A Good Day for Music

The song that still makes favorite song lists to this day.

Beach Boys

Good Vibrations

It’s a song that has lasting appeal, but its a song that is not the usual kind of song that the California band was known for recording. Songwriter Brian Wilson was obsessed with its creation, spending 2 months in the recording studio alone and using the talents of the top L.A. studio musicians for the track and some recording processes that hadn’t been invented.

The song was recorded February 1966 and when the song was complete, it was the most expensive pop song ever recorded. The total cost was around 50,000 1967 dollars. One estimate was around the half million mark in today’s dollars.

When the label received the track, they were reluctant to release it as a single, saying that it was too long of a song for radio stations to play. Brian spent time arguing and pleading with the label execs who realized that since it was so expensive, they might as well release it. Radio stations and fans gobbled it up because it was so different and new. Brian felt vindicated when it shot up the charts and became an immediate and critical worldwide success.