| Surf music | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Rock and roll, Jump blues, country, European, Middle Eastern, Mexican |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1950s, United States |
| Typical instruments | Guitar, bass, drums, keyboards |
| Mainstream popularity | Significant regional mainstream success in the early 1960s, revival in late 1980s and 1990s |
| Derivative forms | Surf rock - Surf pop - Hot rod rock - Rautalanka - String (Thai pop) - Garage rock[1] - Protopunk - Punk rock[2] - Pop punk[3] - Garage punk[4][5] |
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music.[6] It has two major forms: largely instrumental surf rock, with an electric guitar or saxophone playing the main melody, pioneered by acts such as Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, and vocal surf pop, including both surf ballads and dance music, often with strong harmonies that are most associated with The Beach Boys. Many notable surf bands have been equally noted for both surf instrumental and surf pop music, so surf music is generally considered as a single genre despite the variety of these styles.[6] 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.[7] Surf music is often referred to as simply surf rock, even though the genre has many forms.[8]
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Surf music began in the early 1960s as instrumental dance music, almost always in straight 4/4 (or common) time, with a medium to fast tempo. The sound was dominated by electric guitars which were particularly characterized by the extensive use of the "wet" spring reverb that was incorporated into Fender amplifiers from 1961, which is thought to emulate the sound of the waves.[6] Guitarists also made use of the vibrato arm on their guitar to bend the pitch of notes downward, electronic tremolo effects and rapid (alternating) tremolo picking.[9] Guitar models favored included those made by Fender (particularly the Mustang, Jazzmaster, Jaguar and Stratocaster guitars), Mosrite, Teisco, or Danelectro, usually with single coil pickups (which had high treble in contrast to double coil humbucker pickups).[10] Surf music was one of the first genres to universally adopt the electric bass, particularly the Fender Precision Bass. Classic surf drum kits tended to be Rogers, Ludwig, Gretsch or Slingerland. Some popular songs also incorporated a tenor or baritone saxophone, as on "Surf Rider" and "Comanche".[11] Often an electric organ or an electric piano featured as backing harmony.
By the early 1960s instrumental rock and roll had been pioneered successfully by performers such as Duane Eddy, Link Wray, and The Ventures.[12] This trend was developed by Dick Dale who added the distinctive reverb, the rapid alternate picking characteristic of the genre, as well as Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, producing the regional hit "Let's Go Trippin'" in 1961 and launching the surf music craze, following up with songs like "Misirlou" (1962).[6] Like Dale and his Del-Tones, most early surf bands were formed in Southern California area, with Orange County in particular having a strong surf culture, and the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa hosted many surf-styled acts.[13][14] In late 1961, the Beach Boys had their first chart hit, "Surfin'" which managed to reach number 75 on the Hot 100.[15] In mid 1962, the group released their major-label debut, Surfin' Safari. The song hit number 14 and helped launch the surf rock craze into a national phenomenon.[16] Groups such as The Bel-Airs (whose hit "Mr. Moto" was released months before Dale's "Let's Go Trippin'"), then The Challengers released their album "Surfbeat", and then Eddie & the Showmen followed Dale to regional success.[17] The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with "Pipeline" in May 1963. Probably the single most famous surf tune hit was "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, known for their cutting-edge lead guitar and drum solos, which on the Hot 100 hit number 2 in August 1963 and number 16 in October 1966. The group also had two other global hits, "Surfer Joe" and "Point Panic".[18] In March 1963 the Beach Boys released one of the most well known surf rock songs, " Surfin' USA" which incorporated surf lyrics and the melody from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen".[19]
The growing popularity of the genre led groups from other areas to try their hand. These included The Astronauts, from Boulder, Colorado; The Trashmen, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who reached number 4 with "Surfin Bird" in 1964; and The Rivieras from South Bend, Indiana, who reached number 5 in 1964 with "California Sun".[6] The Atlantics, from Sydney, Australia, were not exclusively surf musicians, but made a significant contribution to the genre, the most famous example with being their hit "Bombora" (1963).[6] Also from Sydney were The Denvermen lyrical instrumental "Surfside" reached number 1 in the Australian charts.[20] Another Australian surf band who were known outside their own country's surf scene was the Joy Boys, whose hit "Murphy the Surfie" (1963) was later covered by the Surfaris.[21]
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.[22]
Although it began as a purely instrumental form, surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal music. Most associated with this movement were the Beach Boys, formed in 1961 in Southern California. 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 the close harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen.[6] Other vocal surf acts followed, including one-hit wonders like Bruce and Terry with "Summer Means Fun", The Rivieras with "California Sun", Ronny & the Daytonas with "G.T.O.", and the Rip Chords with "Hey Little Cobra", all from early 1964. The latter two hits both reached the top ten, but the only other act to achieve sustained success with the formula were Jan & Dean, who had a number 1 hit with "Surf City" (co-written with Brian Wilson) in 1963.[6]
Hot rod rock is a form of surf music that incorporates instrumental surf rock with car noises (revving engines and screeching tires). From 1963, the Beach Boys began to leave surfing behind as subject matter as Brian Wilson became their major composer and producer, moving on to the more general themes of male adolescence, including cars and girls, in songs like "Don't Worry Baby" (1964) and " Little Deuce Coupe" (1963).[15] "Little Deuce Coupe" has been stated as one of the earliest forms of hard rock with its series of buzzing beats.[23] Hot rod group the Fantastic Baggys wrote many songs for Jan and Dean, but also did a few vocals for the duo.[24]
The surf music craze, with the careers of almost all surf acts, was effectively ended by the British Invasion beginning ca. 1964.[6] The emerging folk rock and blues-rock and later psychedelic rock genres also contributed to the decline of surf rock.[25][26] Only the Beach Boys were able to sustain 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.[15]
The use of instrumental surf rock style guitar for the soundtrack of Dr. No (1962), recorded by Vic Flick with the John Barry Seven, meant that it was reused in many of the films in the James Bond series, and influenced the music of many spy films of the 1960s.[27] Surf music also influenced a number of later rock musicians, including Keith Moon of The Who [6] East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys and Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago.[28] 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.[6] New surf bands were formed, including Man or Astro-man?, The Mermen and Los Straitjackets.[29] In the 1980s, skateboard punk band JFA (band), combined the Dead Kennedy's "Police Truck" with the Chantay's "Pipeline" to create the revved-up surf/skate homage "Pipe Truck."[30]
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