"Pet Sounds" is often cited as one of the earliest entries in the canon of psychedelic rock. Scholar Philip Auslander writes that even though psychedelic music is not normally associated with the Beach Boys, the "odd directions" and experiments in "Pet Sounds" "put it all on the map. ... basically that sort of opened the door—not for groups to be formed or to start to make music, but certainly to become as visible as say Jefferson Airplane or somebody like that." DeRogatis said that it was one of the first psychedelic rock masterpieces, along with "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators" (1966) and "Revolver".