Brian Wilson’s two favourite songs from ‘Pet Sounds’
Rivalries can often be ugly. They lead to fallouts, animosity, and grudges. There are some occasions, though, when rivalry can be a good thing. This is when it isn’t carried out maliciously but is the result of different people’s drive to be the best. This is the kind of rivalry that The Beach Boys and The Beatles had, as they were both the most popular bands in the world, and both were persistently gunning for the top spot.
The Beach Boys had a distinctive West Coast sound. It was music that people could lounge on a beach and surf to. One of the best things to come out of their rivalry with The Beatles was the album Pet Sounds, which was Brian Wilson’s attempt to show the band could stay true to their sound but still reel in a more mainstream audience.
There is no denying that Pet Sounds is a pop record, yet it draws from the shimmering, beach-inspired sound that the Beach Boys were already so famous for. The tracks vary from those you can dance to, cry to, and those you can use to confess your love for someone. It’s a versatile record that stays true to its core and is widely considered by many today as one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever made.
It’s easy to see the impact that this album has had. All you need to do is look around; you can hear it in many modern choruses. The record is still available to buy at shops worldwide and constantly enters the conversation of the best albums ever made. However, the relationship an artist has with their work is different from the public’s relationship with their work. It might surprise Beach Boys fans that when Brian Wilson was asked to name his favourite songs from the band, only two tracks from Pet Sounds made the cut.
‘God Only Knows’ was on the list, unsurprisingly. The track is lauded as one of the most wonderful songs ever committed to sound, as it seems to embody the unspeakable nature of love in a way that no other band has ever been able to. “It’s an honour to have written this one,” said Wilson when talking about the track, “It was also a pretty controversial record in that, as far as I know, it was the first rock song to have ‘God’ in the title. It’s a love song, but not a love song to a person.”
The other song from the album that Wilson said he loves is ‘Caroline, No’. The track was written during a volatile period for Wilson, as he had only recently married his first wife, Marilyn, and they were both trying to come to terms with married life and the changes it brought. “We were young,” said Wilson, “Marilyn nearing 20 and me closing in on 24, yet I thought we’d lost the innocence of our youth in the heavy seriousness of our lives.”
Brian Wilson’s favourite tracks from ‘Pet Sounds’
- ‘God Only Knows’
- ‘Caroline, No’
