The Emergence of Surf Music

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The Emergence of Surf Music

Many different music styles emerged during the early 1960's. One of

these music styles that was perhaps the most prominent music style to

ever come out of Southern California was Surf Music. Surf music was a

short-lived phenomenon that occurred from 1961 to 1965 (Nostalgia,

2002). Along with the surf music craze, Hollywood also started

producing numerous movies about surfing, including Gidget, and Endless

Summer (St. James Encyclopedia, 2003 and Nostalgia, 2002). These

movies had some amazing soundtracks that helped popularize the surf

music phenomenon. There are two different forms of surf music;

instrumental and vocal (Holm, 1998 and St. James Encyclopedia, 2003).

The instrumental groups included Dick Dale and the Del-tones, The

Ventures, The Chantays, and The Surfaris, and their bands generally

consisted of one or two guitar players, a bass player, a drummer, and

sometimes a keyboard, sax, or horns (Holm, 1998 and St. James

Encyclopedia, 2003). Their music is characterized by a simple song

structure (usually based around three chords), reverbed guitars, and

rolling, wave-like instrumentals (Wikipedia, 2003). Generally, the

devoted fans of these groups were surfers themselves (Nostalgia,

2002). The vocal groups included The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean

(Holm, 1998 and St. James Encyclopedia, 2003). Rather than having that

wave-like, surf sound to their instrumental music, these groups

generally used harmonic vocals to sing about the surfing experience,

cars, and girls (Nostalgia, 2002). They generally had a more

mainstream pop-rock type fan base (Nostalgia, 2002). Both type of surf

music groups had an ...

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... Dean's career called Dead Man's

Curve aired on C.B.S. in 1978 (Surf Vocal Groups,

www.history-of-rock.com/jan_and_dean.htm). In 1978, Jan and Dean

reunited to tour with the Beach Boys(Surf Vocal Groups,

www.history-of-rock.com/jan_and_dean.htm and Wikipedia, 2003).

Currently, they still tour on occasion.

The influence that surf music has had on rock and roll music is

absolutely remarkable. Dick Dale's guitar style influenced guitarist

such as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. The Ventures influenced such

artists as George Harrison, and such groups as

The Ramones and Dire Straits. The Chantays and The Surfaris both

influenced The Ventures. And finally, The Beach Boys influenced The

Beatles recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is

apparent that surf music is an important part of music history.

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