Surf Rock

Listen To Midnight Oil
'Surf's Up'

'Midget' Farrelly

Surf Rock is a sub-genre of Rock probably

more distinguishable by what the music is

about rather than the music itself.

Originating out of California in the early

1960s, it soon spread wherever surfing

spots and its associated and emerging 'surf

culture' were. In a short time, as a popular

trend in music, it spread right throughout

the United States then the rest of the

Western World, most particularly Australia,

home of 'Midge' Farrelly, the world's first

surf champion.

The Chantays - Pipeline

Listen To Surf Rock
On RM Radio

Surf Rock/Music influenced and grew out of the emergence of the surf culture in

Southern California in the early 1960s and was especially popular from 1961 to 1966.

Since then it has revived and over time has significantly influenced Rock Music.

Although the original Surf Rock trend was largely blown away by the British Rock

Invasion of the US beginning in 1964. Since its revival, it remains a force in popular

music to this day.

The original Surf Rock had two major

forms - one: instrumental with electric

guitars or saxophones playing the main

melody, largely pioneered by Dick Dale

the early Surf music creator. The other

was 'surf pop' - surf music with vocals,

including both surf ballads and dance. As

it evolved, surf music became associated

with strong harmonies like those from the

Beach Boys. Many notable surf bands

became equally noted for both surf

instrumental and surf pop music. Surf

music is generally considered a single

genre despite the variety of styles. During

the later stages of the surf music craze,

many groups started to leave surfing

behind and write songs about cars and

girls; this was later known as 'Hot Rod

Rock'. Even the though the genre has

many forms, Surf music is usually

referred to as simply 'Surf Rock'.

Dick Dale - Medley

The Atlantics - Bombora

Beach Boys - Surfin USA

There were many top Surf Rock bands in the early 1960s, best known were obviously

Dick Dale and The Deltones - and of course The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. Lesser

known bands included The Atlantics, The Chantays, The Bel-Airs, The Revels, The

Rip-Chords, The Surfaris, The Tornadoes, The Trashmen, The Ventures, The

Bomboras and many, many others. Later revivalists included Tamamshud, Jack

Johnson, Midnight Oil and others.

Form

Surf music began in the early 1960s as

instrumental dance music usually with a

fast, beat. The sound was dominated by

electric guitars particularly characterized

by the extensive use of the 'wet' spring

'reverb' incorporated into Fender

amplifiers which emulated the sound of

the waves.

Surf Rock guitarists often used the vibrato

arm on their guitar, electronic tremolo

effects and rapid picking to emulate the

surf sound. Surf music made extensive

use of the electric bass and drums, and

often incorporated saxophones and

electric organs and pianos.

Comanche - The Revels

The Lively Ones - Surf Rider

The Ventures - Wipe Out

Dick Dale - Banzai Washout

A Short History

Surfing, tbe sacred sport of Hawaiian

Kings that began in the 15th century was

introduced to California at the turn of 20th

century. In 1959, the popularity of

surfing amongst the youth received a

boost from the surf movie Gidget. One of

its stars, along with others, helped

introduce surfboard manufacturing into

California. With the introduction of fibre

glass and resin boards, surfing and the

surf culture soon took off in the US and

particularly Southeast California. The

major catalyst for this was the emergence

of surf music - or 'Surf Rock.' As one

observer noted: A buoyant surf music,

born amid the California boom in the late

1950s, reflected and promoted the myth

of the California wonderland. It glorified

one of the most attractive elements of the

Califorina myth: the sun drenched

Southern California beaches dotted with

tanned, blonde, bikini-clad, Barbi-like

beauties.’(Sources-Szatmary)

A Clip From 'Gidget' 1959

Dick Dale and Surf Rock

Dick Dale, a keen surfer and guitarist in the late 1950s, and who some might call the

'Father of Surf Rock', furthered instrumental Rock n Roll as it was in the early 1960s,

by adding Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, and the distinctive reverb (giving

the guitar a "wet" sound). He also included a rapid alternate 'Arab-influenced' picking

style to further characterise his 'Surf Music' which after many performances and his

regional hits 'Let's Go Trippin' and 'Misirlou' (1961- 62) later that year, launched the

Surf Rock music craze, which eventually swept the US.

The Sound Of The Surf

A guitar enthusiast, Dale teamed up with

Leo Fender (guitar manufacturer) – to

improve and develop an amplifier and

reverberation unit that would give surf

music its distinctively fuzzy sound.

Dick Dale fused his two passions –

surfing and the guitar – to create a new

music for surf fanatics. Dale stated -

‘There was a tremendous amount of power I

felt while surfing and that feeling of power was

simply transferred into my guitar when I was

playing surf music,’ Dale recalled. ‘The style of

music I developed,to me at the time, was the

feeling I got when I was out there on the

waves. It was that good rambling feeling I got

when I was locked in a tube with the white

water caving in over my head. I was trying to

project the power of the ocean to the people;

he added. ‘I couldn’t get the feeling by singing,

so the music took an instrumental form.’

(Sources, Szatmari)

Dick Dale and the Del-Tones released records

for the surf crowd. In September 1961, ‘Let’s

go trippin' topped the California charts and

headed towards the top 50.

Fender Amplifier

Dick Dale & The Deltones - Let's Go Trippin

Dale followed with ‘Surfbeat', 'Surfing Drums' and 'Shake and Stomp’ and

in 1962 produced the classic surf instrumental ‘Miserlou’. In early 1963, Dale was

considered The King Of The Surf Guitar, by the end of that year he was a huge

celebrity. But it was the Beach Boys, closely followed by Jan & Dean in the early

days, that soon became the kings of Surf music. And together they brought the music

to national prominence.

The Beach Boys

Dick Dale - Misirlou

Jan & Dean

As Vocal Music

Although it began as a purely instrumental

form, surf music had its greatest success

commercially as vocal music. The Beach

Boys were most associated with this

movement. Their early albums included

both instrumental surf rock, including

covers of music by Dick Dale, and vocal

songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo

wop and close harmonies. Standing out

also from the many other emergent surf

bands were Jan & Dean who also like the

Beach Boys also achieved sustained

success - for a time. Prominent among

their hits was 'Surf City'.

Beach Boys - Do It Again

Jan & Dean - Surf City

In late September 1961, Life commented

that ‘now the surf that seeps in on the

beaches bears flotillas of enthusiasts

standing on long buoyant boards…

Surfing has become an established craze

in California. There are some 30,000

(teenagers who) revel in the delights of

mounting their boards on waves hundreds

of feet out and riding them in . “If you’re

not a surfer”, explained one high school

boy, “you’re not ‘in’.’ If you’re a good

surfer, you’re always in. All you’ve got to

do is walk up and down the beach with a

board and you’ve got girls.”' By August

1963 – surfing was huge amongst the

American youth.

The Growth Of the Genre

The growth of popularity of Surf Rock caused many bands from other from other areas

of the US and overseas to try their hand. These included The Astronauts (detroit), The

Trashmen (Minnesota), who reached number 4 with "Surfin Bird" in 1964; and The

Rivieras (Indiana), who reached number 5 in 1964 with "California Sun" and The

Atlantics (Australia) from Sydney, Australia, with their hit "Bombora" (1963). Also

from Australia were The Denvermen with "Surfside" which reached number 1 in

Australia charts. Other Australian surf bands included the Joy Boys, whose hit "Murphy

the Surfie" (1963) was later covered by the Surfaris.

The Surfaris - Wipe Out

Little Pattie - Surfin Time Again

The Surfaris - Surfer Joe

European bands around this time generally focused more on the style played by the

Shadows. A notable example of European surf instrumental is Spanish band Los

Relampagos' rendition of "Misirlou". The Dakotas, who were the British backing band

for Merseybeat singer Billy J. Kramer gained some attention as surf musicians with

"Cruel Sea" (1963), which was later covered by The Ventures and eventually other

instrumental surf bands, including the Challengers and the Revelairs.

Little Pattie - He's My Blond Headed Stompie...

The Denvermen - Surfside

The Surf Sub-Culture

Just as Folk music was at the center of a sub culture, with its norms of dress, language,

and behaviour, so surfing music was at the heart of its own subculture. The geographic

centre was southern California. As the popularity of the music spread across the

country, would be surfers even those ‘inland’, acquired deep tans, bleached their hair

blond, put on sandals and cut offs, waxed down their surfboards, and revved up their

impalas, T Birds or Corvetts. – regardless of the closest water might have been a river

or swimming pool. Unlike the folkers, the surfers deepest social concern was whether

the local drugsdtore would run out of suntan lotion. Beach –oriented movies

highlighting the carefree southern California lifestyle began as early as 1959 with

Gidget – followed by many more ‘surf and sun’ movies which further helped spread

Surf Rock everywhere.

One observer noted: The Surfing sub- culture that developed in the US soon had its own

distinctive way of dressing and speaking. 'At high school, the bleached blonde surfers

wore Pendleton shirts, sandals, white, tight, and short Levis and baggies (very large,

loose boxer – style shorts. After school they jumped into an oversized station wagon

with wooden sides ( a woodie), which transported their ‘polys’ (surfboards) into the

‘soup’ ( the foaming water near the beach) and tried to catch a wave. Some would only

‘fun surf’ on 3 to 6 foot waves.

Other more daring surfers would carry their ‘big guns’ (surfboards designed for riding

tall waves) into the water, pick up a ‘hairy’ wave ( a fast wave difficult to surf), and

‘shoot’ (ride) it, sometimes ‘hot dogging’ (performing tricks) to impress the ‘bunnies’

(girls) on shore. All surfers showed disdain for the poorly skilled or fraudulent, to

whom they referred to as ‘gremlins’ or ‘kooks’. After packing up and going home,

they could read magazines such ass Surfer and Surfer Illustrated or watch surfing films

like Slippery When Wet (1960) and Barefoot Adventure (1962), or the more

commercial Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach party (1964) and Bikini Beach (1964)

starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.' (sources)

The Beach Boys were huge with ‘Surfin Safari’, then ‘Surfin USA. – Surfer Girl’, They

produced many other hits in their ‘surfing phase’ with their surfing sound with ‘Little

Deuce Coup’, Fun, fun, Barabara Ann and many others. All had that surfin sound feel

and furthered the genre. The release of Good Vibrations their massive hit, in the mid

60s – the Beach Boys and particularly Brian Wilson were moving away from surf music

– a musical genre that finally was blown away along with the Beach Boys largely by the

British Rock invasion.

The Beach Boys: California Girls - Barbara Anne - Good Vibrations

Classic Comparisons

‘If the key words of the folk music trend were ‘honesty’, ‘authenticity’, ‘sincerity’
,
‘freedom’, and ‘brotherhood’, the key words of surfing music were those found in

the title of the 1964 Beach boys hit, ‘Fun,Fun,Fun’. Seemingly almost every

characteristic for the folk movement is exactly inverted for surfing music. The folkies

avoided the artificiality of electric instruments, the suffers had no problem with

electricity. The folkies disliked the ‘gimmickry’ of recording studio techniques, the

surfers, on the other hand, exploited echo effects, overdubbing and extensive editing.

The folkies sang of heavy topics – such as love, peace and racial harmony - in a

serious way; the surfers sang of cars, girls, beach parties, and big waves. The folkies

became involved in social action designed to raise the national consciousness regarding

social and political injustices; the surfers appeared to be completely indifferent to such

things. (sources - Stuessy & Lipscomb)

Latter Day Surf Rock

The Delltones (Aus) - Hangin Five

Midnight Oil - Wedding Cake Island

Donavon Frankenreiter - Shadows

Decline

The Surf Music Craze, as with the careers of almost all surf acts, was effectively ended

by the British Invasion which began in 1964. But it was also a casualty of the emerging

folk rock, psychedelic rock and other rock genres that later emerged. Only the Beach

Boys managed to sustain their popularity into the mid-1960s, producing a string of hit

singles and albums including Pet Sounds in 1966, which made them the only American

rock or pop group that arguably could rival the Beatles, until at least that time.

Some Latter Day Australian Surf Rock

Morning Of The Earth

Tamam Shud

The Later Influence of Surf Rock/Music

While ebbing and gaining in popularity from time to time, instrumental surf rock style

music has often been used as soundtracks to many movies over the years, such as

Dr. No (1962), and in many of the other James Bond series, and it influenced the music

of many spy films of the 1960s. Surf music also influenced a number of later rock

musicians, including Keith Moon of The Who, East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys,

and Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago. During the mid- to late 1990s, surf rock experienced

a revival with surf acts, including Dick Dale recording once more, partly due to the

popularity of the movie Pulp Fiction (1994), which used Dale's "Misirlou" and other

surf rock songs in the soundtrack. New surf bands were formed, including Man or

Astro-man?,The Mermen, Los Straitjackets and The New Electric Sound. In the 1980s,

skateboard punk band JFA combined the Dead Kennedy's "Police Truck" with the

Chantay's "Pipeline" to create the revved-up surf/skate homage "Pipe Truck." In 2012,

Orchestra Nova San Diego premiered "Surf", a symphonic homage to surf music, the

for ocean and surfing, by classical composer Joseph Waters.