0:00 Do you know, I was just thinking about that Nirvana story we were on about, all that noise and fury packed into sixteen days.0:10 But the story we have tonight, Earl, it’s a different kind of storm altogether.0:16 A much, much quieter one, brewed inside one young fella’s head.0:21 Mm-hmm.0:22 That’s the truth, Maeve.0:24 One was a hurricane, you could see it coming.0:28 This one… this was more like a change in the tide.0:32 Something deep and powerful that you don't see until it's already pulled everything out from under you.0:40 And it all started with him hearing another band's record, is that right?0:46 That's the story.0:48 Young Brian Wilson, the fella who was the brains of The Beach Boys, he heard The Beatles' album, Rubber Soul.0:57 And it just… well, it changed him.0:59 He told his wife, "I'm gonna make the greatest rock album ever made." And I mean, he wasn't boasting.1:08 It was like he was stating a fact that hadn't happened yet.1:12 God love him.1:13 That’s a heavy burden to put on your own shoulders.1:18 It is.1:18 And the first thing he did was tell the rest of the band he wasn't going on tour with them anymore.1:26 They were off to Japan, a big deal, and he stayed home.1:31 Said he had to get the music that was in his head out into the world.1:36 He was, uh, all of twenty-three years old.1:40 Twenty-three.1:41 Sure, he was only a child.1:43 And left to his own devices.1:45 Well, not exactly.1:47 He called up a group of studio players in Los Angeles they called The Wrecking Crew.1:54 These weren't rock and rollers, Maeve.1:57 These were the best musicians on the West Coast.2:01 The folks they called when Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin needed a band.2:07 So he had the good room ready for his big ideas.2:11 Oh, the best.2:12 He had Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye playing that electric bass… and the things he asked them to do.2:20 I mean, it wasn't just guitars and pianos.2:23 He was using bicycle bells, horns from a toy fire engine, Coca-Cola cans… whatever it took to get the sound he was hearing in his mind.2:34 Wait now—Coca-Cola cans?2:36 Yes, ma'am.2:37 Percussion.2:38 They spent hours, sometimes a whole day, on just a few minutes of music.2:44 He was building it layer by layer, like a master carpenter.2:49 The other Beach Boys, they were singers.2:52 Brian was building the whole house, from the foundation up, before they even saw the blueprints.3:00 And what happened when the rest of them came home from their travels?3:06 All sun-tanned from Japan, and him pale from the studio.3:10 Whoo, boy.3:11 That's where the trouble started.3:14 They came back, ready to sing about cars and surfing, and Brian plays them these… symphonies.3:22 Songs about being anxious and losing your faith and wishing you were older.3:28 His own cousin, Mike Love, the lead singer, he listened and said something like, "Brian, this is beautiful stuff, but who is gonna listen to it?" Ah.3:40 The eternal question.3:42 Is it art, or can you sell it?3:44 Exactly.3:45 There was one song, "Hang On to Your Ego," and Mike just hated it.3:50 Said the lyrics were too "out there." So they changed it to "I Know There's an Answer." But that was the tension.3:59 Brian was pushing into brand new territory, and the rest of the band… well, they were worried about getting lost out yonder.4:10 Sure, you can't blame them.4:12 They had a good thing going, and he was changing the rules on them.4:17 Can't blame 'em at all.4:19 At the end of one session, Mike Love supposedly joked, "Who's gonna hear this stuff?4:26 The ears of a dog?" And that's where Brian got the title.4:31 Pet Sounds.4:32 He took the joke and made it the name of his masterpiece.4:36 Oh, the cut of him.4:38 That’s the way to do it.4:40 Mm-hmm.4:40 And if you listen to the very end of the album, after all the music… you can hear a train going by, and then dogs barking.4:50 That was Brian's little joke, right back at 'em.4:54 So it gets made, this strange, beautiful thing.4:58 Did people listen?5:00 Not in America.5:01 Not at first.5:02 It did alright, but it wasn't the smash hit they were used to.5:07 It confused people.5:09 But over in England… oh, over there they understood it right away.5:14 Paul McCartney from The Beatles said it was the best album he'd ever heard.5:20 Said it was the reason they went and made Sgt.5:24 Pepper's.5:25 So the one record was an answer to the other, and then his became the question for them to answer back.5:33 Like letters between two people who've never met.5:37 That's a right smart way to put it, Maeve.5:41 A conversation across an ocean, with vinyl records.5:45 And over the years, folks came around.5:48 Now, you ask any musician, any producer… Pet Sounds is on the list.5:53 It's the album that showed everyone what a recording studio could really do.6:00 It just took the world a while to catch up to what that boy was hearing in his head.6:07 God rest him, all that noise must have been a lonely place to be.6:12 I reckon it was.6:13 But, I tell you what.6:15 He got it out.6:16 He got it on the record.6:18 And that, friend, is about the size of it.
