Good Vibrations became a massive hit while featuring an instrument most people could not even name let alone play. That ghostly sliding sound is not a guitar not a synth and not a voice. It came from an electro theremin an instrument you play without really touching in the traditional sense and which sounds like it escaped from a 1950s sci-fi movie.
What makes this wild is that Brian Wilson bet a pop masterpiece on something radio had never heard before. No safety net no precedent just vibes literally. The song proved that innovation does not have to live on the fringe to matter. Sometimes the weirdest idea in the room becomes the thing everyone hums for the rest of their life.