Conversation so far:
What was the approach used to creating Good Vibrations?
The modular approach was used to create Good Vibrations
What alternative was used instead of working on a whole song for Good Vibrations?
Instead of working on whole songs with clear large-scale syntactical structures, Brian Wilson limited himself to recording short interchangeable fragments.

Question: Had this approach ever been used before?
Self-contained rewrite: Had this approach of recording short interchangeable fragments ever been used before Good Vibrations?