I wasn't alive in 1966 and I never heard this album until August of 2006. I was 15 and my music taste was at a crossroads; within a month, I bought this album along with Death Cab for Cutie's Plans, Rush's 2112, an Allman Bros comp, a Bob Dylan comp + Barenaked Ladies Are Me. Me + the fam had only been living in Idaho for 1 month. I was a quiet, skinny kid who was sensitively over-self-conscious. [ex: Pity me. No one understands me. :( ] Anyways, I only got Pet Sounds because I saw Rolling Stone ranked it the second greatest album ever and I was able to get a free copy. I didn't even get it one bit, but I pretended to like it and listened frequently.
I cannot reiterate enough that I didn't understand what made this album good. However, I remember always genuinely liking the singles and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" and "That's Not Me." I'd put "God Only Knows" aside Death Cab on my pretty/sad songs playlists and consider myself cultured. I'm not sure how old I was when I understood this album, but even now, I'm not always in the mood for Pet Sounds. I am a young single adult; obsessed with modern music enough to not always connect with ancient classics. I give it a listen once every few months and get entranced in it for a week.
Pet Sounds is always ranked among the all-time greats, but for different reasons. Brian Wilson said he wanted to make an album like The Beatles' '65 Rubber Soul. He also said he wanted to make the songs more real, more natural, more personal. George Martin and the boys immediately started working on Sgt. Pepper, as he said, in an attempt make an album even better than Pet Sounds. This album didn't have the same clear-cut production as a George Martin work, but the music itself was more layered and even trickier. It may not always sound "big," but it sounds "dreamy." I'd say the first album to ever have this sound. The goofy surfer boys somehow leaped into Beatles-classic status with this album.
Meanwhile, some 23 year-old Mormon guitar boy in Logan-UT listens to this album as he lies wide awake in the middle of the night asking the same questions Brian Wilson asked himself nearly 50 years ago. Like many other artistic pop music statements, listening to to individual tracks won't give you the full album effect. Despite its popular songs ("God Only Knows," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Sloop John B"), it wasn't about making hits (alright, except for "Sloop John B")... it goes much deeper.
"I know there's an answer!" "Where can I turn?" "What good would living do me?" "We could live forever tonight!" "Every night as I lay there alone, I will dream..." These statements are taken lightly by most artists. Wilson gave them proper, delicate treatment. Lyrics like this aren't too "original," I suppose. In fact- everybody can relate to them. I never use the word "beautiful" when it comes to music. But screw it, that's what Pet Sounds is. Next to this goofy picture of Mr. Wilson and a goat, here are some listed things I've learned from this album.
*Wilson wrote "Caroline, No" while high on marijuana*"Let's Go Away Awhile" is impossible to hum to
*"I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" is my personal favorite track
*"Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)" still counts as a love song, no matter how super sad it sounds
*Compared to the rest of the album, "Sloop John B" is overrated
*Life is simple yet epic; the small things (pets, familiar places, friends, dreams, stars, love/romance, parents) are big factors
*Love might not be real, but we can always hope and dream that it is
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