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"Good Vibrations" is a song by The Beach Boys. It was the band's third number one hit (after I Get Around & Help Me Rhonda), reaching reaching the top of the Billboard chart in 1966. It was considered ground-breaking in its time, its success is legendary and it is still widely regarded as one of the most important and influential pop singles ever released. At the time of its release in late 1966, it was without question the most technically advanced single yet recorded, as well as being the most expensive to date, taking six months to produce, at a reported cost of US$50,000.
Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson described "Good Vibrations" as a "pocket symphony", and, indeed, the composition is symphonic in structure, with multiple movements and layered instrumentation featuring unusual instruments including cello and theremin.
Building upon the layered production approach Wilson had begun to use with the Pet Sounds album, the style and form of "Good Vibrations" was a huge departure from the simple pop songs favored by the band up to this point. Wilson devoted months of effort to this single track, developing new studio production techniques and recording methods as he went in order to capture the sound that was in his head.
The production of the song is reported to have utilized four different recording studios, over 90 hours of tape, and an eventual budget of $50,000. Wilson is credited with developing the use of the recording studio as an instrument; he the Beach Boys and dozens of top studio musicians to record-and re-record seemingly unrelated musical and vocal sections for the song, then edited and mixed these sections into a stirring, three-minute and forty-eight second pop gem.
Inspired by the success of the song and the positive reaction to Pet Sounds, and wanting to top The Beatles' recently-released Sgt. Pepper album, Wilson embarked on the Smile project, intended an entire album using the writing and production techniques devised for "Good Vibrations". A legendary failure, that album was never released as Wilson spiraled into depression and paranoia; several tracks salvaged from those sessions, including "Good Vibrations", would later be part of the Smiley Smile album instead.
"Good Vibrations" marked the peak (and nearly the end) of Wilson and the original Beach Boys' artistic career, and remains one of the best-regarded pop songs of all time.
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