#2 The Beach Boys, 'Pet Sounds' (1966)

At the beginning of 1965, 22-year-old Brian Wilson, with already 7 albums under his belt, told his band members he’d be quitting touring to focus on his work in the studio. As I mentioned earlier, Brian Wilson heard The Beatles record, ‘Rubber Soul’ (#35) and became obsessed with it. It was like nothing else he’d heard before and he was inspired to make a record that was like it but better. He was impressed with the lack of filler tracks on the record and set out to make a cohesive work that had zero filler. He was also obsessed with Phil Spector and his Wall Of Sound production technique. These two obsessions coupled with a bad LSD trip that lasted 8 months culminated in ‘Pet Sounds.’