Behind the Song: The Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations”

Released in 1966 on a 7” single, the song, “Good Vibrations,” has a long and rather complicated story. In some ways, it’s emblematic of The Beach Boys’ fascinating and at times-tumultuous history. But we won’t distract with tawdry tabloid fodder here – no latter day lawsuits need complicate things. Instead, we’ll focus on the musical aspects of the illustrious, significant, influential and inspiring composition.

Written by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love, the music for “Good Vibrations” was stitched together from bits sonic movements Wilson had previously created. Putting them together, Wilson masterminded a complex sound like no other popular song. This was balanced by the pop, hippie girl-focused lyrics from Love (who is, incidentally, Wilson’s first-cousin).

At first, “Good Vibrations” was not well received by critics who expected more sunshine pop from the band, but those opinions quickly changed. Since then, outlets like Rolling Stone have gone on to say that “Good Vibrations” is one of the best and most significant rock ‘n’ roll songs of the 20the century. Here, we talked with Love, co-writer of “Good Vibrations.” We asked him about the track’s origins, what he thought of the song at the time of its creation and more.