a "quantum leap into the unknown".{{cite web |last1=Hoskyns |first1=Barney |author-link1=Barney Hoskyns |title=Hang On To Your Egos: The Beach Boys at 50 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/hang-on-to-your-egos-the-beach-boys-at-50 |website=Mojo |date=June 2012 |url-access=subscription}}}} Doggett, in his 2016 book Electric Shock, called Pet Sounds "teenage pop's first viable rival to the thematic records of Jean Shepard and Frank Sinatra",{{sfn|Doggett|2016|p=372}} while Howard identified it as pop's first true song-cycle.{{Sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}}{{refn|group=nb|Sommer writes that "Pet Sounds proved that a pop group could make an album-length piece comparable with the greatest long-form works of Bernstein, Copland, Ives, and Rodgers and Hammerstein."{{cite news |authorlink=Tim Sommer|last1=Sommer |first1=Tim |date=July 21, 2015 |title=Beyond the Life of Brian: The Myth of the 'Lesser' Beach Boys |work=The New York Observer |url=http://observer.com/2015/07/beyond-the-life-of-brian-the-myth-of-the-lesser-beach-boys/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319050605/https://observer.com/2015/07/beyond-the-life-of-brian-the-myth-of-the-lesser-beach-boys/ |archive-date=March 19, 2022}} According to Fusilli, it raised itself to "the level of art through its musical sophistication and the precision of its statement".{{sfn|Fusilli|2005|pp=116–119}}}} The Los Angeles Times reported in 1968 that Wilson had become a leading figure in "art rock" following the album's release.{{cite web |last1=Nolan |first1=Tom |title=How Goes It Underground? |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/how-goes-it-underground |website=Los Angeles Times |date=February 18, 1968 |url-access=subscription}}{{refn|group=nb|Asked in a 1968 interview about the Beatles' role in rock's "progress toward an art form", Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page responded, "I think the Beach Boys tried to do it first. I think there were lots of Beach Boy things on the Revolver album. Especially, the vocal harmony. Wilson really said a lot in his Pet Sounds album."{{cite web |last1=Delehant |first1=Jim |title=Jimmy Page's New Yardbirds |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/jimmy-pages-new-yardbirds |website=Hit Parader |date=December 1968 |url-access=subscription}} Pet Sounds is viewed as the first work of art rock by Leaf,{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=74}} Jones,{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=49}} and Frith. Rolling Stone writers described the album as heralding the art rock of the 1970s.{{cite magazine |date=May 16, 2016 |title=14 Classic Albums That Flopped When They Were Released |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/14-classic-albums-that-flopped-when-they-were-released-20160516 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130061741/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/14-classic-albums-that-flopped-when-they-were-released-67275/ |archive-date=January 30, 2022}} Academic Michael Johnson said that the album was one of the first documented moments of ascension in rock music.{{sfn|Johnson|2009|p=197}} Bill Holdship said that it was "perhaps rock's first example of self-conscious art".{{cite web |last=Holdship |first=Bill |url=http://music.uk.launch.yahoo.com/read/review/12038027 |title=Album Review: Pet Sounds |publisher=Yahoo! Music |access-date=March 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130329201536/http://music.uk.launch.yahoo.com/read/review/12038027 |archive-date=March 29, 2013 |url-status=dead }}}} Journalist Troy Smith later referred to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" as "the first taste of progressive pop" subsequently elaborated upon by bands such as the Beatles, Queen, and Supertramp.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Troy L. |date=February 28, 2018 |title=250 greatest Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Songs: Part 3 (#150–101) |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2018/02/250_greatest_songs_by_rock_rol_3.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110091655/https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2018/02/250_greatest_songs_by_rock_rol_3.html |archive-date=November 10, 2020 |access-date=November 10, 2020 |website=Cleveland.com}}

Ryan Reed, writing for Tidal, highlighted the album's incorporation of non-rock instruments, alongside intricate key changes and vocal harmonies, as foundational to progressive pop.{{refn|group=nb|Reed also noted Wilson's fusion of symphonic arrangements with "breezy melodies", inspired by Spector, and acknowledged the Beatles' contributions through works like Sgt. Pepper.}} Bill Martin, an author of books about progressive rock, described the album as a turning point in rock's evolution from dance-oriented music to a more complex listening experience, marked by innovations in harmony, instrumentation, and studio technology.{{sfn|Martin|1998|pp=39–42}} Covach observed that Pet Sounds and subsequent recordings by the Beach Boys and the Beatles legitimized rock as a serious art form, prompting record labels to enable more experimental approaches among other artists: "Because these bands were so successful, Capitol and EMI gave them a certain freedom to experiment. When these experiments produced hit singles and albums, other groups were given greater license as well."{{sfn|Covach|2015|p=260}} Its influence extended to Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters,{{cite web | last = Forrest | first = Ben| title = The two albums Roger Waters said "completely changed everything"| website = Far Out Magazine| date = June 17, 2024 | url = https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/albums-roger-waters-said-changed-everything/ | access-date = March 23, 2025}} producer Tony Clarke's orchestral-rock fusion on the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed (1967),{{sfn|Pinch|Trocco|2009|p=155}} and Nick Drake's Bryter Layter (1971).{{cite web|title=An interview with Robert Kirby|url=http://www.nickdrake.com/Robert_Kirby_Q__A.html|accessdate=March 22, 2014}}

{{quote box|

| quote = While many may struggle to see the direct link between the bright, bouncy tones of Pet Sounds and bands like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and countless prog-rock bands, there was simply no precedent for the way that notes moved and vibrated across the record.

| source = —Journalist Joel Freimark, 2016{{cite web |last1=Freimark |first1=Joel |title=Brian Wilson tours to celebrate 50th anniversary of 'Pet Sounds' |url=http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/278325/brian-wilson-pet-sounds-50th-anniversary-tour/ |website=Death and Taxes Mag |date=January 26, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117090620/http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/278325/brian-wilson-pet-sounds-50th-anniversary-tour/ |archive-date=17 November 2017}}

| quoted =

| bgcolor =

| width = 25%

| align = right

| border = 1px

| fontsize = 89%

}}

By the early 1970s, the LP had become rock's primary medium, a shift Starr attributes partly to Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=330}} This coincided with a growing cultural preference for self-contained artists over collaborative processes, as orchestration became increasingly associated with older generations.{{sfn|Stanley|2013|p=187}}{{refn|group=nb|According to Stanley, though works such as Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper, and Webb's "MacArthur Park" (1968) had offered potential blueprints for 1970s music, their approaches were later "junked" by the music world at large.{{sfn|Stanley|2013|p=187}}}} By the mid-1970s, more melody-focused songwriters adapted the progressive rock genre for mainstream radio, leading to a progressive pop resurgence. Musician and journalist Andy Gill suggested that Pet Sounds ultimately inspired rock bands to "get clever" and experiment with orchestration and time signatures, remarking: "Before you know it, you've got Queen."{{cite web |last1=Brennan |first1=Colin |last2=Corcoran |first2=Nina |date=June 18, 2016 |title=The Genius of Pet Sounds: Artists Reveal Their Favorite Aspects of The Beach Boys' Classic |url=https://consequence.net/2016/06/the-genius-of-pet-sounds-artists-reveal-their-favorite-aspects-of-the-beach-boys-classic/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417034534/https://consequence.net/2016/06/the-genius-of-pet-sounds-artists-reveal-their-favorite-aspects-of-the-beach-boys-classic/ |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |website=Consequence}} Eric Woolfson of the Alan Parsons Project remarked that the Beach Boys became "the classic example of a band moving [...] to phenomenally progressive stuff."{{sfn|Romano|2010|p=6}} Composer and journalist Frank Oteri recognized the album as a "clear precedent" to the birth of album-oriented rock and progressive rock.{{cite web |last1=Oteri |first1=Frank J. |date=December 8, 2011 |title=SOUNDS HEARD: THE BEACH BOYS—THE SMILE SESSIONS |url=http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/sounds-heard-the-beach-boys-the-smile-sessions |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521192216/https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/sounds-heard-the-beach-boys-the-smile-sessions/ |archive-date=May 21, 2022 |access-date=March 14, 2016 |website=New Music Box}} By 2010, Pet Sounds was listed in Classic Rock's "50 Albums That Built Prog Rock".{{cite magazine|magazine=Classic Rock|title=The 50 Albums That Built Prog Rock|date=July 2010|issue=146}}{{cite web |last=Bjervamoen |first=Harald |title=RockStory – Progressive Rock Roots |url=http://www.rockprog.com/04_RockStory/RootsProgressive.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203021551/http://www.rockprog.com/04_RockStory/RootsProgressive.aspx |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |access-date=May 6, 2014 |work=RockProg}}

File:Stereolab (1994).jpg (pictured 1994) were among many bands of the 1990s indebted to Pet Sounds{{'}} influence]]

By the 1990s, Pet Sounds had become a seminal influence on indie pop, with Wilson recognized as a "godfather" to a generation of indie musicians influenced by his melodic sensibilities, studio experimentation, and chamber-pop orchestrations.{{cite journal |last1=Leas |first1=Ryan |date=August 5, 2016 |title=Tomorrow Never Knows: How 1966's Trilogy Of Pet Sounds, Blonde On Blonde, And Revolver Changed Everything |url=http://www.stereogum.com/1892600/tomorrow-never-knows-how-1966s-trilogy-of-pet-sounds-blonde-on-blonde-and-revolver-changed-everything/franchises/sounding-board/ |url-status=live |journal=Stereogum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415211345/https://www.stereogum.com/1892600/tomorrow-never-knows-how-1966s-trilogy-of-pet-sounds-blonde-on-blonde-and-revolver-changed-everything/columns/sounding-board/ |archive-date=April 15, 2022}} "Chamber pop" also emerged as a distinct genre modeled on the musical template established by Pet Sounds.{{cite news |last1=Mervis |first1=Scott |date=August 26, 2016 |title=Concert review: Brian Wilson and company re-create the magic of 'Pet Sounds' |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2016/08/26/Brian-Wilson-and-Company-expertly-re-create-the-classic-Pet-Sounds-pittsburgh/stories/201608260188 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118061459/https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2016/08/26/Brian-Wilson-and-Company-expertly-re-create-the-classic-Pet-Sounds-pittsburgh/stories/201608260188 |archive-date=November 18, 2018}}{{refn|group=nb|In addition to "chamber pop", critics and enthusiasts have sometimes described the orchestral-rock fusion style epitomized by Pet Sounds using terms such as symphonic pop and ork-pop (short for "orchestral pop").{{cite news|last1=Salmon|first1=Ben|date=May 25, 2007|title=Classic combo|work=The Bulletin|url=http://www.bendbulletin.com/slideshows/1516497-151/classic-combo|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610031425/http://www.bendbulletin.com/slideshows/1516497-151/classic-combo|archive-date=June 10, 2016}} }}

{{quote box|

| quote = Pet Sounds was the beginning of the great pop experiment. But it wasn't allowed to continue, because rock and roll got hold of the whole thing and stopped it. Pop didn't take off again until this decade.

| source = —High Llamas and Stereolab member Sean O'Hagan, 1997{{cite magazine|last1=Smith|first1=Ethan|title=Do It Again|magazine=New York Magazine|date=10 November 1997|volume=30|issue=43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J-gCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA98|publisher=New York Media, LLC|issn=0028-7369}}

| width = 25%

| align = left

}}

During the mid-1990s, underground artists including Cardinal, the High Llamas, Yum-Yum, and members of the Elephant 6 collective drew inspiration from the album's arrangements, spurring a movement termed "ork-pop".{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=39}} Sean O'Hagan of the High Llamas, characterized by DeRogatis as "the most Pet Sounds-obsessed" of these musicians,{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=526}} channeled its orchestrated approach in works such as Gideon Gaye (1994) and Hawaii (1995). Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo and Jim McIntyre of Von Hemmling founded Pet Sounds Studio, which served as the venue for numerous Elephant 6 projects by Neutral Milk Hotel{{cite encyclopedia |title=Apples in Stereo |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/apples-stereo |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |publisher=Gale. Cengage Learning |access-date=July 29, 2017}} and the Olivia Tremor Control.{{cite web |last=Clair |first=Adam |date=September 21, 2016 |title=Elephant 6 & Friends Reflect on the Legacy of the Olivia Tremor Control's Dusk at Cubist Castle |url=http://www.stereogum.com/1895598/elephant-6-friends-reflect-on-the-legacy-of-the-olivia-tremor-controls-dusk-at-the-cubist-castle/franchises/sounding-board |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127141230/https://www.stereogum.com/1895598/elephant-6-friends-reflect-on-the-legacy-of-the-olivia-tremor-controls-dusk-at-the-cubist-castle/interviews/ |archive-date=November 27, 2020 |access-date=July 29, 2017 |work=Stereogum}}

File:Thom Yorke 1998.jpg (Thom Yorke pictured)]]

Radiohead's OK Computer (1997) was intended to evoke an initially "shocking" quality similar to that of Pet Sounds, according to Thom Yorke, who praised the Beach Boys' work as "an incredibly amazing pop record, but [...] also an album."{{cite web | first = Dave | last = DiMartino | title = Give Radiohead Your Computer | publisher = Yahoo! Launch | date = 2 May 1997 | url = http://music.yahoo.com/read/interview/12048024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070814183856/http://music.yahoo.com/read/interview/12048024 | archive-date = 14 August 2007}} Collaborating with O'Hagan and Elephant 6 members, Cornelius' Fantasma, released a few months later, was created as an explicit homage to Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Roberts|2019|pp=6, 58–59, 61, 66–67}} By 1998, Lester reported that the album had experienced a resurgence in popularity, writing that "today's most interesting acts – The High Llamas, Air, Kid Loco, Saint Etienne, Stereolab, Lewis Taylor – are using the Brian Wilson songbook as a resource for their forays into the realms of electronic pop."{{cite magazine |last1=Lester |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul Lester |title=Brain Wilson: Endless Bummer |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/brain-wilson-endless-bummer |magazine=Uncut |date=June 1998 |url-access=subscription}}

Pet Sounds has been cited as a precursor to emo music, with writer Sean Cureton identifying parallels in the introspective themes of Weezer's Pinkerton (1996) and Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism (2003).{{cite web |last1=Cureton |first1=Sean K. |date=May 16, 2016 |title=Brian Wilson Alone: The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds 50 Years Later |url=http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/brian-wilson-alone-pet-sounds-50-years-later/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227012932/http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/brian-wilson-alone-pet-sounds-50-years-later/ |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |website=Audiences Everywhere}} Music critic Ernest Simpson and Wild Nothing's Jack Tatum have called Pet Sounds "the first emo album", with Simpson proposing Wilson as "the godfather of emo", highlighting "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" in particular.{{cite web |last1=Simpson |first1=Ernest |date=September 20, 2004 |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds |url=http://www.treblezine.com/reviews/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509103454/https://www.treblezine.com/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds/ |archive-date=May 9, 2021 |website=Treblezine}}{{refn|group=nb|Luke Britton of the BBC dismissed these characterizations, writing that emo's widely recognized origins trace to 1980s hardcore punk acts.{{Cite news |last=Britton |first=Luke Morgan |date=May 30, 2018 |title=Emo never dies: How the genre influenced an entire new generation |work=BBC Online |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1tM7yZdRsNn2qZth0WMCRBs/emo-never-dies-how-the-genre-influenced-an-entire-new-generation |access-date=August 9, 2018 |archive-date=August 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813010046/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1tM7yZdRsNn2qZth0WMCRBs/emo-never-dies-how-the-genre-influenced-an-entire-new-generation |url-status=live }}}} Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo recalled being immersed in Pet Sounds during the early 1990s; it later served as the direct inspiration for his band's OK Human (2021), recorded with a 39-piece orchestra.{{cite magazine |last1=Eastoe |first1=Dillon |title=Weezer: "I'm very anxious right now about what it means to be human" |url=https://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/Upset_Magazine_interview_with_Rivers_Cuomo_-_January_29,_2021 |magazine=Upset |date=January 29, 2021}}

One of the earliest tribute albums dedicated to Pet Sounds is the Japanese release Smiling Pets (1998), including contributions from Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her and Melt Banana.{{sfn|Roberts|2019|p=66}}{{refn|group=nb|Further tribute albums have included Do It Again: A Tribute to Pet Sounds (2005), The String Quartet Tribute to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (2006), MOJO Presents Pet Sounds Revisited (2012), and A Tribute to Pet Sounds (2016).{{cite web |title=Tribute Albums |url=http://www.beachboys.com/tribute.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819092539/http://www.beachboys.com/tribute.html |archive-date=August 19, 2014 |access-date=August 17, 2014 |website=Beach Boys: The Complete Guide}}}} In 2007, producer Bullion created a J Dilla mashup of the album, Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee.{{cite web |author1=Chris |date=November 13, 2007 |title=J Dilla vs. The Beach Boys |url=http://www.gorillavsbear.net/j-dilla-vs-beach-boys/?trackback=tsmclip |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121120/https://www.gorillavsbear.net/j-dilla-vs-beach-boys/?trackback=tsmclip |archive-date=December 15, 2018 |publisher=Gorilla vs. Bear}}{{refn|group=nb|Hip-hop producer Questlove recalled that the Beach Boys had been unfashionable among black teenagers in the 1980s, and in the late 1990s, Detroit hip-hop artists including J Dilla mocked his admiration for Pet Sounds before later recognizing its merits.{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=Danny |date=November 1, 2018 |title=Questlove Talks Beach Boys, Podcasting And His 19 Jobs |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2018/11/01/questlove-talks-beach-boys-podcasting-and-his-19-jobs/#4746566a482c |website=Forbes |access-date=November 3, 2018}}}} By 2007, there had been at least three books dedicated to Pet Sounds.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=95}}{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=223, 391–392}} In Japan, Jim Fusilli's book was translated by the novelist Haruki Murakami.{{sfn|Roberts|2019|p=66}} In 2014, the biopic film Love & Mercy included a substantial depiction of the album's making, with Wilson portrayed by Paul Dano.{{cite web |last1=Tapley |first1=Kristopher |date=May 21, 2015 |title=Bill Pohlad wants 'Love & Mercy' to take you inside the genius of Beach Boy Brian Wilson |url=http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/bill-pohlad-wants-love-mercy-to-take-you-inside-the-genius-of-beach-boy-brian-wilson |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601214434/http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/bill-pohlad-wants-love-mercy-to-take-you-inside-the-genius-of-beach-boy-brian-wilson |archive-date=June 1, 2016 |work=Hitfix}}

To honor the album's 50th anniversary, 26 artists contributed to a Pitchfork retrospective on its enduring influence, including comments from members of Talking Heads, Yo La Tengo, Chairlift, and Deftones, among others. That year, PopMatters contributor Danilo Castro acknowledged the album had "restructured the landscape of modern music in its image", with its influence extending to David Bowie, the Flaming Lips, Frank Ocean, Fleet Foxes, Bruce Springsteen, and Kanye West.{{Cite web |last=Castro |first=Danilo |date=May 16, 2016 |title=Why the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' Remains a Pillar of Pop Excellence |url=https://www.popmatters.com/why-beach-boys-pet-sounds |website=PopMatters |access-date=April 1, 2025}}{{refn|group=nb|Additional musicians who have praised Pet Sounds have included Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Roger McGuinn, Randy Newman, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Daryl Hall, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Jackson Browne, Eric Carmen, Lindsey Buckingham, Ann Wilson, Tom Petty, Stephen Bishop, Elvis Costello, Billy Idol, and Gustavo Dudamel.{{cite web |title=Quotes |url=https://www.brianwilson.com/quotes |website=brianwilson.com |access-date=July 25, 2023}}}}

{{quote box|

|quote=[Brian Wilson] was a genius who never received his just acclaim, and it's possible that he never will. The main reason for this is absurdly simple:{{nbsp}}... Just as it was settling nicely into its position as the world's number one popular music record, the far more fashionable Beatles released Sgt Pepper, and Pet Sounds was forgotten, just like that.

|source=—Melody Maker journalist Richard Williams, 1971

|width = 25%

|align = left

}}

The initial acclaim for Pet Sounds was immediately diverted by the Beatles' successive releases. John Gilliland, in his 1969 Pop Chronicles series, stated that the album was almost overshadowed by Revolver, released August 1966, and that "a lot people failed to realize that Brian Wilson's production was as unique in its own way as the Beatles'".{{cite journal |author-link=John Gilliland |last=Gilliland |first=John |title=Show 20 – Forty Miles of Bad Road: Some of the best from rock 'n' roll's dark ages. [Part 1] |journal=UNT Digital Library |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19770/m1/#track/5 |date=July 28, 2017 |publisher=University of North Texas}} Melody Maker journalist Richard Williams, in a 1971 reappraisal, wrote that although the album had "defied criticism" and briefly "dwarfed all the rest of pop music", its critical attention was redirected when the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper twelve months later.{{cite magazine |last1=Williams |first1=Richard |author-link1=Richard Williams (journalist) |title=Beach Boys: A Reappraisal |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/beach-boys-a-reappraisal |magazine=Melody Maker |date=May 22, 1971 |url-access=subscription}}

Pet Sounds received no 1967 Grammy Award nomination.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=184}}{{refn|group=nb|At the same ceremony, the Anita Kerr Singers won Best Performance by a Vocal Group for an album that included a rendition of "Good Vibrations".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=184}}}} Geoffrey Cannon wrote in his late 1967 column for Listener that the Beach Boys were "lesser than the Beatles" due to the album's "juvenile or specious" ballads and lack of cohesive artistic vision, though his critique was withheld from publication by The Listener{{'}}s editor.{{cite magazine |last1=Cannon |first1=Geoffrey |author-link1=Geoffrey Cannon |title=California! |magazine=The Listener |date=November 22, 1967 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/california- |url-access=subscription}} Williams later echoed this sentiment, attributing the album's muted reception, relative to the Beatles, to a perceived narrower range of influences. Gene Sculatti, writing in Jazz & Pop magazine in 1968, recognized the album's debt to Rubber Soul and called it "revolutionary only within the confines of the Beach Boys' music" despite also serving as a "final statement of an era and a prophecy that sweeping changes lay ahead."{{cite web |last=Sculatti |first=Gene |author-link=Gene Sculatti |url=http://www.teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714191639/http://teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/ |title=Villains and Heroes: In Defense of the Beach Boys |magazine=Jazz & Pop |date=September 1968 |via=Rock and Roll: An American History |publisher=teachrock.org |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=June 20, 2017}}

From the late 1960s onward, Pet Sounds underwent critical reevaluation, with a 1976 NME feature, cited by author Johnny Morgan, as particularly impactful.{{sfn|Morgan|2015|p=109}} Ben Edmonds of Circus observed in 1971 that the album's "beauty" had endured amid "the turbulence of the past few years", adding that "many consider it not only the Beach Boys' finest achievement, but a milestone in the progression of contemporary rock as well."{{cite magazine |last1=Edmonds |first1=Ben |title=The Beach Boys: A Group For All Seasons |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beach-boys-a-group-for-all-seasons |magazine=Circus |date=June 1971 |url-access=subscription}} Stephen Davis wrote in a 1972 Rolling Stone review that the album represented Wilson's pinnacle as an artist, likening the emotional resonance of its "trenchant cycle of love songs" to "a shatteringly evocative novel". He argued that the album had changed "the course of popular music" and "a few lives in the bargain".{{cite magazine |last=Davis |first=Stephen |date=June 22, 1972 |title=Pet Sounds |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/pet-sounds-19720622 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319170026/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/pet-sounds-249007/ |archive-date=March 19, 2022 |magazine=Rolling Stone}} Melody Maker critic Josh Ingham wrote in 1973 that while initially "ignored by the public", Pet Sounds had inspired many critics to label Wilson a genius, "not least for being a year ahead of Sgt Pepper in thinking." Ingham concluded that, "With hindsight, of course, Pet Sounds has become the classic album."{{cite magazine |last1=Ingham |first1=Josh |title=The Beach Boys #2: The Exiles Return |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beach-boys-2-the-exiles-return |magazine=NME |date=March 31, 1973 |url-access=subscription}}

After going out of print in 1974, Pet Sounds entered a period of obscurity with prolonged placement in discount bins.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=216, 235}} Sociomusicologist Simon Frith wrote in 1981 that the album remained widely perceived as "a 'weird' record" within music circles.{{cite magazine|first=Simon|last=Frith|title=1967: The Year It All Came Together |magazine=The History of Rock|year=1981|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/1967-the-year-it-all-came-together|url-access=subscription|author-link=Simon Frith}} Dave Marsh's 1979 review in The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1979) awarded four stars (out of a possible five), characterizing it as a "powerful, but spotty" collection where the least experimental songs proved to be the best.{{sfn|Marsh|Swenson|1983|p=30}} By 1985, he wrote that the album was now considered a "classic" while contrasting its perceived disconnect from listeners with the Beatles' contemporaneous work.{{sfn|Marsh|1985|p=114}} Granata wrote that upon its 1990 CD reissue, the album remained a "quasi-cult classic" primarily embraced by devoted fans.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=216}}

{{Music ratings

| title = Professional ratings
(1990s–2000s)

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |last=Unterberger |first=Richie |author-link=Richie Unterberger |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/pet-sounds-mw0000398074 |title=Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys |website=AllMusic |access-date=October 21, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105061230/https://www.allmusic.com/album/pet-sounds-mw0000398074 |archive-date=November 5, 2012}}

| rev2 = Blender

| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |last=Wolk |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Wolk |date=October 2003 |url=http://www.blender.com/guide/back-catalogue/52789/pet-sounds.html |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds |magazine=Blender |location=New York |issue=20 |access-date=October 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113103011/http://www.blender.com/guide/back-catalogue/52789/pet-sounds.html |archive-date=January 13, 2010 |url-status=dead}}

| rev3 = Chicago Sun-Times

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite news |last=McLeese |first=Don |date=May 18, 1990 |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3999021.html |title=Capitol releases a wave of Beach Boys classics |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=October 21, 2012 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001031335/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3999021.html |archive-date=October 1, 2017 |url-status=dead}}

| rev4 = Chicago Tribune

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite news |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot |date=May 17, 1990 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/05/17/beach-boyspet-sounds-capitol-starstarstarstarthis-cd-reissue/ |title=Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (Capitol) |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=October 21, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224064526/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-05-17-9002090716-story.html |archive-date=February 24, 2021}}

| rev5 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev5score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Larkin|2007|loc="Beach Boys"}}

| rev6 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev6score = A+{{cite magazine |last=Sinclair |first=Tom |date=December 12, 1997 |url=https://ew.com/article/1997/12/12/we-take-look-holiday-boxsets/ |title=Box Populi |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |location=New York |issue=409 |access-date=October 8, 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013205408/https://ew.com/article/1997/12/12/we-take-look-holiday-boxsets/ |archive-date=October 13, 2020}}

| rev7 = Q

| rev7score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds |magazine=Q |location=London |issue=118 |date=July 1996 |page=133}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |last=Davis |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Davis (music journalist) |date=January 21, 1997 |orig-date=June 22, 1972 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thebeachboys/albums/album/112386/review/6068244/pet_sounds |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York |access-date=October 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205235433/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thebeachboys/albums/album/112386/review/6068244/pet_sounds |archive-date=December 5, 2007 |url-status=dead}}

| rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev9score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Fine|2004|pp=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/46 46–49]}}

| rev10 = Slant Magazine

| rev10score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |last=Walsh |first=Barry |date=April 19, 2004 |url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds |title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds |website=Slant Magazine |access-date=October 20, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823203837/https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds/ |archive-date=August 23, 2019}}

}}

Pet Sounds has since been widely ranked among the greatest albums of all time and extensively analyzed for its musical and production innovations.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=235}} By the 1990s, three British critics' polls placed it at or near the top of their rankings.{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|p=19}} Publications such as NME, The Times, and Uncut have each ranked it as the greatest album of all time.{{cite web |date=October 2, 1993 |title=New Musical Express Writers Top 100 Albums |url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/nme_writers.htm#100_93 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228100140/https://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/nme_writers.htm |archive-date=February 28, 2009 |access-date=March 3, 2009 |work=NME}}{{cite web |title=The Times All Time Top 100 Albums |url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/times100.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304183205/https://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/times100.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2009 |access-date=March 3, 2009 |work=The Times}}{{cite magazine |title=200 Greatest Albums of All Time |magazine=Uncut |date=February 2016 |issue=225}} In 1994, Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums, which surveyed the public and a wide range of critics, musicians and industry figures, listed Pet Sounds at number 3;{{sfn|Larkin|1994|pp=4–6, 8, 365}} a revised 2000 edition of the book repositioned it at number 18.{{sfn|Larkin|2000|p=42}}

In 1998, Pet Sounds was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.{{cite web |url=http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame#l |title=The Grammy Hall of Fame Award |access-date=August 18, 2007 |publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122042616/http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame |archive-date=January 22, 2011}} Historian Michael Roberts suggested that the album's canonical status solidified following the 1997 release of its expanded reissue, The Pet Sounds Sessions.{{sfn|Roberts|2019|p=65}} Crawdaddy founder Paul Williams, writing in 1998, declared Pet Sounds a 20th-century classic comparable to James Joyce's Ulysses, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Pablo Picasso's Guernica.{{sfn|Williams|Hartwell|2000|p=75}} In Music USA: The Rough Guide (1999), Richie Unterberger and Samb Hicks deemed the album a "quantum leap" from the Beach Boys' earlier work and highlighted its arrangements as among "the most gorgeous" in rock history.{{sfn|Unterberger|Hicks|1999|p=382}}

In 2004, the Library of Congress preserved Pet Sounds in the National Recording Registry for its being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."{{cite web |title=The National Recording Registry 2004 |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2004reg.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627212235/https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2004reg.html |archive-date=June 27, 2010 |website= |publisher=National Recording Registry}} By 2006, over 100 domestic and international publications had recognized the album as one of the greatest ever recorded. Chris Smith's 2009 book 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music characterized it as "one of the most innovative recordings in rock" and a work that transformed Wilson from "talented bandleader to studio genius."{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=38}}

Luis Sanchez, in his 2014-published 33⅓ book about Smile, described Pet Sounds as "the score to a film about what rock music doesn't have to be", praising its "inward-looking sentimentalism" and Wilson's "sui generis" vision.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=83}} Music critic Tim Sommer considered it the greatest album of all time, "probably by about 20 or 30 lengths", and distinguished it as the only one among frequently cited masterpieces like Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick (1972), Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), and OK Computer written from a teenage or adolescent perspective.

{{quote box|

|quote=[T]wo or three generations of music fans will secretly believe you have no soul if you don't announce your allegiance to it [...] "Influence" is a loaded concept here [...] Certainly, regardless of what I write here, the impact and "influence" of the record will have been in turn hardly influenced at all. I can't even get my dad to talk about Pet Sounds anymore.

|source=—Pitchfork reviewer Dominique Leone, 2006

|width = 25%

|align =

}}

Prominent public figures continued to frequently commend Pet Sounds as a work of significant artistic merit through the 2000s. In 2000, Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber rated the album's latest reissue 7.5/10 and decreed that Pet Sounds had been "groundbreaking enough to {{sic|perma|nantly}} alter the course of music", its "straight-forward pop music" had become "passe and cliched" compared to albums like The Dark Side of the Moon, Loveless, and OK Computer.{{cite web|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/b/beach-boys/pet-sounds.shtml|title=Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (Remastered) [Capitol Reissues]|work=Pitchfork|date=October 10, 2000|access-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001010180925/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/b/beach-boys/pet-sounds.shtml|last=Schreiber|first=Ryan|authorlink=Ryan Schreiber|archive-date=October 10, 2000}} For the 2006 40th Anniversary edition, Pitchfork contributor Dominique Leone awarded the album 9.4, affirming its enduring acclaim but expressing a preference for the Beach Boys' post-Pet Sounds recordings. Leone highlighted its "hymnal" qualities and themes as having retained their emotional potency, observing that generations of listeners treat admiration for the album as a litmus test for musical sincerity.

In a 2004 essay, Robert Christgau described Pet Sounds as a "good record, but a totem".{{cite magazine |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |date=October 14, 2004 |title=Get Happy: Brian Wilson: "SMiLE" |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cdrev/wilson-rs.php |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406225801/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cdrev/wilson-rs.php |archive-date=April 6, 2013 |access-date=March 29, 2013}} Jeff Nordstedt's essay in the 2004 book Kill Your Idols critiqued the album's legacy, arguing that discussions often prioritized its influence over substantive analysis of its music. Nordstedt considered the album's hit songs to be "disjointed" and the remaining tracks "downright insane", criticizing its perceived role in fostering overproduced exemplified in 1980s popular music, and questioned its artistic authenticity, citing its "inoffensive aesthetics", absence of "visceral charge", and collaborative origins with a commercial jingle writer: "it offends every notion of truth that I hold dear about rock 'n' roll"{{sfn|Nordstedt|2004|pp=22, 24–27}} Stereogum writer Ryan Leas observed in 2016 that Pet Sounds had grown to be "arguably even more of a totemic presence than Revolver".

{{quote box|

|quote=It keeps going back to Pet Sounds here in my life, and I'm going, "What about this Pet Sounds? Is it really that good an album?" It's stood the test of time, of course, but is it really that great an album to listen to? I don't know.

|source=—Brian Wilson, 2002{{cite episode|last=Aspinall|first=Sarah|series=Art That Shook the World|network=BBC|date=July 20, 2002|title=The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds |time=49:00}}

|width = 25%

|align = left

}}

The television series Portlandia (2011–2018) featured a character, portrayed by comedian Fred Armisen, based on his observations of recording engineers fixated on Pet Sounds and vintage studio equipment, whom he likened to 1950s car enthusiasts in their technical obsession.{{cite news |last=Ross |first=Danny |date=May 28, 2019 |title=Fred Armisen Talks SNL, Portlandia And Comedy For Musicians |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2019/05/28/fred-armisen-talks-snl-portlandia-and-comedy-for-musicians/ |work=Forbes}} Musician Atticus Ross, who composed the score to Love & Mercy, acknowledged "an element of cliché that's grown around" the album, exemplified in Portlandia: "your classic hipster musicians [...] are building a studio and everything is like 'this is the mike they used in Pet Sounds.' This is exactly the same as Pet Sounds.'"{{cite web |last1=Baker |first1=Jeff |date=June 3, 2015 |title=Atticus Ross talks Brian Wilson, 'Pet Sounds,' 'Portlandia' and his Beach Boys mash-up |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2015/06/atticus_ross_talks_brian_wilso.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416095920/https://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2015/06/atticus_ross_talks_brian_wilso.html |archive-date=April 16, 2019 |publisher=Oregon Live}} {{clear}}

{{See also|The Pet Sounds Sessions}}

Pet Sounds has had many different reissues since its release in 1966, including remastered mono and remixed stereo versions.

• In 1966, Capitol issued a Duophonic (fake stereo) version of the album that was created through equalization and phasing.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=216}}
• In 1967, Capitol issued Pet Sounds as part of a three-LP set with Today! and Summer Days, called "The Beach Boys Deluxe Set".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=216}}
• In 1972, Reprise packaged Pet Sounds as a bonus LP with the Beach Boys' latest album Carl and the Passions – "So Tough".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=216}}
• In 1974, Reprise issued Pet Sounds as a single disc, which became the album's last reissue until 1990.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=216}}
• In 1990, Pet Sounds debuted on CD with the addition of three previously unreleased bonus tracks: "Unreleased Backgrounds" (an a cappella demo section of "Don't Talk" sung by Wilson), "Hang On to Your Ego", and "Trombone Dixie".{{cite news |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |date=May 11, 1990 |title='Pet Sounds' Finally Reissued |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/60052630.xml?dids=60052630:60052630&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+11%2C+1990&author=ROBERT+HILBURN&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=%60Pet+Sounds%27+Finally+Reissued&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |access-date=March 3, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729132256/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/281054785.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May%2011,%201990&author=ROBERT%20HILBURN&pub=Los%20Angeles%20Times%20(pre-1997%20Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=&desc=%60Pet%20Sounds%27%20Finally%20Reissued |archive-date=July 29, 2017}} The edition was prepared from the original 1966 mono master, by Mark Linett, who used Sonic Solutions' No Noise processing to mitigate damage that the physical master had accrued.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=218}} It became one of the first CDs to sell more than a million copies.{{cite news |last1=Brooks |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Brooks (music historian) |date=June 24, 2017 |title=CLASSIC VINYL: Pet Sounds, one of the greatest albums ever made |work=The Westmorland Gazette |url=http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/15356097.CLASSIC_VINYL__Pet_Sounds__one_of_the_greatest_albums_ever_made/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512200134/https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/15356097.classic-vinyl-pet-sounds-one-of-the-greatest-albums-ever-made/ |archive-date=May 12, 2021}}
• In 1995, DCC issued a 20-bit audiophile version that was mastered by engineer Steve Hoffman. It was created from a safety copy of the original master.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=219}} According to Granata, this version "garnered numerous accolades, and some feel it comes closest to capturing the spirit and punch of Brian's original 1966 mix."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=220}}
• In 1997, The Pet Sounds Sessions was released as a four-disc box set. It included the original mono release of Pet Sounds, the album's first stereo mix (created by Linett and Wilson), backing tracks, isolated vocals, and session highlights. It was received with controversy among audiophiles who felt that a stereo mix of Pet Sounds was sacrilege against the original mono recording.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=220–221}}
• In 2001, Pet Sounds was issued with mono and "improved" stereo versions, plus "Hang On to Your Ego" as a bonus track, all on one disc.{{cite web |title=Pet Sounds: Complete Album |url=http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;1;-1;-1;-1&sku=653891 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929112157/http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;1;-1;-1;-1&sku=653891 |archive-date=September 29, 2012 |access-date=May 7, 2011 |publisher=HMV}}
• On August 29, 2006, Capitol released a 40th Anniversary edition, containing a new 2006 remaster of the original mono mix, DVD mixes (stereo and Surround Sound), and a "making of" documentary.{{cite web |url=http://www.emission-online.com/issues/2006-06-23/news2.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205191445/http://www.emission-online.com/issues/2006-06-23/news2.asp |archive-date=December 5, 2008 |title=The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and "Good Vibrations 40 Anniversaries Feted by Capitol/EMI |publisher=EMIssion-online.com |date=June 23, 2006 |access-date=October 14, 2012}} The discs were released in a regular jewel box and a deluxe edition was released in a green fuzzy box. A two-disc colored gatefold vinyl set was released with green (stereo) and yellow (mono) discs.
• In 2016, a 50th anniversary edition box set presented the remastered album in both stereo and mono forms alongside studio sessions outtakes, alternate mixes, and live recordings. Of the 104 tracks, only 14 were previously unreleased.{{cite web |last1=Gallucci |first1=Michael |date=June 8, 2016 |title=The Beach Boys, 'Pet Sounds (50th Anniversary Edition)': Album Review |url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beach-boys-pet-sounds-50th/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210707010459/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beach-boys-pet-sounds-50th/ |archive-date=July 7, 2021 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock}}
• In 2023, a Dolby Atmos remix was created by Giles Martin, who closely followed Linett's 1996 stereo mix.{{cite web |title=Masterful Remixer Giles Martin On The Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds,' The Beatles, Paul McCartney |url=https://www.grammy.com/news/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-dolby-atmos-remixed-by-giles-martin |website=Grammy |date=June 2, 2023}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| extra_column = Lead vocal(s)

| title1 = Wouldn't It Be Nice

| writer1 = Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, Mike Love

| extra1 = Brian Wilson and Mike Love

| length1 = 2:25

| title2 = You Still Believe in Me

| writer2 = Wilson, Asher

| extra2 = B. Wilson

| length2 = 2:31

| title3 = That's Not Me

| writer3 = Wilson, Asher

| extra3 = Love with B. Wilson

| length3 = 2:28

| title4 = Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)

| writer4 = Wilson, Asher

| extra4 = B. Wilson

| length4 = 2:53

| title5 = I'm Waiting for the Day

| writer5 = Wilson, Love

| extra5 = B. Wilson

| length5 = 3:05

| title6 = Let's Go Away for Awhile

| writer6 = Wilson

| extra6 = instrumental

| length6 = 2:18

| title7 = Sloop John B

| writer7 = traditional, arr. Wilson

| extra7 = B. Wilson and Love

| length7 = 2:58

| total_length = 18:38

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| extra_column = Lead vocal(s)

| title1 = God Only Knows

| writer1 = Wilson, Asher

| extra1 = Carl Wilson with B. Wilson and Bruce Johnston

| length1 = 2:51

| title2 = I Know There's an Answer

| writer2 = Wilson, Terry Sachen, Love

| extra2 = Love and Al Jardine with B. Wilson

| length2 = 3:09

| title3 = Here Today

| writer3 = Wilson, Asher

| extra3 = Love

| length3 = 2:54

| title4 = I Just Wasn't Made for These Times

| writer4 = Wilson, Asher

| extra4 = B. Wilson

| length4 = 3:12

| title5 = Pet Sounds

| writer5 = Wilson

| extra5 = instrumental

| length5 = 2:22

| title6 = Caroline, No

| writer6 = Wilson, Asher

| extra6 = B. Wilson

| length6 = 2:51

| total_length = 17:19 35:57

}}

Notes

• Mike Love was not originally credited for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "I Know There's an Answer". His credits were awarded after a 1994 court case.{{sfn|Doe|Tobler|2009|pp=22, 25}}
• Al Jardine's contribution to the arrangement of "Sloop John B" remains uncredited.{{sfn|Love|2016|pp=366–367}}
• Vocal credits sourced from Alan Boyd and Craig Slowinski.

Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.{{cite web |last1=Slowinski |first1=Craig |title=Pet Sounds LP |url=http://www.beachboysarchives.com/page10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924070923/http://www.beachboysarchives.com/page10 |archive-date=September 24, 2018 |access-date=September 24, 2018 |website=beachboysarchives.com |publisher=Endless Summer Quarterly}}

The Beach Boys

• Al Jardine – vocals
• Bruce Johnston – vocals
• Mike Love – vocals
• Brian Wilson – vocals; plucked piano strings on "You Still Believe in Me"; bass guitar, Danelectro bass, and organ on "That's Not Me"; piano on "Pet Sounds"; overdubbed organ or harmonium on "I Know There's an Answer"
• Carl Wilson – vocals; lead guitar and overdubbed 12-string electric guitar on "That's Not Me"; 12-string electric guitar on "God Only Knows"
• Dennis Wilson – vocals; drums on "That's Not Me"

Guests

• Tony Asher – plucked piano strings on "You Still Believe in Me"
• Steve Korthof – tambourine on "That's Not Me"
• Terry Melcher – tambourine on "That's Not Me" and "God Only Knows"
• Marilyn Wilson – additional vocals on "You Still Believe in Me" introduction (uncertain)
• Tony (surname unknown) – tambourine on "Sloop John B"

Session musicians (also known as "the Wrecking Crew")

{{div col|colwidth=27em}}

• Chuck Berghofer – string bass
• Hal Blaine – bicycle horn, drums, percussion, sleigh bells, timpani
• Glen Campbell – banjo, guitar
• Frank Capp – bells, beverage cup, timpani, glockenspiel, tambourine, temple blocks, vibraphone
• Al Casey – guitar
• Roy Caton – trumpet
• Jerry Cole – electric guitar, guitar
• Gary L. Coleman – bongos, timpani
• Mike Deasy – guitar
• Al De Lory – harpsichord, organ, piano, tack piano
• Steve Douglas – alto saxophone, clarinet, flute, piano, temple blocks, tenor saxophone
• Carl Fortina – accordion
• Ritchie Frost – drums, bongos, Coca-Cola cans
• Jim Gordon – drums, orange juice cups
• Bill Green – alto saxophone, clarinet, flute, güiro, tambourine
• Leonard Hartman – bass clarinet, clarinet, English horn
• Jim Horn – alto saxophone, clarinet, baritone saxophone, flute
• Paul Horn – flute
• Jules Jacob – flute
• Plas Johnson – clarinet, güiro, flute, piccolo, tambourine, tenor saxophone
• Carol Kaye – electric bass, guitar
• Barney Kessel – guitar
• Bobby Klein – clarinet
• Larry Knechtel – harpsichord, organ, tack piano
• Frank Marocco – accordion
• Gail Martin – bass trombone
• Nick Martinis – drums
• Mike Melvoin – harpsichord
• Jay Migliori – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, bass saxophone, clarinet, flute
• Tommy Morgan – bass harmonica
• Jack Nimitz – baritone saxophone, bass saxophone
• Bill Pitman – guitar
• Ray Pohlman – electric bass
• Don Randi – tack piano
• Alan Robinson – French horn
• Lyle Ritz – string bass, ukulele
• Billy Strange – electric guitar, guitar, 12-string electric guitar
• Ernie Tack – bass trombone
• Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
• Tommy Tedesco – acoustic guitar
• Jerry Williams – timpani
• Julius Wechter – bicycle bell, tambourine, timpani, vibraphone

{{div col end}}

The Sid Sharp Strings

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}

• Arnold Belnick – violin
• Norman Botnick – viola
• Joseph DiFiore – viola
• Justin DiTullio – cello
• Jesse Erlich – cello
• James Getzoff – violin
• Harry Hyams – viola
• William Kurasch – violin
• Leonard Malarsky – violin
• Jerome Reisler – violin
• Joseph Saxon – cello
• Ralph Schaeffer – violin
• Sid Sharp – violin
• Darrel Terwilliger – viola
• Tibor Zelig – violin

{{div col end}}

Engineers

• Bruce Botnick
• Chuck Britz
• H. Bowen David
• Larry Levine
• Other engineers may have included Jerry Hochman, Phil Kaye, Jim Lockert, and Ralph Valentine.

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Pet Sounds}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|title=Pet Sounds|artist=The Beach Boys|number=2|award=Platinum|relyear=2000|certyear=2020|id=9370-1917-2}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|title=Pet Sounds|artist=The Beach Boys|award=Platinum|relyear=1966|certyear=2000}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true | streaming=true}}

{{reflist|30em|group=nb}}

{{Reflist|20em}}

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

• {{cite book|last=Abjorensen|first=Norman|title=Historical Dictionary of Popular Music|year=2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-5381-0215-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZyrDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA40}}
• {{cite book |last=Badman |first=Keith |title=The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio |url=https://archive.org/details/beachboysdefinit0000badm |url-access=registration |year=2004 |publisher=Backbeat Books |isbn=978-0-87930-818-6 }}
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Bogdanov|editor-first1=Vladimir |editor-link1=Vladimir Bogdanov (editor)|editor-last2=Woodstra|editor-first2=Chris|editor-last3=Erlewine|editor-first3=Stephen Thomas |editor-link3=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |title=All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=1-pH4i3jXvAC}}|year=2002|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-0-87930-653-3}}
• {{cite book|last1=Brend|first1=Mark|title=Strange Sounds: Offbeat Instruments and Sonic Experiments in Pop|date=2005|publisher=Backbeat|isbn=9780879308551|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6KRDxYOp4UC}}
• {{cite book|last=Butler|first=Jan|year=2012|chapter=The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and the Musicology of Record Production|editor-last1=Frith|editor-first1=Simon|editor-last2=Zagorski-Thomas|editor-first2=Simon |title=The Art of Record Production: An Introductory Reader for a New Academic Field|isbn=978-1-4094-0678-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZjVCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA231|publisher=Ashgate Publishing}}
• {{cite book |first=Peter Ames |last=Carlin |author-link=Peter Ames Carlin |title=Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYyovo_AbqAC |year=2006 |publisher=Rodale |isbn=978-1-59486-320-2 }}
• {{cite book |orig-year=2006|last1=Covach |first1=John Rudolph |title=What's That Sound? An Introduction to Rock and Its History |date=2015 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn=9780393937251 |edition=4th |url=https://archive.org/details/whatsthatsoundin0000cova_c9t1/|url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|last=Cunningham|first=Mark|title=Good Vibrations: A History of Record Production|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeUIAQAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Sanctuary|location=London|isbn=978-1-860742422}}
• {{cite book |first=Jim |last=DeRogatis |author-link=Jim DeRogatis |title=Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7cQmRsLgN8C |year=2003 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-0-634-05548-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Dillon|first=Mark|title=Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys: The Songs That Tell Their Story |url=https://archive.org/details/fiftysidesofbeac0000dill/|year=2012|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=978-1-77090-198-8 |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Doe |first1=Andrew |last2=Tobler |first2=John|editor-first=Chris|editor-last=Charlesworth |chapter=The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds – May 1966 |title=25 Albums that Rocked the World|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TGreXZIq1RgC&pg=PT19 |year=2009 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=978-0-85712-044-1}}
• {{cite book |last1=Doggett |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Doggett |title=Electric Shock: From the Gramophone to the iPhone: 125 years of Pop Music |date=2016 |publisher=Vintage |location=London |isbn=9780099575191 |url=https://archive.org/details/electricshockfro0000dogg_d7a6/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Edmondson |editor-first=Jacqueline |title=Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped our Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQPXAQAAQBAJ |year=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-39348-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Downes|first=Stephen|title=Aesthetics of Music: Musicological Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2tbpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-48691-3}}
• {{cite book|last= Einarson|first=John| title = Forever Changes: Arthur Lee and the Book of Love| publisher = Jawbone Press| year = 2010| isbn = 978-1-906002-31-6|url=https://archive.org/details/foreverchangesar0000eina/|url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|last=Everett |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Everett (musicologist)|title=The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-531024-5|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=p0p6jL-u3T4C|page=24}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Fine |first=Jason |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |chapter=The Beach Boys |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac}}
• {{cite book |last=Fusilli |first=Jim |title=Beach Boys' Pet Sounds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVIx8qes4V8C |date=2005 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-1266-8 }}
• {{cite book|last=Gaines|first=Steven|author-link=Steven Gaines|title=Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys|url=https://archive.org/details/heroesvillainsth00gain|year=1986|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=New York|isbn=0306806479|url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Gillett |first=Charlie |author-link=Charlie Gillett |title=The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzmhhXUwyt4C&pg=PA329 |year=1984 |publisher=Perseus Books Group |isbn=978-0-306-80683-4}}
• {{cite book |last=Greene |first=John Robert |author-link=John Robert Greene |title=America in the Sixties |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RY5JKjL7VBEC |year=2010 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-5133-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Granata |first=Charles L. |title=Wouldn't it Be Nice: Brian Wilson and the Making of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds |date=2003 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=eduXp1caQ4YC}}|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-55652-507-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Harrison (music theorist) |editor1-last=Covach|editor1-first=John|editor2-last=Boone|editor2-first=Graeme M. |title=Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-988012-6|chapter-url=http://www.lipscomb.umn.edu/rock/docs/Harrison1997_BeachBoys.pdf |chapter=After Sundown: The Beach Boys' Experimental Music |pages=33–57}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hegarty |first1=Paul |last2=Halliwell |first2=Martin |title=Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock Since the 1960s |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=taA2AqdCAJ0C&pg=PT23 |date=2011 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing |isbn=978-0-8264-4483-7 }}
• {{cite book |last=Hoskyns |first=Barney |title=Waiting for the Sun: A Rock 'n' Roll History of Los Angeles |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=w7oB2UKVxgQC}}|author-link=Barney Hoskyns|year=2009|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-0-87930-943-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Howard|first=David N.|title=Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings|date=2004|publisher=Hal Leonard|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-63405-560-7|edition=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0VMAgAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book|last=Howland|first=John|title=Hearing Luxe Pop: Glorification, Glamour, and the Middlebrow in American Popular Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yu0lEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA217|year=2021|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-30010-1}}
• {{cite book |last=Irvin |first=Jim |author-link=Jim Irvin |chapter=1966 – The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds |title=The Mojo Collection: 4th Edition|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVQbF9lTBwgC&pg=PA64 |year=2007 |publisher=Canongate Books |isbn=978-1-84767-643-6 }}
• {{cite book|last=Janovitz|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Janovitz|title=Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gI_q8E0YaSwC&pg=PA81|year=2013|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-1-250-02631-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Michael |title=Pop Music Theory: Harmony, Form, and Composition |date=2009 |publisher=Cinemasonique Music |location=Boston, Mass. |isbn=978-0-578-03539-0 |edition=2nd}}
• {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Carys Wyn |title=The Rock Canon: Canonical Values in the Reception of Rock Albums |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdC3n62ArX8C |year=2008 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-6244-0 }}
• {{cite book |last=Joyson |first=Vernon |title=The Acid Trip: A Complete Guide to Psychedelic Music |date=1984 |publisher=Babylon Books |location=Todmorden, England |isbn=978-0-907188-24-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQc5AQAAIAAJ}}
• {{cite book|last1=Kent|first1=David|title=Australian Chart Book (1940-1969)|date=2005|publisher=Australian Chart Book |isbn=9780646444390}}
• {{cite book|last=Kent|first=Nick|author-link=Nick Kent|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bPMO0CtuBAsC&pg=PA12|chapter=The Last Beach Movie Revisited: The Life of Brian Wilson|title=The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music|year=2009|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=9780786730742}}
• {{cite book |last=Lambert |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Lambert|title=Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3sGoAwAAQBAJ |date=2007 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-0748-0 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lambert |first1=Philip |title=Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds |journal=Twentieth-Century Music |date=March 2008 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=109–133 |doi=10.1017/S1478572208000625 |url=https://www.academia.edu/17300178 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|s2cid=162871617 |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Lambert|editor-first=Philip|title=Good Vibrations: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in Critical Perspective|url=https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/nv935376j|year=2016 |publisher=University of Michigan Press|doi=10.3998/mpub.9275965 |isbn=978-0-472-11995-0 |last1=Lambert |first1=Philip |s2cid=192796203 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |author1-link=Colin Larkin |title=All Time Top 1000 Albums |date=1994 |publisher=Guinness Pub |location=Enfield, Middlesex, England |isbn=9780851127866 |url=https://archive.org/details/alltimetop1000al0000lark_e9k1/page/8/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Colin |editor-link=Colin Larkin |title=All Time Top 1000 Albums |publisher=Virgin Books |edition=3rd |year=2000 |isbn=0-7535-0493-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |publisher=Omnibus Press |edition=5th |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Leaf|first=David|author-link=David Leaf|title=The Beach Boys and the California Myth|url=https://archive.org/details/beachboyscalifor00leaf|url-access=registration|year=1978|publisher=Grosset & Dunlap|location=New York|isbn=978-0-448-14626-3}}
• {{cite book |last1=Leaf |first1=David |author1-link=David Leaf |title=God Only Knows: The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys and the California Myth |date=2022 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=9781913172756 |edition=3rd}}
• {{cite book |last=Love |first=Mike |author-link=Mike Love |title=Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioG0CwAAQBAJ |year=2016 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-698-40886-9}}
• {{cite book |last=Lowe |first=Kelly Fisher |title=The Words and Music of Frank Zappa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAYfqgGf4yYC&pg=PA219 |year=2007 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-6005-4 }}
• {{cite book |last=Marsh |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Marsh |title=Fortunate Son: Criticism and Journalism by America's Best-known Rock Writer |url=https://archive.org/details/fortunatesoncrit00mars |url-access=registration |year=1985 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-394-72119-4}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Marsh |editor-first1=Dave |editor-last2=Swenson |editor-first2=John |title=The New Rolling Stone Record Guide |publisher=Random House/Rolling Stone Press |location=New York |date=1983 |isbn=0-394-72107-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstoner00mars}}
• {{citation |last=Martin |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Martin (philosophy) |title=Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock |year=1998 |publisher=Open Court |location=Chicago |isbn=0-8126-9368-X}}
• {{cite book|title=The Mojo Collection: 4th Edition|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVQbF9lTBwgC&pg=PA132|year=2007|publisher=Canongate Books|isbn=978-1-84767-643-6|chapter=The Beach Boys: Friends|editor-last=Mojo}}
• {{cite book |last=Moorefield |first=Virgil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZ0R4_Oxr-4C&pg=PA18 |title=The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music |publisher=MIT Press |date=2010 |isbn=978-0-262-13457-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Johnny |title=The Beach Boys: America's Band |year=2015 |publisher=Sterling |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4549-1709-0 }}
• {{cite book|last=Murphy|first=James B.|title=Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=273eCQAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-7365-6}}
• {{cite book |last1=Nordstedt |first1=Jeff |editor1-last=DeRogatis |editor1-first=Jim |editor2-last=Carrillo |editor2-first=Carmél |editor1-link=Jim DeRogatis |title=Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics |date=2004 |publisher=Barricade Books |location=Fort Lee, N.J. |isbn=9781569802762 |url=https://archive.org/details/killyouridolsnew0000unse |chapter=Pet Sounds|url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/killyouridolsnew0000unse/page/26/|chapter-url-access=registration}}
• {{cite thesis |last1=O'Regan |first1=Jody |title=When I Grow Up: The Development of the Beach Boys' Sound (1962–1966) |date=2014 |doi=10.25904/1912/2556 |url=https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/367243/O%27Regan_2014_02Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |publisher=Queensland Conservatorium}}
• {{cite book |first=James E. |last=Perone |title=The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzl1lBFXKhQC&pg=RA2-PT28 |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37907-9 }}
• {{cite book|last1=Pinch|first1=T. J|last2=Trocco|first2=Frank|title=Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoUs2SSvG4EC|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-04216-2}}
• {{cite book |last1=Preiss |first1=Byron |author-link=Byron Preiss |title=The Beach Boys |date=1979 |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-345-27398-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0dWoXNvhkoC }}
• {{cite book |last=Priore |first=Domenic |author-link=Domenic Priore |title=Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81YIAQAAMAAJ |year=2005 |publisher=Sanctuary |location=London |isbn=1-86074-627-6 }}
• {{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Martin|title=Cornelius's Fantasma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5IyEAAAQBAJ|year=2019|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-1-5013-3017-9}}
• {{cite book|last1=Romano|first1=Will|title=Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock|date=2010|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=Milwaukee, WI|isbn=978-0879309916|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2lVMAgAAQBAJ}}
• {{Cite book|last=Rosenberg|first=Stuart|date=September 2009|title=Rock and Roll and the American Landscape: The Birth of an Industry and the Expansion of the Popular Culture, 1955-1969|publisher=iUniverse |isbn=9781440164583 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=736Mu91q_fcC&pg=PA230}}
• {{cite book |last=Sanchez |first=Luis |title=The Beach Boys' Smile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FC0_AwAAQBAJ |year=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-62356-956-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Savage|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Savage|title=1966: The Year the Decade Exploded|publisher=Faber & Faber|location=London|year=2015|isbn=978-0-571-27763-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Schinder |first=Scott |chapter=The Beach Boys|editor-last1=Schinder|editor-first1=Scott|editor-last2=Schwartz|editor-first2=Andy |title=Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever |date=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=978-0-313-33845-8|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chj91X0dWzUC&pg=PT101 }}
• {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Chris |title=One Hundred and One Albums that Changed Popular Music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4mP7u6mPdkC |year=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-537371-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Stanley|first=Bob|author-link=Bob Stanley (musician)|title=Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9emZAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT221|date=2013|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-28198-5}}
• {{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=Larry |author1-link=Larry Starr |title=American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3 |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780195300536 |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/americanpopularm0000star_k8g4/ |url-access=registration|orig-year=2006}}
• {{cite book |last=Stebbins |first=Jon |title=The Beach Boys FAQ: All That's Left to Know About America's Band |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8T3ivyKmSQwC |date=2011 |publisher=Backbeat Books |isbn=978-1-4584-2914-8 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Tobler |first1=John |author1-link=John Tobler |title=The Beach Boys |date=1978 |publisher=Chartwell Books |isbn=0890091749 |url=https://archive.org/details/beachboys00tobl/|url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|last=Toop|first=David|author-link=David Toop|title=Exotica: Fabricated Soundscapes in a Real World: Fabricated Soundscapes in the Real World|date=1999|publisher=Serpent's Tail|location=London|isbn=978-1852425951 |edition=1st}}
• {{cite book |last=Tunbridge |first=Laura |author-link=Laura Tunbridge |title=The Song Cycle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DS8VesiqWFcC |year=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89644-3 }}
• {{cite book|last=Umphred|first=Neal|chapter=Let's Go Away for Awhile: The Continuing Saga of Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds|editor-last=Abbott|editor-first=Kingsley|title=Back to the Beach: A Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys Reader|year=1997|publisher=Helter Skelter|isbn=978-1-90092-402-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/backtobeachbrian0000unse/|url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |last2=Hicks |first2=Samb |title=Music USA: The Rough Guide |url=https://archive.org/details/musicusaroughgui0000unte |url-access=registration |year=1999 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1-85828-421-7 }}
• {{cite book |last=White |first=Timothy |author-link=Timothy White (writer) |title=The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern Californian Experience |date=1996 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0333649370 |url=https://archive.org/details/nearestfarawaypl0000whit/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |author-link1=Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|last1=Williams |first1=Paul |last2=Hartwell |first2=David G. |title=The 20th Century's Greatest Hits: A Top 40 List |date=2000 |publisher=Forge |location=New York |isbn=978-0312873912 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/20thcenturysgrea00will/page/75/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|first=Brian|last=Wilson|chapter=Foreword|year=2002|title=1000 Days That Shook the World (The Psychedelic Beatles – April 1, 1965 to December 26, 1967)|location=London|publisher=Mojo Special Limited Edition|oclc=155990822}}
• {{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Brian |author-link1=Brian Wilson |last2=Greenman |first2=Ben |author-link2=Ben Greenman |title=I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CmiBQAAQBAJ |year=2016 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-82307-7}}
• {{cite book |last=Zager |first=Michael |title=Music Production: for Producers, Composers, Arrangers, and Students |date=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=978-0-8108-8201-0 |edition=2nd |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/musicproductionf0000zage }}
• {{cite book |last=Zak |first=Albin |title=Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=DJM6FgvlWw0C}}|year=2001|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-92815-2}}

{{Refend}}

• {{Discogs master|type=album|17217|name=Pet Sounds}}
• {{cite web |ref=none |title=Tony Asher Interview |url=https://surfermoon.neocities.org/interviews/asher |date=April 4, 1996}}
• {{cite news |last=Crowe |first=Jerry |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/21696821.html?dids=21696821:21696821&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+01%2C+1997&author=JERRY+CROWE&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=%27Pet+Sounds+Sessions%27%3A+Body+of+Influence+Put+in+a+Box%3B+Pop+Beat%3A+A+four-CD+compilation+of+the+Beach+Boys%27+1966+album+regarded+as+an+artistic+masterpiece+is+being+released+for+fans+new+and+old.&pqatl=google |title='Pet Sounds Sessions': Body of Influence Put in a Box |work=Los Angeles Times |date=November 1, 1997 |access-date=March 3, 2009 |ref=none |archive-date=November 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107231758/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/21696821.html?dids=21696821:21696821&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+01%2C+1997&author=JERRY+CROWE&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=%27Pet+Sounds+Sessions%27%3A+Body+of+Influence+Put+in+a+Box%3B+Pop+Beat%3A+A+four-CD+compilation+of+the+Beach+Boys%27+1966+album+regarded+as+an+artistic+masterpiece+is+being+released+for+fans+new+and+old.&pqatl=google |url-status=dead }}

{{Pet Sounds|state=expanded}}

{{The Beach Boys main}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1966 albums

Category:Albums arranged by Brian Wilson

Category:Albums conducted by Brian Wilson

Category:Albums produced by Brian Wilson

Category:Albums recorded at Gold Star Studios

Category:Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders

Category:Albums recorded at United Western Recorders

Category:Art rock albums by American artists

Category:Avant-pop albums

Category:Baroque pop albums

Category:The Beach Boys albums

Category:Capitol Records albums

Category:Chamber pop albums

Category:1960s concept albums

Category:Experimental pop albums

Category:Experimental rock albums by American artists

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Progressive pop albums

Category:Proto-prog albums

Category:Psychedelic pop albums

Category:Psychedelic rock albums by American artists

Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings

Category:United States National Recording Registry albums