Wild Honey (album)

Wild Honey
Studio album by the Beach Boys
Released	December 18, 1967 (1967-12-18)
Recorded	September 26 – November 15, 1967
Studio	Beach Boys and Wally Heider, Los Angeles
Genre	Soul R&B lo-fi pop rock
Length	23:54
Label	Capitol
Producer	The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys chronology
Smiley Smile (1967) Wild Honey (1967) Friends (1968)
Singles from Wild Honey
"Wild Honey" Released: October 23, 1967 "Darlin'" Released: December 18, 1967

Wild Honey is the thirteenth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on December 18, 1967, by Capitol Records. It was the group's first foray into soul music and was heavily influenced by the R&B of Motown and Stax Records. The album was the band's worst-selling at that point, charting at number 24 in the US. Lead single "Wild Honey" peaked at number 31, while its follow-up "Darlin'" reached number 19. In the UK, the album peaked at number seven.

The album's sessions began immediately after the recording of Lei'd in Hawaii, a failed live album, and the release of Smiley Smile, their previous LP. Like Smiley Smile, Wild Honey's core instrumental combo consists of organ, honky-tonk piano, and electric bass. The Beach Boys were inspired to regroup as a self-contained rock band, partly in response to critical assertions that they were "ball-less choir boys".^[1] They also purposefully distanced themselves from the prevailing rock trends of the time, which had been typified by psychedelia and high-scale recording or thematic conceits.

It was the second album to credit "the Beach Boys" as producer. At his request, bandmate Carl Wilson began contributing more to the recording process, a trend that continued on subsequent albums. Mike Love also returned as Brian's main songwriting collaborator for the first time since Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965).

Wild Honey presaged a back-to-basics approach that was subsequently adopted by the Beach Boys' contemporaries, including Bob Dylan and the Beatles, and it is credited with pioneering the DIY pop genre. Most critics initially disregarded the record, but after the mid–1970s, a greater appreciation formed around its simplicity and charm. In 1979, the track "Here Comes the Night" was redone by the group as a disco single. In 2020, Wild Honey was ranked number 410 on Rolling Stone's list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. A remixed and expanded edition, titled 1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow, was released in 2017.