The Smiley Smile Message Board

I’m sure this has been asked before: but what if Pet Sounds was a massive success? Topping the charts and the unequivocal best selling Beach Boys album at the time. Would Mike change tune? Would the rest of the band welcomed and accepted more change? Would Capitol be more willing to Brian following avenues he wanted to musically?

I'd suggest Brian accomplished that a few months later with Good Vibrations. Totally new sound, innovative, psychedelic, ahead of it's time, universal appeal to both the kids and the "heads", a massive #1 single that hit worldwide. Critically and commercially successful. Capitol was 100% behind it with their promotions, and also gave Brian the green light for the album he had in the works, agreeing even to have a more lavish album package including a full-color booklet, which for a pop band in 1966 was pretty much unheard of. This was before Sgt. Pepper, which gets credit for presenting a pop album in a more lavish, sophisticated cover design and packaging including cut-outs, a gatefold, etc.

So yes I'd say Brian had that clout on the back of Good Vibrations, it was a massive success and the label loved that it sold millions worldwide and hit #1. Various family members and maybe even band members, however, perhaps didn't like this "new direction" as it played out even though it was a proven success at the end of '66 going into '67. See the Vosse "Fusion" article for more on that.

If Pet Sounds had peaked at #50 on the charts, not produced any hit singles, and been generally ignored within the industry, and by the industry I mean the biz, then yes, I could consider it a flop. An album that hits the top ten and produces 4 top 40 singles is hardly a flop. I think some people's expectations for PS were unrealistic. Back in the mid 60s', labels cranked out new albums by their hit artists every few months. Hard to believe, but Yesterday and Today and Revolver were released within weeks of each other in the US. Where the Beach Boys blundered was not having a new album ready within 6 months of Pet Sounds. Capitol gets blamed for putting out that f***in' piece of s*** called Best of the Beach Boys, but they were just doing what record companies do.

I think Capitol made a big mistake but making God Only Knows a B-side. If it had been released as a separate single after Wouldn't It Be Nice started sliding down the charts, GOK would have been a big hit and it would have kept Pet Sounds selling, maybe keeping Beach of the Beach Boys from happening.

The Beach Boys had many double sided hits - Surfin Safari/409; Surfin' USA/Shut Down; Surfer Girl/Little Deuce Couple; I Get Around/Don't Worry Baby; Dance, Dance, Dance/The Warmth of the Sun; California Girls/Let Him Run Wild. Good value for the money spent.