Cool. Again, I wish it was something I could attend. Thanks for the update!
No problem! It;s really fun to teach and I'm learning a lot, too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surf_music
Surf music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Surf music is a
genre of
popular music associated with
surf culture, particularly
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.
[1] 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.
[1]
Instrumental surf rock
[edit] Form
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.
[1] 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.
[2] Guitar models favoured 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).
[3] 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".
[4] Often an electric organ or an
electric piano featured as backing harmony.
[edit] History
By the early 1960s instrumental rock and roll had been pioneered successfully by performers such as
Duane Eddy,
Link Wray, and
The Ventures.
[5] 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).
[1] 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.
[6] 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.
[7] The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with "
Pipeline" in 1963 and probably the single most famous surf tune hit was 1963's "
Wipe Out", by the
Surfaris, known for their cutting-edge lead guitar and drum songs, which hit # 2 and # 10 on Billboard charts in 1965. The group had two other global hits "Surfer Joe" and "Point Panic".
[8]
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 had a number 4 hit with "Surfin Bird" in 1964 and
The Rivieras from
South Bend, Indiana, who reached #5 in 1964 with "California Sun".
[1] 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).
[1] Also from Sydney were The Denvermen lyrical instrumental "Surfside" reached #1 in the Australian charts.
[9] 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.
[10]
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.
[11]
[edit] Vocal surf pop
Although beginning 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.
[1] Their first chart hit, "
Surfin'" in 1962 reached the Billboard top 100 and helped make the surf music craze a national phenomenon.
[12] From 1963 the group 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 "
Fun, Fun, Fun" (1964) and "
California Girls" (1965).
[12] Other vocal surf acts followed, including one-hit wonders like
Ronny & the Daytonas with "G. T. O." (1964) and the
Rip Chords with "Hey Little Cobra", which 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.
[1]
The surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts, was effectively ended by the arrival of the
British Invasion from 1964.
[1] Only the Beach Boys were able to sustain a creative career into the mid-1960s, producing a string of hit singles and albums, including
Pet Sounds in 1966, which made them, arguably, the only American rock or pop group, that could rival the Beatles.
[12]
[edit] Influence and revival
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.
[13] Surf music also influenced a number of later rock musicians, including
Keith Moon of
The Who[1] East Bay Ray of the
Dead Kennedys and
Pixies guitarist
Joey Santiago.
[14] 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.
[1] New surf bands were formed, including
Man or Astro-man?,
The Mermen and
Los Straitjackets.
[15]