“Blew me out of the water”: The album Paul McCartney said makes you understand music
No rulebook determines whether someone understands music or not. Although many can go to school studying theory and make some of the most beautiful symphonies that the world has ever heard, it’s a bit trickier trying to sit down with a bunch of chords and try to sculpt something that has the potential to get on the charts. Paul McCartney could practically teach a class on how to write a hit song given his track record, but for him, no one understands music unless they have studied this record.
At the same time, there’s probably a handful of Beatles albums that could warrant that distinction. Compared to every other rock and roll band of their time, albums like Sgt Peppers and Abbey Road have endured as some of the most inventive albums released by anyone, and even when they reached outside of the typical rock formula, they were still making excellent melodies that would stick in people’s heads long after they were finished listening.
Then again, things had already started turning a corner by 1965. Outside of the Fab Four releasing Rubber Soul, artists like Bob Dylan were moving towards rock and roll, Motown was going through its golden age with artists like Marvin Gaye, and even The Rolling Stones were giving the Fabs a run for their money in terms of chart success. But in terms of American music, Brian Wilson had a mission to make things comparable to what The Beatles were doing.
While it was all healthy competition, Wilson’s attempt to match The Beatles on Pet Sounds remains one of the most perfect examples of what pop music could be. Compared to the surf music they had been making before, Wilson seemed unchained for the first time in his career, making songs that could have easily been put next to symphonies and still worked as well, like ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ or ‘I’m Waiting for the Day’.
Even though The Beatles couldn’t be stopped, McCartney was gobsmacked by what he had heard. They had all admired The Beach Boys from afar, but looking back on what Wilson created, Macca thought he got an education in how to structure songs just by listening to the interplay between every single instrument that the Wrecking Crew played.
When talking about it later, McCartney thought all you need to know about music can be summed up in that album, saying, “It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water. First of all, it was Brian’s writing. I love the album so much. I’ve just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life—I figure no one is educated musically ’til they’ve heard that album. I was into the writing and the songs.”
Seeing how Sgt Pepper came right after Pet Sounds, it’s easy to see what McCartney had learned from Wilson as well. Bringing in the massive orchestra for ‘A Day in the Life’ was the equivalent of Wilson’s dreams mixed with avant-garde, and in terms of raw beauty, ‘She’s Leaving Home’ might rival ‘God Only Knows’ in terms of pure musical excellence.
Then again, music was never strictly about competition for McCartney. It was about taking bits and pieces from everyone and turning them into something original, and once Wilson broke down those barriers on this record, there was no real limit to where pop music was allowed to go anymore.
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