 Released in May 1966, "Pet Sounds" came from Wilson's desire to make a "complete statement", as he believed the Beatles had previously done with "Rubber Soul".In 1978, biographer David Leaf wrote that the album heralded art rock, while according to "The New York Observer", ""Pet Sounds" proved that a pop group could make an album-length piece comparable with the greatest long-form works of Bernstein, Copland, Ives, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.