The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

                              

The Beach Boys are an all American rock band that was formed in 1961. Residing out of southern California the Beach Boys earlier music was heavily influenced and mostly inspired by the sunny beach life of California, lyrics reflecting a youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance. The group was originally arranged of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. They were managed early on by the Wilsons' father Murry. The band's leader, composer, arranger and producer Brian Wilson was responsible for writing most of the band's early singles and albums.

The Beach Boys signed with Capital Records in mid-1962, upon signing Wilson wrote and/or co-wrote more than 24 Top 40 hits including, “Surfin’ USA”, “Surfer Girl”, Little Deuce Coupe”, Surfin’ Safari”, “In My Room”, “Fun, Fun, Fun”, “Be True to Your School”, “I Get Around”, “Help Me Rhonda”, “Dance, Dance, Dance”, and “California Girls”. These songs and their accompanying albums were an international success, critically acclaiming The Beach Boys one of the biggest acts of the early 1960’s.

During the mid-1960s, Brian's advancing creative ambition and songwriting ability would dominate the group's musical direction by featuring a more complex, intricate and multi-layered sound. In it, he wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Electro-Theremin, dog whistles, trains, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans and barking dogs, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars.

I believe Pet Sounds made Brian Wilson a pioneer of music, setting him apart from all the original producers or the 1960’s era. Stimulating his creativity with drug use Wilson would open his mind to exploring new techniques of composing and arrangement that are still utilized today.  You can hear the influence of Wilson’s pioneered production evolve through music in such bands known as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, and even still utilized in more modern music like Techno, Hip hop, and Rock. 


References: 
http://web.me.com/fullsailmh2/Music_History_Repository/Additional_Resources_-_Pet_Sounds.html


David N. Howard (2004). Sonic Alchemy Pg. 49-91


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Sounds


Album Art:
 http://captaincook.tumblr.com/post/2629094121/discopotential-33-3-art-show-the-beach-boys