Mike claims credit for the title "Pet Sounds".

[XY]

Brian recently said in an interview that there was never a "Remember The Zoo" working title.

Mike:
"We were standing in the hallway in one of the recording studios, either Western or Columbia, and we didn't have a title. We had taken pictures at the zoo and ... there were animal sounds on the record, and we were thinking, well, it's our favorite music of that time, so I said, 'Why don't we call it Pet Sounds.'"

Carl:
"The idea Brian had was that everybody has these sounds that they love, and this was a collection of [his] 'pet sounds.' It was hard to think of a name for the album, because you sure couldn't call it Shut Down Vol. 3."

[bossaroo]

Shut Down Vol. 3...! that's f**king hilarious.

so, what might have been a better album title?
I suppose they could have gone with a song title: Wouldn't It Be Nice seems like the best choice.

i don't know if i love or hate the name Pet Sounds...

[Ron]

Of course Mike came up with the idea.  Everybody thinks Mike is some dumbass who can't write anything when the truth is he wrote about half the lyrics of all of the great songs the Beach Boys had.  I thought this was all common sense.  If the man can write the Warmth of the Sun he can come up with the name Pet Sounds.  Just because someone's an asshole doesn't mean they don't have any talent, and just because somebody (Brian) is a musical genius with god only knows what kind of talent, doesn't mean they can't be an asshole sometimes.  I mean, lets be honest we've clearly seen over the years that you can't believe half of what Brian says about anything from what he ate today to who he owed money to, to who wrote what.  Somehow we all give him a pass though because he's so talented and made so much great music.  Mike is more of an asshole on the surface though, and because he doesn't have a mental disorder everybody feels free to shotgun him, lol.  They're both related genetically, they probably are a lot more similar than we realize. 

[Ron]

Shut Down Vol. 3...! that's f**king hilarious.

so, what might have been a better album title?
I suppose they could have gone with a song title: Wouldn't It Be Nice seems like the best choice.

They *did* go with a song title, right? 

[mikeyj]

It is a documented fact that Peter Asher joined the PET SOUNDS project in mid-autumn of 1965.

Gee, Ive never heard of this guy Peter Asher.

[pixletwin]

You have a good point Ron. The suckiness that we all know as Mike today started with bad decision making in the late 60's and was compounded by more bad decision making through the rest of his career.

As much as I tend to loathe Love (even his dancing in the early stuff is embarassingly bad) he seems to be a thoughtful guy. He was capable of a really beautiful blend with Brian's voice (Devoted To You) and even on his own he could sound sweet and pensive (Meant For You). He helped Brian write some of the BB biggest hits. So to make the assumption that Mike couldn't come up with the title Pet Sounds because he is some kind of ogre is naive at best.

As for the title, I love the context of Pet Sounds being "pet" as in something you adore. That makes it interesting and more fitting a title given the subject matter.

[c-man]

Along these lines, I used to think the lyric from "That's Not Me" was "I miss my PET and the places I've known" instead of "I miss my PAD and the places I've known".  In this context, I was thinking "pet" in terms of a girlfriend.  Couples would sometimes refer to one another affectionately as "pet" in bygone days, y'know! 

[Bicyclerider]

I think "Hang onto your ego" would have been a great title, or "I Know There's an Answer." 

[John]

I think "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" would have been the best title track, and sums up the feel of the LP the most.

[Ron]

The title "Pet Sounds" is much more commercial than any of those, though, lol!  That brings up the next topic of discussion, would the album have stood the test of time as well and became such a beloved album if it didn't have such a stylized title?  I guess if you hate the title though you'd probably think it would be more revered without it, but to me, I just can't imagine the album called anything else. 

[pixletwin]

I wonder if when the Bruce played the album for Lennon/McCartney if he knew at that time what the title was and the over and everything... How much did the Beatles know about the release specs?

My point is, assuming the Beatles had no idea what the album title was going to be or what the packaging consisted of, the they thought the album was great without all the baggage of album titles and record sleeves, etc...

I must say, in my pre-BBFan days, the cover to Pet Sounds was a turn off to me, though the album title always sparked my curiosity about what was inside.

[wgolly]

so, what did Mike write in the intro to the Sessions box set from '97 that caused it to be held back for so long?  Wasn't it something simiiar to this?

[MBE]

Mike wanted his side told so him actually writing the notes (not anything in them) was what held it up.