-30- Communications | The Rewind Button: Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys

The Rewind Button: Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys

Posted on March 23, 2012

It’s the second week of our listening to some of the best albums ever as decided by Rolling Stone magazine. Last week was the Beatles and this week it’s the Beach Boys with Pet Sounds.

Quick aside, I’ve had to retype “Beach Boys” way too often. The problem with having “Beach Boys,” “Pet Sounds” and being an eighties child is that I keep typing “Pet Shop Boys.”

Right.

So this week I didn’t cook to the album. That’s because it was too nice outside and I was outside on a patio. Which is appropriate when you think about the Beach Boys. After all, when you think of them, you think of this:

Which is true for songs like “God Only Knows” and “Would it Be Nice?” They just call for a beer:

Perky, bubbly stuff, right?

Not always. If you know the history of the Beach Boys, specifically Brian Wilson who wrote this album, then you know it wasn’t just beer, hot sun, surf and girls. There was a darker side to the Boys and I think it shows up in the instrumentals such as Sloop John B and Pet Sounds which is deeply, deeply random when you first hear it but then you read up on the band and then you go, “That makes sense.” “I Guess I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” is backed with cheerful music but listening to the lyrics you hear hopelessness. Pet Sounds was released in the sixties but it wasn’t all fun, it was the decade that slowly lead to the Vietnam War and delusion.

So maybe not beer. Perhaps this:

A moody red wine.

Pet Sounds has been called one of the most influential albums of all time. I think it’s very nasal. I also think ending with some BareNaked Ladies works: