Clark Staub used to work for a Sub Pop distributor, but in 1996 he was the senior director of sales for Capitol Records. He approached Dave Rosencrans at Sub Pop and asked if they would be interested in doing a promotional single for the upcoming Pet Sounds Sessions box set slated for that May. The labels' co-owner, Jonathan Poneman, said they purposely made it look like their original Singles Club singles with the black bar at the top. "Part of the whole thing is that it's just cool, and its coolness should be evident to those who are Beach Boys aficionados," he said.
The box set was pulled at the last minute and delayed a year and a half. There was talk that Mike Love wasn't happy with some of the liner notes and essays included. Author Timothy White said the band had "misgivings about how Capitol envisioned it." In the 18-months that followed, the 7" became a real hot item. This release and a CD sampler of the box set became the only ways to get this material. The record contains 3 tracks: "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" (stereo mix), "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (vocals only) and "Here Today" (stereo backing track).
The Pet Sounds Sessions finally came out in November 1997 and the value of this 7" and the CD sampler plummeted. It's still a cool little item, however, and obviously contains great music. Jonathan Poneman said, "We don't anticipate, at this late date, converting people to Beach Boys fandom, and even if we did, they're signed to another label." You can't blame him too much for not predicting the incredible impact the box would have. Reissues don't usually completely change the way an artist is viewed, but this box, carrying the endorsements of nearly everyone who ever recorded a song, changed how a generation saw the Beach Boys. It was the beginning of what I think had to be one of the best times ever to be a Beach Boys fan.
