The NPR show Sound Opinions did a great broadcast about Pet Sounds this week. (It's better than this article, which is rather pretentious and doesn't say anything insightful about Pet Sounds.) Among the many details it goes into is how Tony Asher, a Madison Avenue jingle writer, ended up writing the lyrics for Brian Wilson.
There's a documentary on Netflix called The Wrecking Crew which is about the session musicians who played on Pet Sounds (and a ridiculously broad selection of other stuff) which might interest anyone interested in this topic.
There was also a recent three part BBC documentary series about recording technology, and the second episode, which focussed on magnetic tape, featured Pet Sounds heavily.
Yup. "Paul McCartney has frequently spoken of his affinity with the album, citing "God Only Knows" as his favorite song of all-time, and crediting his melodic bass-playing style to the album. He acknowledged that Pet Sounds was the primary impetus for the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The interplay between the Beatles and the Beach Boys thus inextricably links the two albums together."
The interplay between the Beach Boys and Beatles was interesting, if memory serves. The bands came out at about the same time, and I think were roughly the same age. But since the BB's sound harkened back to the 50's, and the Beatles moved early to a 70's sound, the BB's got labeled as "old people" music and so were less successful.
Also, I believe the main creative guy (Brian Wilson) in the BB's had a breakdown trying to keep up with the Beatles, which is understandable.
Apparently both "Pet Sounds"and Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" were released on the same day.
It's hard to imagine two albums that were recorded so differently could emerge at the same time; I imagine the common thread was that both musicians were struggling against the shackles of the recording industry at the time.
Good retrospective on the recording on Blonde on Blonde:
This is why capitalization is important and willy nilly camel case is not alway great. Here I was thinking literally animal sounds informed the sound of pop music.
The Concept of the Modern Pop Album has a Complex History and Depended on the Input of Many, Many People Over Many, Many Years, and Although No Single Person or Album 'Invented' It, 'Pet Sounds' is Interesting to Discuss as a Milestone.
http://www.soundopinions.org/show/546/#petsounds (It starts 11 minutes in; skip the annoying ads.)