Year: 1967, at the 9th annual Grammy Awards
AOTY nominees (winner in bold): “A Man and His Music” by Frank Sinatra, “Color Me Barbra” by Barbra Streisand, the “Doctor Zhivago” soundtrack, “Revolver” by The Beatles, and “What Now My Love” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
“Pet Sounds” is The Beach Boys’ melodious, scenic, bizarre magnum opus, and its ripples throughout music history are innumerable.
The Beatles’ Grammy-winning “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is often cited as music’s most influential work — but it was inspired by “Pet Sounds.”
“Pet Sounds” went on to inspire countless other musicians, from David Bowie to Radiohead, and practically “invented the modern pop album,” according to The Atlantic.
Sure, the album’s splash wasn’t instantly enormous. But you’d hope the Recording Academy would be able to parse what the public, at the time, did not.
The Beach Boys only received three nominations in 1967, all for “Good Vibrations,” the lighthearted song released five months after “Pet Sounds.”
The album and its timeless singles, including “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” were completely disregarded.
After a career total of four nominations (and zero wins), “Pet Sounds” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Beach Boys received a lifetime achievement award in 2001.
