I remember when I didn’t know The Beach Boys were a big deal.

Before my senior year of high school, I equated The Beach Boys with teeny boppers, surfing and cornball beach cookouts where kids with plastered grins danced the Swim.

Then I read about Pet Sounds, the classic album they recorded as a response to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, which in turn inspired The Beatles to crank out Sgt. Pepper. The idea that this surf group was in an arms race with history’s greatest band was quite intriguing, so I picked up the album.

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