How “Pet Sounds” Invented the Modern Pop Album | Hacker News Reader

How “Pet Sounds” Invented the Modern Pop Album

theatlantic.com

52 pointstintinnabula19 comments

The NPR show Sound Opinions did a great broadcast about Pet Sounds this week. (It's better than this article, which is rather pretentious and doesn't say anything insightful about Pet Sounds.) Among the many details it goes into is how Tony Asher, a Madison Avenue jingle writer, ended up writing the lyrics for Brian Wilson.

http://www.soundopinions.org/show/546/#petsounds (It starts 11 minutes in; skip the annoying ads.)

There's a documentary on Netflix called The Wrecking Crew which is about the session musicians who played on Pet Sounds (and a ridiculously broad selection of other stuff) which might interest anyone interested in this topic.

There was also a recent three part BBC documentary series about recording technology, and the second episode, which focussed on magnetic tape, featured Pet Sounds heavily.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/37QlHzXTkLzC45fdx8w...

As did BBC Radio 6 Music. I'm not entire sure if you can access it outside the UK, but the URL is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07blns7.

I didn't realize some of the sounds were generated in such unique ways. Cases in point

* Caroline, No - upside-down water bottle for intro drums * You Still Believe In Me - Avant-garde piano played directly on chords

I was about to say that Sergeant Pepper was the first big coherent rock concept album, but it was released a year later.

According to Beatles producer George Martin, "Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper never would have happened....Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds."

Yup. "Paul McCartney has frequently spoken of his affinity with the album, citing "God Only Knows" as his favorite song of all-time, and crediting his melodic bass-playing style to the album. He acknowledged that Pet Sounds was the primary impetus for the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The interplay between the Beatles and the Beach Boys thus inextricably links the two albums together."

Paul McCartney also appears on the Smiley Smile song Vege-Tables chewing celery.

Saw a quote yesterday where Brian Wilson said Rubber Soul was the influence for Pet Sounds.

The interplay between the Beach Boys and Beatles was interesting, if memory serves. The bands came out at about the same time, and I think were roughly the same age. But since the BB's sound harkened back to the 50's, and the Beatles moved early to a 70's sound, the BB's got labeled as "old people" music and so were less successful.

Also, I believe the main creative guy (Brian Wilson) in the BB's had a breakdown trying to keep up with the Beatles, which is understandable.

Apparently both "Pet Sounds"and Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" were released on the same day.

It's hard to imagine two albums that were recorded so differently could emerge at the same time; I imagine the common thread was that both musicians were struggling against the shackles of the recording industry at the time.

Good retrospective on the recording on Blonde on Blonde:

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/looking-back-on-bob-...

This is why capitalization is important and willy nilly camel case is not alway great. Here I was thinking literally animal sounds informed the sound of pop music.

The HN title should really have quotes around "Pet Sounds" (as the original title has it italicized).

Ok, we gave it some quotes.

> Here I was thinking literally animal sounds informed the sound of pop music.

They certainly seem to inform the sound of certain genres of 'music,' which sound more like the grunting of animals than Euterpe's uplifting tunes.

Enough with these headlines! They were so close to a decent one. How about:

Pet Sounds Invented the Modern Pop Album

Why We Stopped Caring About Headlines

Number 12 will surprise you!

The Concept of the Modern Pop Album has a Complex History and Depended on the Input of Many, Many People Over Many, Many Years, and Although No Single Person or Album 'Invented' It, 'Pet Sounds' is Interesting to Discuss as a Milestone.

(Perfectamente!)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com