The Sound and Signature Style of Surf Music
Surf music, also known as surf rock, is a genre that emerged among young surfers in Southern California (SoCal) in the early 1960s. Surf music is characterized by fast-paced melodic guitars drenched in reverb, driving drums, and a sound that captures the feeling of surfing, party, and a carefree life on the beach.
The History of Surf Music
Rock ’n’ roll had exploded in the 1950s, becoming the first truly distinctive youth culture, complete with its own identity, style, and icons. But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. As the leading figures of rock ’n’ roll disappeared from the spotlight one by one at the end of the decade, a vacuum emerged. Ready to fill the void and forge their own style was a new generation———from the beaches and the waves, with idols of their own.
Before surf music came along, pioneering surfers listened to jazz, whose free-form style and improvisation reminded them of life on the waves. A local youth culture grew around this new lifestyle, with its own dance clubs, looks and slang———and its own music———that set it apart from their parents’ generation.
Surf rock’s rebellious grassroots movement really took off during the summer of 1961, with The Bel-Airs’ Mr. Moto and Dick Dale & His Del-Tones’ Let’s Go Trippin’, and it quickly began spreading far beyond the beaches of Southern California.
Pioneer Dick Dale and the World’s First Guitar Reverb
The great pioneer was Dick Dale, who, together with his band The Del-Tones, developed a highly distinctive guitar sound: heavy reverb and blistering picking technique, delivered with an intense and aggressive attack. Dale also incorporated influences from both Mexico and the Middle East, creating exciting and exotic melodies. Although Dick Dale initially also sang and played drums, saxophone, and trumpet, he quickly became known as “the king of the surf guitar,” and his aggressive playing style later earned him another nickname: “the father of heavy metal.”
The distinctive sound was almost as important as the songs themselves. The heavy reverb made the guitar sound like the ocean and crashing waves. And it was Dick Dale’s idea. He asked instrument mogul Leo Fender if he could build a reverb unit, similar to the reverb in the Leslie speaker of a Hammond organ, to give Dale’s singing voice a bigger, more expanded sound. But shortly after receiving Fender’s prototype, Dale started using it on his guitar instead———creating the wet, “drippy” sound that has been an essential part of surf guitar ever since.
The World’s First 100-Watt Amplifier
The combination of Dick Dale’s extremely heavy-gauge strings, hard picking technique, and the sheer volume needed to be heard over thousands of wildly dancing kids at the Rendezvous Ballroom, caused his amplifiers to literally go up in smoke, one after another.
After burning through around fifty amps, Leo Fender developed the world’s first guitar amplifier to peak at 100 watts: the Fender Showman (85 watts RMS). Shortly thereafter, he took it a step further with the Dual Showman———a 100-watt RMS monster capable of peaking at 180 watts. At last, Dick Dale had the gear he needed.
“When it can withstand the barrage of punishment from Dick Dale, then it is fit for the human consumption.”
Leo Fender
Surf Music Conquers the World
Alongside bands such as The Ventures, The Chantays, The Surfaris, Eddie and the Showmen, The Challengers, and many others, Dick Dale helped turn instrumental surf rock into a national phenomenon. The Ventures’ Walk, Don’t Run became a mega-hit. The Chantays’ Pipeline cracked the U.S. Top 10, while The Surfaris’ Wipe Out became one of the genre’s most famous recordings, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Surf rock’s influence also spread far beyond the United States, sending ripples around the world———to the UK with The Shadows and to Sweden with The Spotnicks.
Its popularity spawned new forms of surf music, with The Beach Boys developing a commercially successful brand of surf pop built around their sophisticated vocal harmonies and themes of surf culture. The instrumental pioneers, however, frowned upon the sugary-sweet Beach Boys, who———with the exception of their drummer———didn’t actually surf themselves. They called them “grannies.”
From 1961 to 1963, surf rock was one of the biggest trends in popular music and popular culture. It had become an international youth phenomenon, with a style that influenced artists who wouldn’t necessarily be described as surf bands. But as they say, all good things must come to an end!
The Death and Rebirth of Surf Music
In January 1964, The Beatles entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and quickly climbed to the top spot. The “Beatlemania” and “British Invasion” that followed completely wiped out instrumental surf rock. Now it was all about British pop singers and “long-haired” young punks. The tanned, carefree surfers were out of the game.
Luckily, the surf guitars never went completely silent. The sound———heavy reverb, instrumental riffs, and high energy———became building blocks that later turned up everywhere, from spaghetti westerns to spy thrillers (including James Bond), as well as in garage rock, punk, and other forms of guitar-driven music. In this way, surf music became a link between the rock ’n’ roll of the 1950s and the cascade of different rock genres that emerged later in the 1960s. Surf rock’s guitar sound and musical ideas survived and went on to influence generations of rock musicians.
Tarantino And Pulp Fiction
And then came Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 cult classic, which sparked a rebirth and revival of instrumental surf rock. The movie’s iconic theme was Dick Dale’s explosive Misirlou, and the soundtrack served up several delicious surf rock treats. Suddenly, surf music was hot again. Pulp Fiction pulled it out of the world of cult and subculture and back into the spotlight of global popular culture. Two years later came the next milestone in surf rock history: Paganilsson———the beloved surf band from Sweden (according to the band’s fans and fiancés).
If you want to get a feel for the history of surf music, the documentary How Did Surf Music Influence An Entire Generation? is well worth checking out. It covers the origins of surf music in Southern California, its pioneers, and how it grew into a much larger cultural phenomenon than simply just music for surfers.
And never forget: there’s no other sport in the world with its very own music genre! ¡Stay salty———Cowabunga carnál!
Read more! The Origins of Surf Music — a first-hand account by Paul Johnson