May 16, 1966: The Greatest Day In American Music

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May 16, 1966, 60 years ago: Was this the greatest day in the history of American music? Three epochal events happened. No one fully realized just how epochal until later.

The Beach Boys released their album Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson -- born on June 20, 1942, 2 days after Paul McCartney of The Beatles -- admitted that Pet Sounds was his response to the Beatle album Rubber Soul, released on December 3, 1965. Wilson viewed Pet Sounds as a solo album, and attributed its inspiration partly to his marijuana use, and an LSD-rooted spiritual awakening.

He said he aimed to create "the greatest rock album ever made," surpassing Rubber Soul, and extending the innovations of producer Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound." This explains the use of an orchestra, and some instruments that even Spector hadn't used before.

It included 2 of the group's most-loved singles, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which led off Side A, and "God Only Knows," which led off Side B. It also included "Sloop John B," an adaptation of the folk song "The Wreck of the John B." Oddly, given how much it sounds like it's in the spirit of the album, it does not include "Good Vibrations," which became the group's 3rd and last Number 1 hit, and is often called their greatest song.

John Lennon, the other main creative voice in The Beatles, said Brian was "doing some very great things." With Revolver about to be released on August 5, McCartney later said that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released on June 1, 1967, was his -- if not his band's -- response to Pet Sounds. Brian tried to top it with Smile, but, battling his inner demons, was unable to finish it.

Along with The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and The Band, Lifehouse by The Who, The Black Album by Prince, and Chinese Democracy by Guns 'N Roses, Smile became one of the great talked-about-but-unreleased albums in rock and roll history. Of course, all of these were eventually released. In Smile's case, in 1993.



On the same day, the aforementioned Bob Dylan released his album Blonde On Blonde. He's never said it was a response to anything.

Neither the name of the performer
nor the title of the album was on the front cover.
Bob already had that much oomph.

One of the things I love about Bob is that he came up with such great song titles. One of the things that drives me crazy about him is that sometimes, those titles are not mentioned anywhere in the lyrics, making it hard for someone who hears the song, but not the title, to know it. Typical of this is the song that leads off the album, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," better known by its chorus: "Everybody Must Get Stoned."

"I Want You" and "Just Like a Woman" were hit singles. The 9-verse, 7-minute "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" is fantastic. I once discovered that it fit the rhythm of Ernest Thayer's poem "Casey at the Bat," and imagined Dylan singing it to the tune. The album also includes "Visions of Johanna" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

It's a double album, 4 sides, although the 4th and last side is just 1 song, the 11-minute-23-second "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." Based on the lyrics, and the word "lowlands," we can presume that this song, along with some of the other songs on the album, were written about Sara Lownds, to whom he was married from 1965 to 1977. Their breakup inspired Dylan's best post-crash album, Blood On the Tracks, in 1975.

I say "post-crash" because, on July 29, 1966, just 76 days after releasing the album, Dylan was badly hurt in a motorcycle crash near his home in Woodstock, in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. He didn't record again for nearly a year, and didn't tour again until 1974.

In 1987, celebrating its 20th Anniversary, Rolling Stone magazine named its 100 Greatest Albums, though not limiting it to just the last 20 years. Sgt. Pepper came in 1st, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen 2nd, Blonde on Blonde 3rd, and Pet Sounds 8th.

The magazine dropped Blonde on Blonde to 9th in 2003, and all the way to 38th in 2020. Perhaps there were 6 better albums released between 1987 and 2003, but there's no way in hell that 29 better albums were released between 2003 and 2020.

Pet Sounds was ranked 8th in 1987, rose to 2nd in 2003, and kept that honor in 2020. Sgt. Pepper has remained 1st.



Those 2 albums being released on the same day would make the day epic enough. But, also on that day, Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, outside Chicago. The youngest of the 9 singing siblings, she not only became the 2nd-most successful among them, but, by 1986, was able to establish her own "brand," separate from her megastar brother Michael, although they did occasionally work together. Judged solely on her own merits, she also became one of the biggest music stars in the world.

And, while this has nothing to do with music, another celebrity was born on the day: Thurman Thomas, running back for the Buffalo Bills, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.