In 1966, The Beach Boys release their song “Good Vibrations”. It climbed the charts steadily and was nestled at #4 on the US charts this very week in that year.

Here’s a few things you may not know about this classic pop tune:

1. In 1966, it was the most expensive pop song ever recorded at a price of $50,000 US, over $300,000 in today’s prices.

2. It took over two months to record this one song:  about 90 hours of studio time and 70 hours of tape were used.

3. The signature eerie sounds heard on the recording were produced using an electric theremin. Theremin’s are best known for creating spooky soundscapes in science fiction shows like The Day the Earth Stood Still. They were later adopted by psychedelic musicians to ad texture to songs.

4. Rolling Stone Magazine named it the 6th best song of all time.

5. In 2005, “Good Vibrations” inspired a Broadway musical of the same name that opened in New York. Reception wasn’t great and the show closed after only three months.

6. Brian Wilson began working with other psychedelic artists after Pet Sounds like Van Dyke Parks. He asked Parks to rewrite the lyrics to “Good Vibrations” but Parks declined the offer saying there’s ”no sense walking into someone else’s problem.”  However, Parks did collaborate with Brian on many of the songs that went into the Smile recordings.

7. “Good Vibrations” was the beginning of Smile, Brian’s most ambitious album. However the project collapsed due to arguments within the group and the continual degradation of Brian’s mental health.

In 2005, he finally released a re-recorded version of the album based on the original sessions from 1966.

8. The Beach Boys released The Smile Sessions at the beginning of this month and received positive reviews, 45 years after “Good Vibrations” was released.

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