The Beach Boys charted with "Good Vibrations": October 22, 1966

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At the time of its release, “Good Vibrations” was the most expensive single ever released ^BR1 with one claim putting the total recording cost as high as a million dollars. ^JA The song was pieced together from hundreds of recording sessions ^NPR and more than seventy hours of tape ^CR generated in four studios over seventh months time. ^RS500

The song is the “crowning achievement” ^RS500 for Brian Wilson, who has been called “rock and roll’s finest composer ever.” ^WI While still a Beach Boy in name, Wilson stayed home while the rest of the group toured. This freed him to go wild in the studio, most notably in using a theremin, which is a keyboard instrument best known for its use in soundtracks to horror films. ^HL While the end result employed the vocal talents of the other Beach Boys, none of them actually played on the song. ^KL

As for the term “good vibrations,” Wilson told Rolling Stone that his mother had explained how dogs barked at some people, but not at others, “‘that a dog would pick up vibrations from some people that you can’t see, but you can feel. And the same thing happened with people.’” ^BR1

Wilson was convinced of the song’s good vibe, saying it would be better than the Righteous Brothers‘ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.’” ^RS500 Beach Boy Bruce Johnston was a little more nervous, saying, “’we’re either going to have the biggest hit in the world – or the Beach Boys’ career is over.’” ^HL It turned out the public appreciated the song‘s vibe as well; it met with instant success, selling 400,000 in four days ^SJ and becoming the group’s first million-seller ^TB-83 and third #1.

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Resources and Related Links:

• the DMDB page for “Good Vibrations”
• The Beach Boys’ DMDB Encyclopedia entry
• ^BR1 Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Page 215. New York, NY: Billboard Books. (2003).
• ^CR Toby Creswell. (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Page 779. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY.
• ^HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh. (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. Page 24. London, England: Blandford Books.
• ^JA David A. Jasen. (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Rememberd Songs (1899-1999). Page 66. Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc.
• ^KL Jon Kutner/Spencer Leigh, 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. Page 127. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. (2005).
• ^NPR National Public Radio web site (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” (1999)
• ^RS500 Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” (12/04).
• ^TB Thunder Bay Press. (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Page 83. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA.
• ^SJ Bob Shannon/John Javna. (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Page 193. New York, NY; Warner Brothers, Inc.
• ^WI Paul Williams, Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Page 105. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. (1993).

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Awards:

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