Brian Wilson: Good Vibrations
"Now, a Theremin, when we got the Theremin on there, we got it on there so that people could understand the Theremin in a, in finite terms. In finite musical terms, in exact terms. None, I'm not talkin about, well, you know what I mean. In terms of written music but in a sense that it had an unwritten sound to it.
What we were doing, Good Vibrations was probably the, of all the Beach Boy records probably the best combination of instruments and most unique way of taking conventional and instruments that had only been associated with adults, you know? And children, 21 year old children... 25 year old children too, you know?
I mean, children of god are in their 20s. You know what I mean?
The 20 year olds, and not really rapidly approaching 30 at all. Right there like mid 25/26 year old people, you know, young adults. Not quite adults, really, but kind of flamboyant... a little bit whimsical... whimsical personalities and a whimsical sense of humor.
The situation with Good Vibrations, I don't think it was a funny record. It didn't make me laugh, you know? It made me cry, 'cause I had seen, I had once made sure that I had grasped the idea that when you take classical instruments and placed them in a Rock & Roll environment, you have refined music. You have Rock & Roll brought to a height. And it's a funny thing, you know, nobody ever really called Good Vibrations a Rock & Roll record, but it was a Rock & Roll record. It rocked, you know, it really rocked.
I had no idea that it'd be a hit record. We thought we weren't even going to release it because it was so bizarre. Our record company said, Capitol Records says it's too long 'cause it's 3:35. The time on it was three minutes and thirty five seconds and Capitol Records said we're gonna go with Help Me Rhonda, no wait, with Barbara Ann.
And we said no, let me logically convince you that this record...
And then we had gotten people over to our houses, listening, and people were flipping. They're going, "Whew, that's a great fuckin' record man!"
And I said, "But our company doesn't want to release it."
And they said, "You shouldn't listen to your record company. Force 'em to put it out."
And the goddamn record went out and went to #1 in the nation... and all because of that Theremin and the cello."
What we were doing, Good Vibrations was probably the, of all the Beach Boy records probably the best combination of instruments and most unique way of taking conventional and instruments that had only been associated with adults, you know? And children, 21 year old children... 25 year old children too, you know?
I mean, children of god are in their 20s. You know what I mean?
The 20 year olds, and not really rapidly approaching 30 at all. Right there like mid 25/26 year old people, you know, young adults. Not quite adults, really, but kind of flamboyant... a little bit whimsical... whimsical personalities and a whimsical sense of humor.
The situation with Good Vibrations, I don't think it was a funny record. It didn't make me laugh, you know? It made me cry, 'cause I had seen, I had once made sure that I had grasped the idea that when you take classical instruments and placed them in a Rock & Roll environment, you have refined music. You have Rock & Roll brought to a height. And it's a funny thing, you know, nobody ever really called Good Vibrations a Rock & Roll record, but it was a Rock & Roll record. It rocked, you know, it really rocked.
I had no idea that it'd be a hit record. We thought we weren't even going to release it because it was so bizarre. Our record company said, Capitol Records says it's too long 'cause it's 3:35. The time on it was three minutes and thirty five seconds and Capitol Records said we're gonna go with Help Me Rhonda, no wait, with Barbara Ann.
And we said no, let me logically convince you that this record...
And then we had gotten people over to our houses, listening, and people were flipping. They're going, "Whew, that's a great fuckin' record man!"
And I said, "But our company doesn't want to release it."
And they said, "You shouldn't listen to your record company. Force 'em to put it out."
And the goddamn record went out and went to #1 in the nation... and all because of that Theremin and the cello."