The Beach Boys' vocal harmonies are among the most unmistakable and enduring of the rock and roll era. Among rock and roll groups of the Sixties, the California quintet place second only to the Beatles in terms of their overall impact on the Top 40. They were the Fab Four's most serious competitors on a creative level, too. Paul McCartney has allowed that the Beatles' masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, was their attempt to address the challenge posed by the Beach Boys' magnum opus, Pet Sounds - which itself was inspired by the British foursome's Rubber Soul.

This creative dialogue between two of rock's greatest bands pushed popular music to an artistic peak. Paul McCartney noted that "both [Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper] have more than held up. To me it's like, 'What have people been doing in the meantime? Where's the progress?' I can't see anything as modern as that around at the moment."

The Beach Boys were a family affair that came together in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, California, in 1961. Three brothers -- Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson -- were joined by their cousin, Mike Love, and a schoolmate, Alan Jardine (who was replaced by David Marks, before rejoining). Brian Wilson, who demonstrated an aptitude for music at an early age, was the group's leader, orchestrating their harmonies, writing the music, producing the recording sessions.

One of the undisputed geniuses in popular music, Brian demonstrated an uncanny gift for harmonic invention and complex vocal and instrumental arrangements. Initially, the magnitude of that genius was overlooked owing to the subject matter of the band's early hits: i.e., surfing, hot rods and teen romance. But today, even the lyrics to those songs -- generally written by Mike Love or such outside collaborators as deejay Roger Christian and producer Gary Usher -- are celebrated for their deft use of technical lingo and youthful joie de vivre. "A lot of love went into our singing, our harmonies, the making of those records," Brian Wilson said in 2003.

"Good Vibrations" was released on October 10, 1966. It was the Beach Boys' third US number one hit after "I Get Around" and "Help Me, Rhonda", reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1966, as well as being their first British chart-topper. Initiated during the sessions for the Pet Sounds album, it was not taken from or issued as a lead single for an album, but as a stand-alone single.

It is number six on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is part of the The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.

The recording and production style used on the "Good Vibrations" single established Wilson's new method of operation: the recording and re-recording of specific sections of music, followed by rough mixes of the sections edited together, further recording as required, and the construction of the final mix from the component elements. This was the modular approach to recording that was used during the sessions for Smile.

The instrumental of the first version of the song was recorded on February 17, 1966. After 26 takes, a rough mono mix completed the session. Rough guide vocals were recorded the following day. By February 25, Wilson had placed the recording on hold in order to devote attention to the Pet Sounds album. The track was revisited on May 24, 1966, and worked on until June 18, at which time he put it aside again until August 24. The various sections of the song were edited together in a sort of musical collage.

Recording of the vocals for "Good Vibrations" took place at Columbia studio between the 24th of August 1966 and the 1st of September. The lead vocal in the verses is largely sung by Carl Wilson with Brian taking over for the "...I hear the sound of a..." and "...when I look in her eyes..." falsetto parts. The two bridges and chorus bass vocal are sung by Mike Love with Brian on top of the harmony stack during the "good, good, good vibrations" part of the chorus.

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