The 5 Best Beach Boys Songs That Aren't Good Vibrations

There are so many high-vibing Beach Boys bangers and bops to queue up on your playlist, you probably wouldn't even miss "Good Vibrations" if you left it off entirely. Despite being known for its sunny seaside energy and crooning harmonies, many of the band's best works have nothing to do with surfing or the beach at all. These are some of its wisest, most forward-looking tracks — songs that evoke honest emotion and display the Beach Boys' true musical talents.

We think the best Beach Boys songs reach beyond the expected sand, sun, and surf motifs and delve deeper into the experience of being a '60s youth growing up in a time of tremendous change. Some of our picks, like "God Only Knows," "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" and "Don't Worry Baby," are love songs that demonstrate striking maturity for the band. "Sloop John B" revives an old folk song and turns it into a jaunty sing-along with a sea-centered spirit of a different kind. There's even a heat-generating number called "Wild Honey" that shows off the Boys' racier side. Whether or not the Beach Boys could actually surf, the band knew how to deliver pop music magic like few other bands of their era.

One of the loveliest pop songs to emerge from the '60s, "God Only Knows" showed how mature Brian Wilson's songwriting chops were becoming. The album "Pet Sounds" that this gleaming tribute to love appears on was a sonic playground for Wilson to explore, an experiment so rich and orchestral, it prompted none other than the Beatles to stretch its own format, a creative surge that resulted in "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Paul McCartney is said to have dubbed "God Only Knows" "the greatest song ever written." If your music can influence one of the world's biggest bands, you know you've got something good cooking.

With its message of undying gratitude and dedication, this is one of those classic rock tunes with lyrics that could serve as wedding vows. It isn't an unrealistic stab at describing devotion, though; the opening line, "I may not always love you," dispels the idea of simple, sugary love. The kind of love being exalted here is the gritty kind that sustains even when things are challenging. That's deep stuff for a pop song.

The public rewarded "God Only Knows" by sending it to No. 39 in 1966, though this classic rock song deserved to be a No. 1 hit. Not only has it been named one of the best pop songs ever, it's also the most covered work in the Beach Boys' canon; even "Good Vibrations" couldn't top that.

"Good Vibrations" isn't the only time the fellas got aspirational with their tuneage. "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" was another forward-looking Beach Boys bop that projected the listener's imagination into the future. There's a bittersweet element in pining for moments when the trappings of youth have dissolved and the couple in the song can finally achieve their dreams of being together. This was the opening track on "Pet Sounds" in 1966, heralding a shift in what the Beach Boys were capable of.

Songwriter Tony Asher came up with lyrics, and fellow Beach Boy Mike Love helped Brian Wilson with the writing of this shuffling love song. The richness of the Boys' combined vocals delivering a dreamy wondering about what the future could be like showed the band's transition toward more contemplative subject matter than it had come to be known for. That more grown-up angle resonated with fans who found themselves in similar life situations. Now that the future the band sang about has come to pass, the song is a wistful look back at how happiness always seems just over the horizon.

"Wouldn't It Be Nice?" joined the band's collection of top 10 singles, maxing out at No. 8 just as autumn 1966 was coming into play. It gave high schoolers a fun tune to hop to at dances and made gazing into an uncertain future a much happier prospect.

Mike Love and Brian Wilson cut loose a little (a lot, actually) while writing "Wild Honey," a hard-grooving R&B-adjacent song that strips away the usual Beach Boys gloss in favor of a raw, unpolished sound. The musicianship is in full effect, with a banging rhythm that feels both ahead of its time and squarely at home in its late-'60s era. But Carl Wilson grabs the mic and takes the lead vocals into places that are too high for his register, creating a tense, sometimes off-key performance that's bristling with electricity — and more than a few double entendres.

The song comes from the 1967 album of the same name and demonstrates how much range the band had beyond its better-known fare. The evolution of the Beach Boys' sound didn't keep "Wild Honey" and its thinly veiled sexual innuendo from landing at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, proving that the Beach Boys were growing into a more mature, suggestive sound, and its fans were coming along to ride the wave.

The Beach Boys plundered a nautical folk song called "Sloop John B" and turned it into a modern shanty tune that makes a darn fine sing-along, even if you don't have a pint of ale in your hand ... but there's no reason you can't grab a glass and sip as you sing, for authenticity's sake, of course.

The original song was called "Histe Up the John B Sail" and was part of a collection amassed by folk song collector (apparently that's a real job) Alex Lomax while on task in the Bahamas. While not a particularly happy tale, the whimsical lyrics about a horrible sailing voyage turn into something sweet and charming in the hands of the Beach Boys. It was recorded by such artists as folk singer Pete Seeger and country icon Johnny Cash before Beach Boys member Al Jardine proposed the tune as part of the "Pet Sounds" set, which gave the Boys a shiny No. 3 hit in the spring of 1966.

This may be, as the lyrics put it, "the worst trip I've ever been on," but it's one of the best-loved singles in the Beach Boys' record collection. It's a slice of folk history given a modern pop treatment, infused with a simple sing-song spirit and joyful reading that make the tune's terrible misadventures feel sprightly and enjoyable.

The Beach Boys came up with a romantic mid-tempo classic in "Don't Worry Baby," hitting the harmonies with everything they had and sounding like a choir of cherubs with every note. The lyrics describe a young man's ability to be calmed down by his sweetheart, exploring the complexities of being an adolescent pulled in different emotional directions. Though it may sound a bit trite at first, it becomes more poignant in light of the Beach Boys' generation; a young man explaining his feelings and recognizing his own shortcomings was a revelation among the good times tunes and surf culture celebration songs the band became known for. And yes, cars are mentioned, but only briefly.

Brian Wilson found a spark of inspiration in another song of the era, the Ronettes' "Be My Baby." Finding solace in the soothing words of his girlfriend at the time, Wilson shared his idea with collaborator Roger Christian, who came up with lyrics for Wilson's melodic composition. It was a step up into the realm of grown-up music, fed through the filter of 1960s youth, and it became a classic that never fails to tug at the heartstrings.

"Don't Worry Baby" performed admirably on the charts, topping out at No. 24. It may not be one of the band's highest-charting singles, but it's one of the most memorable and relatable picks in the Beach Boys' catalog.