Surf Music Research Paper

613 Words2 Pages

Surf culture music or lesser known as beach pop can be described in a number of ways. Although, it is arguable that it is more towards a feeling of surfing. At first, it was deeply spiritual or religious. It was Hawaiian tradition for the priests to pray to the gods, to bless the surfers. Similar ritual chants were also used in the creations of surfboards. Surf music was and is a cultural phenomenon. Over the years the line between what is and isn't 'surf music' has become blurred, confused, debated, faded and almost extinct! Throughout this paper, I will explain to you what Surf music truly is.

Although Surf music has been around for many, many years, it first became popular in the early 1960’s. Musicians who did not surf themselves introduced it as a new genre of music. It can be split into two different genres but they both set out to do the same thing; help popularizes surfing as well as provide an uplifting and never deary tune to people everywhere. …show more content…

It was popular from the start, and throughout the mid ‘60’s. The band most associated with surf music would be The Beach Boys. The harmonic music consisted of the surf culture and rhythm that formed the stereotypical Southern Californian that we know today. Just a few things that became popular in this ear are bikinis, board shorts and skateboards.

The king of the Surf Guitar; Dick Dale. Dick Dale pioneered the surf music genre and his guitar skills have influenced musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, and Eddie Van Halen. He was born in Boston, but moved to Southern California when he was a teenager, where he learned to surf in high school, and began to make music, attempting to recreate the sound of surfing. Dick Dale is known for consistently blowing up the amps provided for him at concerts, so he worked closely with Fender (a guitar amplifier company) to make an amp capable of supporting Dale’s

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