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Surf music

Surf music
Other names
  • Surf rock
  • surf pop
  • surf guitar
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsLate 1950s to early 1960s, United States
Derivative forms
Local scenes
Other topics

Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms.[7] The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-heavy electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.[8][9]

Dick Dale developed the surf sound from instrumental rock, where he added Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, a spring reverb, and rapid alternate picking characteristics. His regional hit "Let's Go Trippin'", in 1961, launched the surf music craze, inspiring many others to take up the approach.

The genre reached national exposure when it was represented by vocal groups such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.[10] Dale was quoted on such groups: "They were surfing sounds [with] surfing lyrics. In other words, the music wasn't surfing music. The words made them surfing songs. ... That was the difference ... the real surfing music is instrumental."[11]

At the height of its popularity, surf music rivaled girl groups and Motown for the top American popular music trend.[12] It is sometimes referred to interchangeably with the "California sound".[13] During the later stages of the surf music craze, many of its groups started to write songs about cars and girls; this was later known as "hot rod rock".[14]

  1. ^ Sabin 1999, p. 159.
  2. ^ Marcel Danesi, "Forever young: the teen-aging of modern culture" (University of Toronto Press, 2003), ISBN 0-8020-8620-9, p. 83.
  3. ^ Besssman (1993), p. 16; Marcus (1979), p. 114; Simpson (2003), p. 72; McNeil (1997), p. 206.
  4. ^ Bovey, Seth (2006). "Don't Tread on Me: The Ethos of '60s Garage Punk". Popular Music & Society. 29 (4). Routledge: 451–459. doi:10.1080/03007760600787515. S2CID 143841415.
  5. ^ Sabin 1999, p. 99.
  6. ^ Perna 2012, p. 117.
  7. ^ Blair 2015, pp. 7, 49, 119.
  8. ^ "Surf". AllMusic.
  9. ^ P. Romanowski, The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll: Completely Revised and Updated (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2nd edn. rev., 1995), p. 973.
  10. ^ Blair 2015, pp. 7, 49.
  11. ^ Blair 2015, p. 49.
  12. ^ Himes, Geoffrey. "Surf Music" (PDF). teachrock.org. Rock and Roll: An American History. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-11-25.
  13. ^ Browne & Browne 1986, p. 194.
  14. ^ "Hot rod rock". Allmusic. Retrieved 23 April 2011..

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