Few songs capture the sound of 60s pop as excellent as The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”. The song, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, was an immediate success upon its release in 1966. Nearly six decades later, the song has proven to be one of the most enduring tracks in music history. In this article, we will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind the song.
The Story Behind The Song
The story behind “Good Vibrations” is an interesting one. The song, outside of its lyrics, was entirely written by the band’s songwriter and producer Brian Wilson. He produced the song during a period when he was obsessed with perfecting his own compositions.
Part of his obsession came from The Beatles. After they released their studio album Rubber Soul, Wilson reportedly went to his wife and said: “I’m gonna make the greatest album! The greatest rock album ever made!” That album would be Pet Sounds, which contained iconic songs such as “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”.
“Good Vibrations” was first recorded in February 1966, during the recording sessions of Pet Sounds. The Beach Boys actually wanted to include the song on Pet Sounds, but to their disappointment, Capitol Records decided to not include “Good Vibrations” on the album.
Pet Sounds was eventually released in May 1966. Nowadays, the album is seen as one of the most important albums ever made. But early reviews, primarily from American critics, were surprisingly negative. Beyond that, the album didn’t sell as well as Brian Wilson had anticipated.
It only made his obsession with perfecting his craft bigger. All of which he threw into the band’s next single: “Good Vibrations”.
The origin behind the song lies with Brian Wilson’s mother. “[She] used to tell me about vibrations. I didn’t really understand too much of what it meant when I was just a boy,” Wilson said. “It scared me, the word ‘vibrations.’ She told me about dogs that would bark at people and then not bark at others, that a dog would pick up vibrations from these people that you can’t see, but you can feel.”
“For ‘Good Vibrations’ I had a lot of unfinished ideas, fragments of music I called ‘feels,” Wilson later said. “Each feel represented a mood or an emotion I’d felt, and I planned to fit them together like a mosaic.” These different ‘fragments of music’ are easily heard in “Good Vibrations”, as the song has six distinct sections.
The recording of “Good Vibrations” was one of the most extensive and expensive of all time. The song required 15 recording sessions at four different studios, With costs estimated to be tens of thousands, which made it the most expensive single ever at the time.
Read more: The 10 Best Beach Boys Songs of All Time
Wilson decided to use instruments that were rarely found in pop and rock music of the 1960s, like a jaw harp, cello, and electro-theremin. Together with its one-of-a-kind structure of six distinct sections, “Good Vibrations” formed the perfect example of the use of a recording studio as a musical instrument. Instead of reproducing live performances in the studio, which was common at the time, Wilson created a production that could only exist on record.
For the recording sessions, Brian Wilson decided to hire the finest session musicians in Los Angeles known as The Wrecking Crew. The lyrics are sung by the youngest Wilson sibling Carl and Mike Love.
The song was eventually released as a single on October 10, 1966. “Good Vibrations” was an instant hit, and topped the US and UK charts.
The Meaning of the Song
“Good Vibrations” is about the joy and excitement that comes from being around someone special. The song is sung from the perspective of a man who picks up good vibrations from a woman.
As said earlier, Brian Wilson came up with the lyrical concept of ‘Good Vibrations’. Together with lyricist Tony Asher, he wrote lyrics for the song. But these lyrics were eventually discarded.
The final lyrics were contributed by bandmate Mike Love. “It took me about five minutes,” He’d later said. “I felt ‘Good Vibrations’ was The Beach Boys’ psychedelic anthem or flower power offering. So I wrote it from that perspective.
“The track itself was already so avant-garde, especially with the theremin, that I wondered how our fans were going to relate to it…So I thought the one thing that everyone can relate to is boy-girl. You know, “she’s giving me excitations”.
The Song’s Legacy
Before the release of “Good Vibrations”, Brian Wilson announced that The Beach Boys’ next single would be a monster. And he wasn’t wrong, as the song became an instant commercial and critical hit. The single topped the US and UK Charts and sold over 200.000 copies in its first week.
At the end of 1966, thanks to Pet Sounds and “Good Vibrations”, the readers of NME voted The Beach Boys the best band in the world, ahead of the Beatles and The Stones. They were also the best-selling act in the UK, a rarity for an American formation.
It became the perfect promotion for Wilson’s next project Smile. A concept album that would surpass Pet Sounds according to Wilson himself. Sadly enough, the project was canceled due to Wilson’s deteriorating mental state. It would become the most legendary unreleased album of all time.
But that doesn’t take away the greatness of Brian Wilson and “Good Vibrations”. The song is seen as one of the most important works of popular music and is sometimes hailed as the ‘single of the century’. The recording sessions for the song are arguably peak pop experimentation and changed the way a pop record was made forever. It’s no surprise Brian Wilson called “Good Vibrations” ‘the summation of my musical vision’.
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