Brian Wilson viewed Pet Sounds (1966) as a solo album and attributed its inspiration partly to marijuana use and an LSD–rooted spiritual awakening. Galvanized by the work of his rivals, he aimed to create "the greatest rock album ever made", surpassing the Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965) and extending Phil Spector's Wall of Sound innovations. His orchestrations blended pop, jazz, exotica, classical, and avant-garde elements, combining rock instrumentation with layered vocal harmonies, found sounds, and instruments not normally associated with rock, such as French horn, flutes, Electro-Theremin, bass harmonica, bicycle bells, and string ensembles. Featuring the most complex and challenging instrumental and vocal parts of any Beach Boys album, it was their first in which studio musicians, such as the Wrecking Crew, largely replaced the band on their instruments, and the first time any group had departed from their usual small-ensemble pop/rock band format to create a full-length album that could not be replicated live. Its unprecedented total production cost exceeded $70,000 (equivalent to $680,000 in 2024).
