66. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
Stats:
- #1 for 1 Week in 1966 (December)
- Replaced: Winchester Cathedral - The New Vaudeville Band
- Replaced by: Winchester Cathedral - The New Vaudeville Band
- Sample Headline from its Reign: Walt Disney dies.
- #2 Hits It Prevented from Reaching #1: None
- Top 200 #1 Hits 1955-2000 Rank: #125
If you've read this far, you know Good Vibrations and its position in the pantheon of pop. Bizarre and deconstructed, it remains the magnum opus of pre-break down Brian Wilson. Why does this theremin-inflected trippy song about (drugs? surfing? a girl?) have this tight grip on the imagination of rock critics? Part of it is Wilson's biography - rockists who find Pet Sounds to be a inflection point wanted so desperately for Smile to be the biggest thing ever and, when it never came, awarded their adulation on the only track to make it out of the studio. The thing is, this is a great song, but it really isn't even the best Beach Boys song let alone their best #1 (as you'll see later). But it does represent the turn that was made from energy of the mid-60s to laid back psychedelia of the late 60s. Plus, it still sounds great.
Coming up: #65 -"Will you take me by the hand? Tell me I’m your lovin’ man?"
Please tell me you're not putting "That's the Way I Like it" over this song!!!
Posted by: Ken | August 09, 2011 at 11:12 AM
Sometimes the events and imaginings surrounding a song give it a place it doesn't deserve if you just go by the song itself. You're right, this is one of them. Not even in my top ten favorite surfer songs.
Posted by: grannie elbow | August 09, 2011 at 12:23 PM
Just like food...
Posted by: nichole | August 09, 2011 at 02:12 PM
What a contrast with Winchester Cathedral! In Brian's Pet Sounds and Smile era, there are lots of innovative and creative songs; some are damned hard to listen to, but a few are magic -- this one and Wouldn't it be nice are my favorites.
Posted by: Charlie | August 11, 2011 at 11:14 AM