• INTRODUCTION: VIEW FROM THE EAST

• FOREWORD: DICK DALE: STILL REIGNING "KING OF THE SURF GUITAR"

• A HISTORY OF SURF MUSIC

• TRACK-BY-TRACK NOTES

• SURFIN' DICTIONARY

COWABUNGA! Now there's a word you don't hear every day here in Brooklyn. But if everybody indeed had an ocean across the U.S.A., as Brian Wilson offered, then everybody'd be surfin', like Californ-eye-a.

When surf music hit, we East Coasters were dealt a larger-than-life vision of the Promised Land. It was bigger than even Chuck Berry had counted on, chock-full o' suntanned bodies, waves of sunshine, California girls, and a beautiful coastline - the whole nine idyllic yards. Personally, I had no idea what "down Doheny way" meant. Even the fershlugginer surfin' lingo glossary that decked every surf album just narrowly covered the bases and I thought all of California was speakin' in tongues. But they were out there havin' fun, and that's what counted, Jack.

The Beach Boys (who initiated an early act of delinquency when I unhinged the number plate off of school locker #409 and affixed it to my ramshackle record player) and Jan & Dean hits were the high-profile coastal calling cards, followed closely by a smattering of vocal smashes crafted by SoCal's most skillful studio whizzes. But surf music enjoyed a strange dichotomy, whereby those big league productions fell under the same roof as crude, stripped-down, reverb-laden instrumentals. From the streamlined grace of "Pipeline" to the brash pummel of "Wipe Out" to the majestic wallop of "Miserlou," it was the instrumental blasts that truly sounded the Pacific's roar. Time has well shown us that like any good rock 'n' roll subgenre, the regional scenes really fueled the fracas - local band duke-outs, stomp fests, home-strung 45s, and morning after earaches - and as a full-blown phenomenon, that fracas spread to thousands of upstart inland hodad bands. Some of the landlocked lot, like The Trashmen and The Astronauts, negotiated big-time action.

I clearly recall bein' stoked yet confused by The Astronauts' first TV appearance on Hullaballoo. They were from Colorado - way up in the mountains, the announcer said - but the broadcast showed the 'Nauts whangin' away, superimposed over scenes of crashin' waves. Maybe everybody did have an ocean after all.

And maybe New York ain't as lonely a surfin' town as The Trade Winds once bemoaned. Dick Dale is clobberin' local gourds on a regular basis, hometown bands are pepperin' their sets with Lively Ones covers, and I can still waste time on the corner with the guys, arguing Eddie & The Showmen B-sides over an egg cream. Still, my woodie's outside, covered with snow...

--Billy Miller

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I've been enjoying surf music throughout my life, and continue to enjoy it as I type this. But since some surf music historians don't always get the story right, I'd like to set the record straight.

First, if you look up the word "music" in a dictionary, it's defined as "agreeable sound." That would shut down surf songs with lyrics.

Then there's the question, "When was 'surf music' created?"

Well, it wasn't in the '60s, when the first "surf music" records were released. The actual songs were being created and played to live audiences as early as the mid-1950s.

And the wet, splashy sound of Fender reverb had nothing to do with creating the "surf sound." It was only later that reverb and surf music became synonymous.

As the man who pioneered it, I can tell you how that sound really came about.

First, some background. My first album [released on Dick's father's Del-Tone Records in November 1962] was called Surfer' Choice. It had the photo of me surfing on the cover, and sold more than 80,000 albums, which is like selling four million albums today. [Capitol Records signed Dick to a deal and reissued the LP in early 1963.] Surfers' Choice also established the title, "Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar."

But if you listen to that album closely, you won't hear one decibel of a sound resembling a Fender reverb, because it had not yet been invented!

The reverb came about after I explained to [guitar and amplifier maker] Leo Fender and Freddy T., his number one man, that I didn't have a natural vibrato in my voice, and that my live show was 95 percent singing and that my guitar played the leads while I sang.

I wanted to sustain my voice like you can a piano note by pushing down on the sustain pedal. The note just hangs there. I told Leo that I had a Hammond organ at home and it had a button that gave you a reverb sound that was closer to what I wanted for my voice. Leo built a device that had a Hammond Organ Company spring tank mounted inside, and when I plugged a Shure Dynamic birdcage microphone into it, I was able to sing and sound like Elvis.

That was the birth of the Fender reverb.

Later, when I plugged my Stratocaster into the reverb and played some of my instrumentals [at shows in the South Bay and Orange County areas, where the California surf scene took off], it was the icing on the cake. Only then did my Fender reverb sound become associated with surf music.

But reverb is only part of the formula. The "Dick Dale surf sound" has three elements:

1. The equipment you play through;
2. The technique you use;
3. The attitude with which you play.

If you're not playing a Fender Stratocaster guitar with 16, 18, 18, 38, 48, and 58/60 thousandths-gauge strings, and projected out of a vintage Fender Dual Showman amp head and the Dick Dale 4-ohm 100-watt output transformer blowing through twin vintage 15-inch JBL-D130F speakers placed in a three-foot tall, two-foot wide, one-foot deep cabinet packed full with fiberglass with no portholes, you can't duplicate the true, original "Dick Dale surf sound."

I wonder how many surf music historians actually sat in Leo Fender's testing room with me and Leo and Freddy while I was blowing up Leo's amps [which resulted in the Dick Dale Showman amp, later The Showman, and The Dual Showman]. That was way before reverb.

After the proper equipment comes technique - mine is a heavy, constant, machine-gun staccato picking style which puts a very strong accent on the first beat of every measure.

This is applying the same sort of physical rhythm to the guitar that you'd apply if you were playing drums. That's one reason Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac's drummer, told me I was the most percussive guitarist he'd ever seen.

To play this way is very demanding and very different than the style of most guitar players of today who play with much thinner strings, which are usually used for playing delicate speed scales.

After equipment and technique - which for me includes playing my guitar [nicknamed "The Beast"] upside down and backwards - comes attitude: I play from every part of my body, mind, and soul.

The attitude in the way I play and the music I play comes from what I felt when I experienced the power and beauty of our Mother Earth and her creatures as I surfed from sunup to sundown.

For years, I've raised lions, tigers, and life forms of many kinds to protect them from extinction caused by poachers. The power of my music comes out of the pain I feel for the less fortunate people and creatures throughout this world.

To this day, as I tour and meet and perform for the friends who indulge in my music, I find I still have much more to create, as I see, feel, and experience the pain and total destruction of our society, Mother Earth, and her children.

Music is an attitude: You can destroy minds and life with it, or you can soothe the beast in all of us. My choice is to soothe the beast...by playing The Beast!

Keep smiling, and grind those picks down!

Surf's Up!

-- Dick Dale,
"King of the Surf Guitar"

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Surf n. [origin unknown] (1685) 1: the swell of the sea that breaks upon the shore 2: the foam, splash, and sound of breaking waves

Surf vi. (1926) : to ride the surf (as on a surfboard) - surfer n

Surfing n (1917) : the sport of riding the surf esp. on a surfboard

Surfboard n. (1826) : a long narrow buoyant board (as of lightweight wood or fiberglass-covered foam) used in the sport of surfing - surfboard vi - surfboarder n

Surf Music n. (1961) : American music developed from 1961-1963 esp. from rock 'n' roll, rhythm & blues, and pop vocal group harmony styles and characterized by sound (such as echo or reverberation effects on guitars), form (instrumental or group harmony vocals, usually very danceable), or spirit (themes such as surfing, the ocean, or cars) syn CALIFORNIA MUSIC, CALIFORNIA SOUND, WEST COAST SOUND

When you mention surf music, most people think of The Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, and the tunes "Wipe Out" and "Pipeline." Although only seven surf records made the national Top 10 between September 1961 and June 1965, nearly 30 made the Top 100. Hundreds of others were little more than local promotional tools for the bands that recorded them. And yet, surf music made substantial contributions to the history of American popular music, and remains a component of popular culture in 1996, more than 30 years later.

Cowabunga! - The Surf Box provides the definitive overview of surf music: its early roots, the chart hits, influential and historically important recordings, a few obscurities from the "golden age," and some of the many contemporary recordings that continue to keep the spirit of surf music alive. The recordings in this collection span 35 years. They are presented in approximate chronological order to demonstrate the historical significance and perseverance of the genre.

Surf music lost its popular appeal in 1964 about as quickly as it gained it in 1962. The arrival of The Beatles to American pop charts in January 1964 and the growing interest in Motown music (the '60s incarnation of rhythm & blues) heralded the decline. The assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963 greatly eroded the country's sense of idealism and well-being, human conditions concomitant with the essence of surf music. The war in Vietnam had become more of a political and social issue. Much of the sound and style of surf music had been co-opted by hot rod music, a separate but intimately related genre concerned with cars ("409," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Drag City," etc.).

The music also had one ironic handicap that prevented a stronger national acceptance: It was connected strongly with a lifestyle and geography indigenous to Southern California. The geographical isolation of the music was actually one of its historically significant aspects. It was the first time a style of music became connected with a sport and reflected the lifestyle of the surfing culture.

More important, surf music helped shift the focus of the recording industry from New York to Los Angeles. The technological improvements and advances made to guitars, guitar amplifiers, and recording equipment during the early 1960s had a profound and lasting effect on the music business. The widespread increase in the number of recording studios enabled many promising young musicians and producers to gain the experience, both in front of and behind the microphone, that provided them with successful careers (Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Jim Messina, Hal Blaine, Gary Usher, Brian Wilson, and Bruce Johnston, to name a few).

In the beginning, though, it was Southern California's surfing culture at the dawn of the '60s that gave birth to surf music. For some it was a way of life; for others it was simply a vibe that, like a post-hypnotic suggestion, was firmly implanted by Hollywood - in particular, by three motion pictures: Gidget(1959), A Summer Place (1959), and Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961).

The surfing culture was already well defined by the time Gidget became a household word. The sport was introduced on the West Coast in 1907 by Irish-Hawaiian surfer George Freeth, who was hired by the Pacific Electric Railroad to demonstrate surfing at Redondo Beach on weekends to attract ticket-buying passengers. Olympic swimming champion and surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku sparked a further interest in the sport during the 1920s; he attracted large crowds every time he showed up at the beach with his huge redwood surfboard.

At first, surfing was a spectator sport. One reason for its limited participation was that surfboards were bulky and heavy; some were longer than 15 feet and weighed more than 100 pounds. After World War II, attempts were made to create lighter, more buoyant surfboards using combinations of balsa wood, fiberglass, and polyurethane foam. As surfboard design improved, the sport grew in popularity. Then, in March 1959, the film Gidget,and the 1961 sequel Gidget Goes Hawaiian, created a bohemian image of the Southern California surfer that was attractive and alluring. The film romanticized surfing and presented California as a sunny Utopia where by clean-cut, good-looking teenagers spent their time at the beach, dancing, and falling in love.

The shadowy surfing culture that existed in Southern California before 1959 began to take on form and substance after Gidget. The frequent screenings of surfing documentaries at high schools and theaters seemed to indicate an emerging cultural event. One of the pioneers of this art form was Bruce Brown, whose first film, Slippery When Wet, was completed in late 1959. Over the next two years, he filmed Surf Crazy and Barefoot Adventure. His crowning achievement came in 1966 with The Endless Summer, one of the best documentaries of any type ever made. These films portrayed the sport in its native environment with a sprinkling of humor. They featured many of surfing's best-known practitioners (such as Mike Doyle, Joyce Hoffman, Corky Carroll, Mickey Muöoz, Robert August, and Dewey Weber) and helped make them cultural icons. The "surfin' movies" by filmmakers such as Bud Browne, Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman, Greg Noll, and John Severson, almost always shot in 16mm, drew enthusiastic audiences up and down the coast.

The Los Angeles and Orange County coastline incorporates more than 100 miles of primo surfing territory, bordered by Malibu and Santa Monica on the north and San Clemente on the south. The popular surfing spots had colorful names such as Zuma Beach, the Wedge, Trestles, Doheny, Brooks Street, Sunset Beach, Mile Zero, and Paradise Cove.

By 1961, surfing had become so popular that the culture surrounding it became predictable, subject to definition and stereotyping. It had its own "look" (sun-bleached or peroxide-bleached hair), dress (Pendleton shirts, white Levi's, baggies, huarache sandals), and language (surfspeak slang as in "That kook cut me off just as I was hanging ten in the curl"). Surfing movies and dances (or "stomps") became rites of passage.

Dances were weekly clan meetings at high schools or city-owned auditoriums sometimes sponsored by local radio stations. There were the ubiquitous high school "after-game" dances on Friday nights, usually with a live band. Dances held in large community buildings allowed kids from different high schools to socialize, learn new dance steps such as the twist and see a surf band perform. Legendary locations were the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, Retail Clerk's Hall in Buena Park, Revelaire in Redondo Beach, Harmony Park Ballroom in Anaheim, Pavalon Ballroom in Huntington Beach, El Monte Legion Stadium, and the Hollywood Palladium. At the turn of the decade, kids were surfing, dancing, and feeling optimistic about the future.

In the book The Gold Of Rock & Roll, H. Kandy Rohde explained that in 1960, "...the mood of the country was bright. We were about to be awakened and thrust into a new era of intellectualism and humanitarianism by the best-loved youth hero since Elvis Presley. Senator John F. Kennedy was older than many of our parents and yet he was closer to us in spirit than Dick Clark. Maybe it was because he was married to a lady as young looking and lovely as a Seventeen model, or because they had such a young attractive little girl, or because he was better looking than Rock Hudson and so untarnished by the cynicism of our parents that there were tears in his eyes when he met the poor of Appalachia. But whatever his magic, he was as fresh and exhilarating as rock and roll. He belonged to us and his spirit carried all America to a time of youth and optimism."

In 1960 and 1961, many local teen dance bands and garage bands (not a disparaging term but one used to describe the middle-class, urban teenagers who made basic and uncluttered rock 'n' roll music together) were content to draw inspiration from late '50s rock, rhythm & blues, and rockabilly without blazing any new territory. These primarily instrumental bands kept the raw, spontaneous elements of rock 'n' roll alive when most popular music heard on the radio was studio-manufactured. These transitional teen bands helped provide the structural framework for early '60s surf music, and continued a tradition of instrumental rock 'n' roll. Instrumental rock became a significant form of pop music in the late '50s as pioneered by bands such as The Ventures ("Walk Don't Run"), Johnny & The Hurricanes ("Red River Rock"), The Rockin' Rebels ("Wild Weekend"), Duane Eddy ("Rebel-'Rouser"), Sandy Nelson ("Teen Beat"), The Champs ("Tequila"), The Fireballs ("Torquay"), and so many others.

With this backdrop to the Southern California surf culture and the local teen bands, the development of the distinct style and sound of surf music took place on the bandstand at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California, between late 1959 and late 1961. It was here that Dick Dale & The Del-Tones created a cultural event of major proportions.

Dale, whose real name was Richard Monsour, moved to Los Angeles in 1954 during his senior year in high school. His interest in music began at an early age with a fondness for the ukulele. He soon moved to the guitar, drawing inspiration from an early singing idol, Hank Williams. An uncle gave him a trumpet, but it was the guitar that gave him the most enjoyment. He was left-handed and he learned how to play a typical guitar upside down without reversing the strings. This was not a common or a recommended approach to playing left-handed guitar, but it allowed him to develop a very unique style.

He won numerous talent contests while holding down a job as a metallurgist with the Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo. One of his first professional opportunities came in November or December 1956 when he played between showings of Love Me Tender at the State Theater in Los Angeles. It was the first prize of an Elvis Presley imitation contest sponsored by a local car dealership. Dale repeated his Elvis imitation in the 1960 Marilyn Monroe film Let's Make Love.

Between 1957 and 1959 Dale entered talent contests and played trumpet in a country & western band on a weekly television program. He left after a few weeks because the show's producer wouldn't allow him to play guitar. A local country & western DJ named T. Texas Tiny suggested that he change his last name from Monsour to Dale, since Dale sounded more "country" and because it would make signing autographs easier. With his new name and a small group of musician friends, he landed his own half-hour radio show. Dick Dale & The Rhythm Wranglers played for several months on a small station in Santa Ana. Finally, in 1958 he recorded his first single.

Dale's father, Jim Monsour, started his own record company, Deltone Records, as an outlet for his son's talent. These early Deltone recordings, from 1958, 1959, and 1960, are all vocals, in a style more influenced by rhythm & blues than by country music. Around 1957 or 1958, Dale quit his job at Hughes Aircraft and devoted his time and energy completely to music.

With a local musician friend, bassist Ray Samra, Dale visited a popular teen hangout in 1959 on Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula. The Rinky Dink Ice Cream Parlor occasionally provided entertainment, and Dale convinced the owner to hire him. Together with Samra and friends Bill Barber (piano), Jack Lake (drums), and a sax player (probably Barry Rillera), Dale began performing in Balboa on weekends. He even opened up his own music store in Balboa to supplement his income.

Over the summer of 1959, Dale added a couple of musicians to fill out the sound of the band. His audience quickly grew beyond the capacity of the Rinky Dink and he and his band were asked to take their music elsewhere.

The Rendezvous Ballroom was a huge barnlike structure perched next to the beach just down the street from the Rinky Dink. It was widely known during the '30s and '40s as "The West Coast Home of the Big Band Sound," and featured the music of Guy Lombardo and others. The dance floor covered 12,000 square feet, enough room for 1,500 couples. When the big band era ended, the ballroom fell into disrepair and closed.

When Dale and his band left the Rinky Dink, he and his father asked the owners of the Rendezvous if they could use the ballroom for dances. The owners initially refused, but relented when it was agreed to split the door proceeds (later a common practice, but innovative at the time). There were considerable obstacles to be overcome, however, including various city permits. The city finally granted permission but only under a set of stringent rules. There was to be no alcohol sold or consumed on the premises and a strict dress code would be enforced (dress shirt, tie, and dress slacks for guys, and a dress, or a skirt and blouse for girls).

According to Dale, his first show at the Rendezvous in late 1959 attracted only 17 people, mostly friends of his. It was disappointing, but Dale was undaunted. He began to drum up interest at local high schools. During early 1960, he would get permission to play for free at a school assembly by promising big band or pop tunes. Toward the end of the assembly, however, he would announce that the band was going to play a couple of numbers like they would play at the Rendezvous. The band would shift into their rock 'n' roll mode and promptly start cranking, much to the dismay of the school's administrators. The band was usually admonished and asked not to return. The self-promotion had done its work, though.

Within four months after their first Rendezvous appearance, Dick Dale & The Del-Tones were attracting more than 4,000 people each night they played. This continued through most of 1960 and into 1961, as Dale's popularity and reputation spread throughout Southern California.

During this time Dale's friend Bill Barber introduced him to the sport of surfing, which soon became a favorite pastime. He enjoyed it so much that he had a board custom-built for him by Hobie Surfboards. Dale would often go surfing in the morning, work in his music store for a few hours in the afternoon, go surfing again later in the day, and play with his band in the evening. The liner notes to Dale's 1963 album King Of The Surf Guitar boasted, "Recently when he showed up with other surfers for a scene in the American International film Beach Party, he was the only one among them who didn't need bronze body makeup."

A good portion of his audience at the Rinky Dink Ice Cream Parlor, and later at the Rendezvous, were part of the surf and beach culture, people Dale constantly met when he went surfing.

Around the same time Dale began to have trouble with his guitar amplifiers, a circumstance that would lead to the historically important development of the Fender Dual Showman amplifier. When he attempted to duplicate with his guitar the power he felt while surfing, he would overdrive his amplifiers so much that the sound distorted and fuses would blow, or speakers would crack.

Dale's guitar of choice was the Fender Stratocaster, one that had been custom-made for his left-handed playing. Dale established a relationship with the Fender company in Santa Ana and its owner, Leo Fender, who was interested in producing high-quality amplifiers, and used Dale's performances as a testing ground to develop more powerful equipment.

The special relationship that Dale had with Fender led to an amplifier that played an integral part in the surf music sound and had a lasting impact on popular music. Released in December 1960, the Fender Showman amplifier provided more powerful circuitry, a rugged speaker to handle the massive power output, and an appealing design. An even more sophisticated design, the Dual Showman (with two speakers) was produced in 1961. The amplifiers resulting from Dale and Fender's collaboration are still favored by many musicians for performing and recording.

The Fender Dual Showman withstood the power of Dale's guitar playing and provided adequate volume and tone for large venues. Dale has said, "...the feeling that I was trying to exert through my music to match that feeling that I had while I was surfing was a feeling of vibration and pulsification and I couldn't get that feeling by singing. There was a tremendous amount of power that I felt while surfing and that feeling of power was simply transferred from myself into my guitar when I was playing - you must be aggressive when you're surfing. If you're not aggressive, you're gonna eat it. [So] one day I just started picking faster and faster like a locomotive. I wanted to make it sound harder and more powerful." The uniquely powerful sound Dale developed is often cited as a root of heavy metal.

Paul Johnson (of The Belairs) said, "I remember making the trek to the Rendezvous in the summer of '61 to see what all the fuss was about over Dick Dale. It was a powerful experience; his music was incredibly dynamic, louder and more sophisticated than The Belairs, and the energy between The Del-Tones and all of those surfers stomping on the hardwood floor in their sandals was extremely intense. The tone of Dale's guitar was bigger than any I had ever heard and his blazing technique was something to behold."

Most of the local surf musicians went to see Dale play. Dick mentions that the musician later to be called Jimi Hendrix sought him out for guitar lessons, as they both played left-handed and upside down.

Dale had an incredible rapport with his audience. As his reputation grew, his attraction spread inland from the beaches. In a 1975 issue of Rock Marketplace magazine, Robert Geden wrote, "Nothing like him had or has existed anywhere else." His shows at the Rendezvous became known as 'stomps' at which the crowd would frequently join in a group dance they called 'the surfer stomp'."

In an unpublished biography of Dick Dale, surf music expert Stephen McParland writes, "At this point there was no ulterior motive to tie the music the kids were stomping to, to the sport of surfing. It was simply a matter of time and place. Balboa was a beach town and the Rendezvous was full of beach-loving teenagers [and surfers] and Dale was partaking of the sport of surfing."

Dick Dale & The Del-Tones ended their stint at the Rendezvous Ballroom in December 1961. He made numerous appearances in early 1962 before settling in as the house band at the Harmony Park Ballroom in Anaheim.

By early 1962, his audiences were beginning to refer to the "Dick Dale sound" and eventually "the Dick Dale surfin' sound." As he details in his foreword to this book, Dale disclaims the notion of inventing the surf music tag. He credits the kids who came to hear him play with calling his style "surf music."

The critical component that gave Dick Dale's style, and that of surf music, a unique identity was the Fender Reverb Unit.

Dale was provided a prototype Reverb Unit in 1961 after he asked Fender to help him enhance the amplified sound of his singing voice. He had always been self-conscious about his singing and thought some kind of an electronic effect would make up for his lack of a natural vibrato.

Fender licensed the design of a reverberation system from the Hammond Organ Company, which used the effect to enhance the sound of the electric organ. The Reverb Unit Fender developed was a small box that incorporated the Hammond design, together with some electronic circuitry. The unit was helpful to Dale's singing, but when he experimented by using it with his guitar, he knew it was better suited to that purpose than as a vocal device. The reverb gave the guitar notes an echo effect, similar to the sound of water droplets falling at the bottom of a deep well. In fact, the reverb gave the guitar an impressionistic "wet" sound that was easy to identify with water, the ocean or, with a bit of mental coaxing, surfing. Not widely available until early 1962, the device sold for $129 (today, these original units are in such demand that $600 to $1,000 is the common price range).

The Fender Reverb became as much a part of Dale's distinctive sound as his Stratocaster guitar and Dual Showman amplifier. The importance of Dale's association with Fender was underscored in the liner notes to his first long-playing album (released in November 1962): "His 'twangy' sounds come from a special guitar and amplifying system built for him by Mr. Leo Fender of the Fender Company. Mr. Fender had to build special equipment to withstand the tremendous punishment of Dick's playing. It has successfully undergone the testing period and Mr. Fender feels that anything that can hold up under Dick's twanging is ready for the market." Dale's immense popularity and his endorsement of Fender equipment sent Fender's sales soaring and caused an explosion in the number of bands wanting to play music with this exciting new sound. Surf music was born.

Because Dale allowed this sound to take a primarily sine voce form, the surf instrumental became the earliest and most common form of surf music. When The Beach Boys began recording in the fall of 1961, their first record had a vocal on one side ("Surfin") and an instrumental on the flip ("Luau"). They established a vocal side to surf music that Dale and others have called "surfing songs." These songs attempted to capture the essence of being a teenager and living in Southern California. The instrumentals were intended more to convey the power and emotions that were felt when riding waves on a surfboard. Nearly all bands playing instrumentals were appropriately outfitted with Fender amplifiers and reverbs by the end of 1962.

Surf music's popularity peaked during the summer of 1963. Besides the flurry of record releases, there were local television programs concerned with surf music. Between the radio, television, local dances, and record stores, surf music was inescapable in Southern California. Its effect was felt nationally, although not nearly to the extent it was locally. The biggest national hits were the songs by The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean such as "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Surf City." The vocal nature of these records allowed the local experience to be vicariously shared by other areas of the country. A handful of instrumentals such as "Pipeline" and "Wipe Out" also topped the charts. Many surf records on Southern California Top 40 charts didn't have any national success. Although Dick Dale only had one national Top 40 hit in 1961 with "Let's Go Trippin'," most Southern California rock stations in late 1962 had at least two of his records in the Top 40 at the same time!

Surf music quickly evolved into hot rod music thanks primarily to The Beach Boys, who put a car song on the flipside of their early surf records ("409," "Little Deuce Coupe," or "Shut Down," for example). Dale contends that surf music was already on a decline by early 1964 when The Beatles gave us a musical wake-up call.

A few artists continued to believe there was an audience for surf music well into 1965, although by then the genre's national popularity had waned. The surfing culture returned to its esoteric existence, while the ripples of surf music's effect on the music industry continued.

One of the most profound impacts was the shift from New York to Los Angeles as the center of recording activity. Many surf records recorded here featured session musicians who were part of a highly talented stable of players dubbed "The Wrecking Crew" that included Hal Blaine, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Carol Kaye, Tommy Tedesco, Ray Pohlman, Larry Knechtal, P. F. Sloan, Bruce Johnston, Earl Palmer, and a dozen others. The hits produced in L.A. showed that the city had excellent recording studios and musicians. Many of these musicians honed their skills on surf music recordings and played on hundreds of other recordings representing vastly different types of music.

Although surf music declined as a popular musical art form, there have been many serious, surf-inspired recordings over the years. Between 1979 and 1982, there was a modest surf music revival in Southern California led by bands such as Jon & The Nightriders, The Surf Raiders, Surf Punks, and The Malibooz. Interest in the local revival prompted many other bands, both here and overseas, to develop a similar sound and style, and eventually enter recording studios to get their music heard by a wider audience.

Around 1993, Dick Dale's Tribal Thunder CD on HighTone (his first new album in nearly two decades) sparked another revival of interest in surf music. New bands have appeared, and new record releases have become almost weekly events. Some of the original surf bands, such as The Chantays and The Lively Ones, have regrouped, and they attract large, enthusiastic audiences wherever they play. The frequent use of surf music in radio and television commercials is another excellent indication of the genre's continuing appeal and timelessness.

Writer and musician Ian Whitcomb once observed that surf music was "...the last truly all-American pop phenomenon and it marks the end of the Age of Innocence in pop music themes." Popular music has never captured the same sense of youthful vitality and spirit, the celebration of life, quite the way that surf music did. Certainly the innocence of the music, accompanied by its inherent fun-in-the-sun message, was one of its most endearing qualities.

by John Blair

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Set 1: South Swells (1960-1963)

The Fireballs started as an instrumental band in the '50s, but had their biggest hit in 1963 with "Sugar Shack" after joining forces with vocalist Jimmy Gilmer. Except for The Ventures' "Walk-Don't Run," "Bulldog" is probably the best example of a record by a band from outside of California that strongly influenced the early sound and style of surf music.

The Fireballs (their name came from the Jerry Lee Lewis hit "Great Balls Of Fire") were from Raton in northeastern New Mexico. They recorded at the Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico (the same studio used by Buddy Holly & The Crickets). When "Bulldog" was recorded, in November 1959, The Fireballs were already in the national Top 40 with "Torquay," a Latin-flavored instrumental. "Bulldog" became their second hit, peaking at #24 on the national charts in February 1960.

"Bulldog" was the first recording where the band used an electric bass guitar and the legendary Petty echo chamber. Petty built a 20- by 30-foot room in an attic. This chamber produced a guitar sound on "Bulldog" that came mighty close to the sound that would later become synonymous with surf music.

In late 1960 and early 1961, four recordings were particularly important to the transition between late-'50s rock and early-'60s surf music: "Moon Dawg!" (The Gamblers), "Church Key" (The Revels), "Underwater" (The Frogmen), and "Mr. Moto" (The Belairs). Stylistically all these records were clearly surf music prototypes, but at the time no one connected them with the beach or the sport of surfing.

The Gamblers' seminal and somewhat legendary 1960 recording of "Moon Dawg!" was produced by Nik Venet (who assembled the group, cowrote the song, and contributed the background "barking" vocals). Venet, a Capitol staff producer, also worked with Bobby Darin, and later produced the label's first sessions by The Beach Boys and the Stone Poneys with Linda Ronstadt. Rhythm guitarist Elliot Ingbar later became a founding member of The Mothers of Invention and bassist Larry Taylor became a founding member of the blues and boogie band Canned Heat.

The Revels were from San Luis Obispo, California, a coastal town 225 miles north of Los Angeles. They recorded "Church Key," their second record, in the summer of 1960. It was literally conceived "on the spot" in a small studio at the corner of Santa Monica and Western in Los Angeles. They weren't having much success in the studio that day. Sax player Norman Knowles made a phone call to music promoter Tony Hilder, hoping for some helpful ideas. Guitarist Dan Darnold's joking around with his Gretsch guitar's vibrato bar caused Hilder to suggest a gimmick that gave "Church Key" its main hook. A vibrato bar (or "whammy" bar as it's also called - don't ask why) is a handle-shaped device attached to the bridge of a guitar that, when pushed or pulled, can lower and raise the pitch of the strings. This effect is heard at the beginning of each verse of "Church Key." The use of the vibrato bar to "bend" notes and chords became an integral part of the surf music guitar style.

"Church key" was a slang term for a can opener, an indispensable device in the days before "pop-tops." The sound of a beer can being punctured by a church key can be heard at the end of the first verse and at the end of the sax solo. The female giggles belonged to Barbara Adkins, who became Hilder's wife. Both "Church Key" and "Moon Dawg!" were used with astonishing frequency in the repertoire of nearly every surf band (even The Beach Boys recorded "Moon Dawg!" on their first album).

Much less is known about The Frogmen than about The Gamblers. However, "Underwater" made a respectable showing on the pop charts (#44 in Billboard and #34 in Cash Box) in April 1961. In a June 1992 interview with author Stephen McParland, Jack Andrews, the writer of the song, said that The Frogmen were a four-piece band from Culver City that he met at a party. He took them into American Recording and cut "Underwater." Andrews told McParland, "I shopped it to every record company in town and got booted out...by every [one]. Then my friend Joe Saraceno told me I should overdub something on it to make it more interesting, so I went back in the studio. H.B. Barnum had just done a session and he had a bunch of percussion stuff around. [Engineer Frank DeLuna] happened to pick up a guiro [Ed. note: pronounced "wee-ro," this is a Spanish percussion instrument typically consisting of a long-necked gourd that is sounded by scraping a stick over ridges cut into its surface] and he began making this croaking sound [with it] as we were playing the tape. I said, 'Hey, can you do that on mike?' and he said, 'Yeah, but who's gonna engineer it?' and I said, 'I will.' So he went out and played and I engineered. Then I took it out and shopped it again."

Saraceno worked for Candix Records and helped get the record released on that label. According to Andrews, Saraceno also came up with the name Frogmen. Little is known about the band because the members were all under 18 years old at the time "Underwater" was recorded, and their parents kept them from actively supporting the success of the record by performing and touring.

Of all the early transitional recordings between the instrumental rock legacy of the late '50s and surf music, The Belairs' "Mr. Moto" is arguably the most important. The group was from the southwestern part of Los Angeles County, an area known as the South Bay, which was an important pocket of teen surf band activity in the later months of 1962 and into 1963. Just north of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, this area included the communities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, and Hawthorne (the home of the Wilson brothers, Brian, Carl, and Dennis).

"Mr. Moto" (named after the late-'30s film detective played by Peter Lorre) was played in a minor key, uncommon for a guitar instrumental at that time but commonplace among surf instrumentals a year later. The record featured no bass guitar, a lack partly made up for by guitarist Paul Johnson's strumming technique.

The Belairs (named for sax player Chaz Stuart's '55 Chevy) were still in high school when they pooled their money to make a professional recording. "Mr. Moto" was the first of five tunes recorded at the Liberty Records Studios in Hollywood...and all in one hour! A demo of the tune finally found a home at Richard Vaughn's small, independent Arvee Records. Responsibility for promoting "Mr. Moto" was given to one of the label's A&R men, Sonny Bono, still a couple of years away from meeting his singing partner and future wife, Cher. Johnson even played guitar on the couple's first recording together, "Baby Don't Go." National chart success eluded "Mr. Moto" although it was a local hit in Southern California during the summer of 1961.

Johnson has said, "The summer of '61 was when the self-conscious concept of surf music came about, so obviously [earlier] records like 'Underwater' by The Frogmen and 'Church Key' by The Revels - as well as 'Mr. Moto' and 'Let's Go Trippin'' - couldn't possibly have been thought of as surf music when they were made. The surfers were going to these dances and saying, 'Man, this music sounds like riding a wave!' They started calling it surf music; they just laid claim to it. I specifically remember Lance Carson, a well-known surfer, saying 'You ought to make a record and call it "The Surfer Stomp."' I brushed it off and thought, 'Yeah, somebody probably will do that,' but that wasn't where I was coming from."

The sixth record released on his father's record label was Dick Dale's first instrumental recording, the first to feature the full band name, "Dick Dale & The Del-Tones," and his first chart hit. Considered to be the first distinguishable surf music record, "Let's Go Trippin'" is noteworthy because of Dale's motivation for recording it.

As he explained to author Robert Dalley, "There was this one instrumental we were doing [at the Rendezvous Ballroom] and I really didn't have a name for it. So one night I asked the kids about it and they screamed 'Let's Go Trippin'' and started doing the surfer stomp to it." Apparently, the dynamics between band and audience, when it came time to deliver the music for the group stomp, were strong enough to convince Dale that the instrumental should be recorded.

Nick O'Malley, Del-Tones rhythm guitarist at the time, recalls that "Let's Go Trippin'" was recorded on August 23, 1961. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 in November and stayed on the charts until the end of January 1962, peaking at #60.

The first record to be nationally identified with the Southern California surf culture was "Surfer's Stomp" by The Mar-Kets. Much like Dick Dale's "Let's Go Trippin,'" it capitalized on a dance step that began with audiences at the Rendezvous Ballroom. The Mar-Kets (it was spelled "Marketts" on later releases to distinguish the name from another recording group called The Mar-Keys) were a studio-contrived group of musicians brought together by producer Joe Saraceno. The sound and style of the tune were a far cry from what Dick Dale & The Del-Tones were doing.

In an interview with surf music expert Dan Forte for Guitar Player magazine, Saraceno recalled, "I was in a bar where everyone was doing a dance I'd never seen before. One of the girls said it was called the surfer stomp. So I wrote a song with that pattern in mind. I got [saxophonist] Plas Johnson, [guitarists] Rene Hall and Tommy Tedesco, [drummer Ed Hall], and the studio men, and we made the record."

Saraceno joined the fledgling Candix Records label in 1960 as a producer. He created "Surfer's Stomp" along with a songwriting friend named Mike Gordon (half of the writing credit was given to a Mike Daughtry, a pseudonym for Gordon). The recording session was held in October 1961 and the record was pressed on Saraceno's own Union Records label rather than on Candix, for reasons unknown.

Saraceno obtained a national distribution deal with Liberty Records. After its release on Liberty, "Surfer's Stomp" debuted at #95 in Billboard on January 13, 1962, and climbed into the Top 40 by the end of February. It was a sizable hit record that boosted Saraceno's career and provided the first national recognition for the musical style that became known as surf music.

While Joe Saraceno was preparing to record "Surfer's Stomp," five young guys from Hawthorne who called themselves The Pendletones (after Pendleton shirts, an integral part of the fashion statement made by most surfers at the time) had just recorded a song called "Surfin." It was written by two of The Pendletones, Brian Wilson and his cousin Mike Love. Brian's brother, Dennis, who liked to surf, suggested that his older brother and cousin write a song about surfing. Of all The Pendletones - brothers Brian and Carl, cousin Mike, and Al Jardine - Dennis had the best understanding of the emerging surfing culture. Not only was he the only member of the group who actually surfed, but he also knew about the buzz that Dick Dale & The Del-Tones were creating.

Surf music's first true anthem was "Surfin," created around the end of August 1961. The group auditioned the song for Dorinda and Hite Morgan, social acquaintances of the Wilson brothers' father, Murry. The Morgans' owned several small record labels, and were impressed enough with the audition to take the boys into a professional recording studio.

On October 3, 1961, "Surfin" was recorded at the World Pacific Studios in Hollywood. Carl Wilson played an acoustic guitar, Al Jardine plucked at a stand-up acoustic bass, and Brian beat his hands on an upside-down trash can to provide the beat. They all sang on this primitive, yet innovative recording, which owed more to folk music and pop vocal harmony than it did to rock 'n' roll.

Fortuitously, the Morgans played the tape for a friend at radio station KFWB in Hollywood. He, in turn, knew a producer at Candix Records who was preparing to record something called "Surfer's Stomp." The producer, Joe Saraceno, loved the song so much he played it for a business acquaintance, Russ Regan. Saraceno and Regan felt the song had hit potential, but didn't care for the name of the group. The two of them suggested "The Beach Boys."

The Morgans pressed a small quantity of records bearing the group's new name on their X Records label around the first of November. Soon after, a distribution deal was made with Saraceno for a release on Candix. This release entered the KFWB Top 40 at #33 on December 29. Two days later, The Beach Boys made their first public appearance at a Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance singing three songs, one of which was "Surfin."

On January 13, 1962, "Surfin" entered the Billboard charts at #118. It was listed as a "Local Single Breakout" (right next to The Belairs' "Mr. Moto"). After falling off the charts for several weeks, it reappeared at #93 on February 17, then #90, #83, #77, and finally peaked at #75 on March 24 before falling off the charts.

In early 1962, surf music was poised to explode into the teenage youth culture throughout Southern California and reverberate into the national spotlight.

Ray Hunt, the writer of "Paradise Cove," formed a teen band in 1960 called The Expressos. At one of their dances, they met Hawaiian entertainer Aki Aleong. Aleong was mostly known as an actor, and had appeared in the TV show Hawaiian Eye.

Aleong took the band to Sound House Recorders in El Monte. Two instrumentals were recorded, "Wandering" (written by Ray Hunt) and "Teenage Express" (written by Aleong). Both were released on a little-noticed single in late 1960. The band and Aleong went in separate directions after that, but Aleong would turn up again a couple of years later in connection with a band called The Nobles (see Set 2 of this collection).

After some personnel changes, The Expressos returned to the Sound House studio and rerecorded "Wandering" and another instrumental written by Ray Hunt called "The Ghost Hop." The band took the tapes to George Brown, owner of Demon Records and Titan Records. Brown agreed to release The Expressos' tunes but felt that the band's name should be changed to capitalize on the new surf "fad."

Brown came up with The Surfmen, and also changed the name of "Wandering" to "Extasy." Realizing that the record might get more airplay if the A-side had a surf-related title, Brown changed it again, this time to "Paradise Cove."

Since the Fender Reverb Unit had not yet appeared, it was too early for the sound that came to be identified with surf music. Yet "Paradise Cove," with all of the echo used on the recording, sounded distinctive and contributed to the growing musical association with the surfing culture. Ray Hunt's use of the guitar's tremolo bar to "bend" chords was a technique first used on records like The Revels' "Church Key," that soon became quite common.

Two of The Surfmen went on to play with a couple of surf music's most important bands: drummer Tim Fitzpatrick recorded with The Lively Ones (represented by "Surf Rider" on this collection), and sax player Armon Frank joined Dick Dale's Del-Tones after "Paradise Cove" was recorded.

The Sentinals were more of a rhythm & blues outfit than they were a surf band. Nevertheless, "Latin'ia" (pronounced "Lateen-ya") was a huge West Coast hit in 1962 and its instrumental nature gave it a de facto surf music identity. They also recorded two classic surf music albums in 1963 and 1964.

The band formed in 1961 in the central California coastal town of San Luis Obispo. Norman Knowles, formerly the sax player and manager for The Revels ("Church Key"), offered to act as their manager.

The Sentinals provided a training ground for musicians who were destined for bigger and better success: drummer Johnny Barbata joined The Turtles in 1967 and later play with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, then Jefferson Starship.

Kenny Hinkle, who later played bass for The Sentinals, joined Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston to form the short-lived group California Music in 1974. In 1966 The Sentinals added a keyboardist to the band for a brief time; his name was Mike Olson but he preferred the stage name of Lee Michaels. Michaels made his solo contribution to rock history with several albums and the hit record "Do You Know What I Mean."

The Tornadoes were a family band, consisting of two brothers (Gerald and Norman Sanders), cousin (Jesse Sanders), and a friend, Leonard Delaney. The San Bernardino, California, group began as The Vaqueros. After adding sax player George White, they changed their name to The Tornadoes.

"Bustin' Surfboards" was recorded at the Bill Locy Studios in Riverside in July 1962. The ocean sound effect on the record was from a tape San Bernardino radio station KFXM used it as a background for their daily surf reports. The fact that a radio station 60 miles from the nearest wave gave daily surf reports indicates a strong recognition of the surfing culture by mid-1962.

The Tornadoes' first record received a moderate amount of national airplay. "Bustin' Surfboards" was recorded without the use of a Fender Reverb Unit, although some album tracks recorded soon after it feature the reverb. The device didn't become popular until Dick Dale & The Del-Tones released "Miserlou."

Dick Dale & The Del-Tones released three singles in 1962, two of which gave surf music a certain validity that had only been hinted at by earlier recordings such as "Let's Go Trippin,'" "Bustin' Surfboards," "Paradise Cove," and "Surfer's Stomp." The first was "Miserlou," which provided the sound that came to be accepted by both musicians and fans as the sound of surf music. The second was "Surf Beat," which served to give the music's driving rhythm and power a name.

"Miserlou" was the first widely popular record to feature the effect of a Fender Reverb Unit on the lead guitar. This was a new sound with infectious energy. Released in May 1962, it remains one of the classic rock instrumentals of all time (witness its use as title music for Quentin Tarantino's popular 1994 film Pulp Fiction).

"Miserlou" was based on a Greek folk tune of the 1940s that had been musically reinterpreted over the years. A popular version was by pianist Jan August in the early '50s. Since Dale's heritage was Lebanese, and he had a fondness for Middle Eastern melodies, it was a perfect vehicle for him to flex his muscles on guitar.

Dale reportedly incorporated "Miserlou" into his show after a fan asked him if he could play a melody on his guitar using only one string. He's been quoted as saying, "I still remember the first night we played it. I changed the tempo and just started cranking on that mother. And it was eerie. The people came rising up off the floor and they were chanting and stomping. I knew I'd tapped into some sort of power and that power was labeled surf music."

If "Miserlou" wasn't enough to make surf music a household expression by the fall of 1962, "Surf Beat" surely did. It was Dales' pi¶ce de rÚsistance, a recording of unequaled proportion. The tune was perfect for dancing, with the right amount of reverb on the lead guitar, and a great drum track. "Surf Beat" firmly established Dick Dale as a major recording star on the West Coast. His performances drew thousands of people, and "Miserlou" and "Surf Beat" were chart toppers on nearly every local Top 40 radio station. By the end of 1962, everyone seemed to agree that Dick Dale was King of the Surf Guitar.

The Fabulous Playboys' only release, "Cheater Stomp," is one of dozens of surf music recordings about which very little is known. Until now, its existence was relegated to the hands of record collectors and surf music historians. Yet it's one of the most exciting surf instrumental records from the time period.

It was produced by Randy Nauert, who played bass guitar for The Challengers. Nauert recalls little about the band except that he played bass on the record. The rest of the lineup attended the University of Southern California, including lead guitarist Mickey Mills. The single was made as an anthem for a South Bay car club known as The Cheaters.

Next to The Surfaris' "Wipe Out," "Pipeline" is undoubtedly the most widely recognized surf music recording. It sold more than a million copies and reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. With "Pipeline," surf music hit the big time.

The Chantays were from Santa Ana, California, just a few miles from the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa. The band was started by guitarist Brian Carman whose brother Steve played sax with a popular group called the Rhythm Rockers (see Set 2).

It happened the same way it did for scores of bands: high school friends pursued a common goal, and supportive parents tolerated weekend practices in the garage. Unlike many other bands at the time, they had a keyboard player. Until they acquired a small, transportable electric piano (a Fender Rhodes), they could only play wherever a piano was available.

The band's big break came in July 1962, when they played for an outdoor dance at a mountain resort above San Bernardino. The Chantays enthralled the crowd and impressed DJ Jack Sands, from San Bernardino radio station KFXM. He was so affected by the young musicians' talent that he offered to manage them. The Chantays recorded "Pipeline" for a small Los Angeles label, Downey Records, in the summer of 1962. The tune was originally called "Liberty's Whip," inspired by the movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. However, after Spickard and Carman saw a Bruce Brown surfing film that featured the surfing spot on Hawaii's North Shore he dubbed the "Banzai Pipeline," the tune was renamed.

The record shot up the charts and peaked at #4 nationally in May 1963. "Pipeline" was the first surf record to appear on the British pop charts (#16 in June 1963) and The Chantays were the first surf band to tour overseas. The record won the BMI Citation of Achievement Award in 1963 and was voted Record of the Year in Australia. Along with late-1962 recordings by Dick Dale and The Challengers, The Chantays' "Pipeline" is one of the earliest recordings to feature the sound of the Fender Reverb Unit.

In early December 1962, a recording session took place that generated one of surf music's biggest successes and one of the few genre recordings in which both sides were chart hits. This was an amazing accomplishment considering that the band had been together only four months, and considering that "Wipe Out" was a studio afterthought - conceived on the spot so they would have a flipside for "Surfer Joe," the real reason they had entered the studio.

The Surfaris were from Glendora, about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The three guitarists - Jim Fuller, Bob Berryhill, and Pat Connolly - were only 15 years old, and drummer Ron Wilson was 17. Glendora photographer Dale Smallin agreed to manage them. After Wilson came up with the song "Surfer Joe," Smallin took the band to the Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga.

Pal was owned by Paul Buff, who described what happened in a 1982 interview: "I had a call from Dale Smallin, a friend I had last seen in the eighth grade in Glendora. Dale said he had seen my name as engineer/producer on some record and that he had a group he wanted to record. He brought his group over the next week and we spent an hour cutting two songs live on quarter-inch tape. One of the songs called for a breaking surfboard as the intro, so we went out in back and got some sticks for the sound effect. Dale also had a hideous laugh which he thought would be good on the front of the record."

Bob Berryhill, The Surfaris' rhythm guitarist, recalled the session in a 1988 interview with Dan Jackson: "Well, basically we had gone to Tijuana a week or two before, just for fun, and Jim Fuller had a switchblade in his pocket. After we recorded the song, he wanted to name it so he said, 'Let's name it "Stiletto."' We clicked this thing on a microphone and it just went 'click,' no pizazz, no magic. So I got the idea of calling it something like 'Bustin' Surfboards.' I don't know who exactly said the words 'wipe out,' but the words came up. So I said, 'OK, let's break a board in front of the microphone.' I went out and got a cement-soaked board from somewhere outside and just cracked it over the mike and Dale Smallin, who was our original manager, let out a laugh and 'Wipe Out' came to be."

At the end of the recording (the second of only two takes), Wilson lost control of the drumstick in his right hand. He finished the take by hitting the crash cymbal with his bare hand. When it was released nationally by Dot Records, "Wipe Out" was faded before the somewhat sloppy last verse. The original, full-length, version is presented on this compilation (see if you can determine the moment Wilson loses his drumstick).

"Surfer Joe" was also shortened for national release. The second and fifth verses were edited out, but the original five-verse master of the song has been provided here. The fact that "Wipe Out," - an unplanned, studio-contrived composition - became a bigger hit than "Surfer Joe" is one of popular music's the many twists of fate.

By June 1963, "Wipe Out" reached #2 on the national charts, and remained a hot seller for more than 16 weeks. As airplay waned, DJs turned the record over and began to play "Surfer Joe." Although it only peaked at #62, it kept the record selling through the end of summer. "Wipe Out" experienced a revival in 1966, when it was rereleased and climbed to #16.

The band toured Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. "Wipe Out" won Record of the Year Award in Australia and the BMI Citation of Achievement Award. The tune continues to be used in movie soundtracks and commercials, and is undoubtedly one of the most influential pieces of music for rock drummers and guitarists.

Richie Allen was a pseudonym for Richie Allen Podolor, a singer/songwriter/musician who was an important part of the Southern California recording industry from the late '50s, through the '60s and '70s. His first recorded appearance was playing guitar on "Dark Moon" by Bonnie Guitar (a Top 10 hit in 1957). He had several solo outings, but found greater success performing on other artists' recordings. One of the bigger hits of 1959, Sandy Nelson's "Teen Beat," featured Podolor on guitar. That project started a working relationship with Nelson that continued for several years.

As a musician and producer, Podolor worked with Kim Fowley, Phil Spector, and Sandy Nelson. Imperial Records' prez Lew Chudd thought enough of Podolor's talents to sign him for solo singles under the name Richie Allen.

While Podolor and Nelson were under contract at Imperial, surf music became a national fad. After some success with his Stranger From Durango album in 1962, Imperial asked him to produce a theme album to capitalize on the surfing craze. The result was "The Rising Surf," released in March 1963 and credited to Richie Allen & The Pacific Surfers.

Other musicians on the album included Bill Cooper (rhythm guitar), Ray Pohlman (bass), Les Weiser (sax), and Sandy Nelson (drums). Cooper, Pohlman, and Weiser would go on to many creative surf and hot rod music projects with Gary Usher and others. Podolor also collaborated with Usher and produced such groups as Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, Blues Image, and Iron Butterfly.

The Lively Ones evolved out of personnel changes to The Surfmen (represented earlier in this collection by "Paradise Cove"). The name change has been credited to KFWB DJ Gene Weed, who felt that the band needed a new identity. He called them a bunch of lively ones on stage and the name stuck.

In August 1962, they recorded their first two songs at Sound House Recorders. This record was the first of many surf singles and albums released on Bob Keene's Del-Fi Records label. The Lively Ones were the most prolific, with six singles and five albums.

"Surf Rider" was their best-known recording and was used as the closing theme of the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. The melody was from a 1962 song by The Ventures called "Spudnik" and the track was featured on their album Mashed Potatoes And Gravy (referring to the current dance craze). The Ventures were as influential to surf guitar players as Dick Dale, and most surf bands had at least one Ventures song and one Dick Dale song in their repertoire.

Surf music was primarily an instrumental medium, perpetuated by as many teen bands who found it easier to create music without singing. The genre of instrumental rock that began in the late '50s not only established the tradition but also validated it as an acceptable approach to popular music. Still, there was a vocal element to surf music: songs about the actual practice of surfing. Many of these were attempts to duplicate the harmony style of The Beach Boys or the heavily orchestrated works of Jan & Dean.

An interesting vocal surf recording in a more basic, rock style was the collaboration of Chris Montez and Kathy Young called "Shoot That Curl." Young signed with Indigo Records in 1960 at the suggestion of KFWB DJ Wink Martindale. She had a Top 10 hit with "A Thousand Stars" (produced by Richie Podolor). Montez grew up in the same area of Southern California as The Beach Boys.

Montez met writer/producer Jim Lee, who left Indigo in 1962 and formed Monogram Records specifically to release a single by Montez and Young called "All You Had To Do Was Tell Me." Montez's next release, a solo outing, was the million-seller "Let's Dance." He and Young collaborated one more time on the Montez-penned "Shoot That Curl," using essentially the same studio musicians who did "Surf City" with Jan & Dean.

Set 2: Big Waves (1963)

"Surfin' U.S.A." broke through the geographic barrier of Southern California and spread the idealism of the surfing culture across every inch of America. It hit the nation's breadbasket stronger than "Pipeline" did because it was a vocal. It "spoke" to teenagers across the country, communicating what The Chantays' instrumental could only hint at. "If everybody had an ocean across the U.S.A.," The Beach Boys sang, "Then everybody'd be surfin' like Californ-eye-a." By February 1963, Brian Wilson thought everyone would want to be part of this scene if only everyone had their own ocean. His optimism dripped off every note.

Wilson wrote the words, but the melody was derived from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen." Berry's opus to teenage girls climbed to the #2 position in 1958. Five years later, Wilson's homage to surfing was on the charts for 17 weeks and peaked at #3. Carl Wilson's guitar intro was his own paean to Chuck Berry, an amalgam of Berry's guitar kick-offs to "Johnny B. Goode" and "Roll Over Beethoven."

In Brian Wilson's autobiography, Wouldn't It Be Nice, he wrote, "Having come up with a melody inspired by that song, I thought, God, what about doing surf lyrics and mentioning every surf spot in the state? They're doing it here, there, in this city and that, like Chubby Checker's 'Twistin' U.S.A.'"

All of the surfing locations mentioned were contributed by Jimmy Bowles, the brother of Wilson's then current girlfriend Judy, who inspired "Surfer Girl." With all of the geographic references, the song could have served as a theme song for the state's Department Of Tourism. Australia's Narrabeen and Hawaii's Waimea Bay were the only non-California locations mentioned.

"Surfin' U.S.A." was The Beach Boys' fourth single and their first Top 10 hit. The biggest year for surf music, 1963, was off to a rousing start.

Drummer Tom Brown with guitarist Larry Ellis formed The Illusions during the summer of 1962. While they worked at a small teen club in Bellflower called The Peppermint Lounge, they occasionally saw Dick Dale perform. Dale inspired The Illusions to practice harder, develop the surfing sound, and work on original material. The band's lead guitarist, Bob Mason, stumbled across a 1951 record by Frankie Laine, called "Jezabel." They reworked it into a blazing surf instrumental.

The Illusions were heard by a radio DJ, George Huggins, who worked for a small Long Beach station. He took the band into a recording studio early in 1963 and they recorded "Jezabel." According to Brown, it was done live, without overdubs, using one microphone! It was also recorded without a bass player since the band simply didn't feel they needed one.

When The Illusions were staking out their territory between Bellflower and Long Beach, The Nobles were building a reputation 15 miles inland, in El Monte. Brothers Paul and Ralph Geddes formed an early version of the band in 1960. A keyboard player and a second drummer were added, providing The Nobles with a unique configuration. Their influences included '50s rock 'n' roll and rockabilly, and surf bands such as Dick Dale & The Del-Tones and The Lively Ones.

In 1963, they were approached by TV actor Aki Aleong, who said he would try to get them a recording contract, as he had done for The Surfmen.

Aleong brought the band into GoldStar Studios in Hollywood, where an album's worth of material, including "Body Surf," was recorded. Although Aleong sang on only one of the tracks, the album was released with his picture on the cover and credited to Aki Aleong & The Nobles. All the other tracks were instrumentals, with Aleong involved only as the producer.

The Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga was the birthplace of The Surfaris' "Wipe Out" and "Surfer Joe." Gene Gray & The Stingrays (a typo on their record label spelled it "Stingerays") recorded their only single there in 1963, a rare surf instrumental obscurity called "Surf Bunny." For reasons unknown, The Stingrays made the record as a trio without a rhythm guitarist. Gray is heard shouting the imaginary lady's measurements at the end of each 12-bar passage ("36!...24!...36!").

Gray (real name: Gene Hofford) started playing guitar as a child in Louisiana. Gray moved to Pomona in eastern Los Angeles County. "Surf Bunny" was not originally intended to be released as a record, but was done as a favor to Gray's mother, who was visiting from Louisiana and wanted to take home a tape of her son's band.

The tape came into the hands of Eddie Davis, owner of Linda Records, who released the single in March 1963. It received some local airplay but was unsuccessful on a national level, although it was leased to Dot Records for national distribution.

Johnny Fortune (real name: Johnny Fortune Sudetta) was one of the Inland Empire's best-kept secrets in the early 1960s. He was one of Chuck Berry's "Johnnys" who could play guitar just like a-ringin' a bell. He started when he was barely ten years old, and patterned his style after Chet Atkins.

Fortune moved to Ontario, California, from Ohio in 1959. His earliest recordings were vocals dating from 1959. These were recorded at the nearby Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga. He obtained some studio session work in Los Angeles in 1960 and 1961. Among the several recordings he played on were Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" and Barbara George's "I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)," both Top 10 hits.

During this period, he met John Fisher, a local guitarist and singer. In 1963, Fisher decided to form a record label and wanted Fortune to have the first release. According to an interview with author Robert Dalley, Fortune said, "I wrote 'Soul Surfer' on the way to the studio in the car [Ed. note: it was not, however, the Pal Recording Studio]. I had my guitar and was playing different riffs and John was telling me to play this, so I would play it until it sounded good. Then he would tell me to play something else high on the neck until I did play something that sounded good. That's how I wrote the whole thing.

"My brother Joe was only ten years old when he played the drums on the recording. I played in the booth and went direct into the board. The drums were placed way down at the end of the studio and Joe used earphones. Jim O'Keith played sax and I overdubbed the bass."

Fortune made it all seem so simple, yet "Soul Surfer" was not a particularly easy guitar piece. "Soul Surfer" made a respectable showing on local radio stations in May and June of 1963, but failed to receive any national recognition.

"Early in the mornin' we'll be startin' out, some honeys will be comin' along" is the first line of The Beach Boys' highly successful "Surfin' Safari," the 1962 follow-up to "Surfin." That's where The Honeys found their name. Sisters Marilyn and Diane Rovell and their second cousin Ginger Blake (real name: Saundra Glantz) had been singing for several years when they were introduced to Brian Wilson by his friend and songwriting partner, Gary Usher. Wilson and The Honeys became good friends - especially Marilyn, who later became Mrs. Wilson.

"Shoot The Curl" was written by Ginger and Diane, and was recorded on March 5, 1963, produced by Brian Wilson, who used some of the same musicians on "Shoot The Curl" as Phil Spector had been using on his records.

The record was the first of five Honeys singles produced by Brian Wilson, and the first surf record by a female vocal group. The Honeys also sang backup on various Beach Boys recordings, most notably "Be True To Your School."

Until the spring of 1963, Southern California basically had the market cornered for surf bands. Oh, sure, there were teen combos in nearly every metropolitan high school in the country. But the groups with visibility - the ones being played on the radio - were from Southern California. That changed when The Astronauts' "Baja" showed up in May.

These five guys with a truly awesome reverbed guitar sound were from Boulder, Colorado, and originally called themselves The Stormtroopers. In 1962, they became The Astronauts, a name suggested by the Glenn, Carpenter, and Schirra space flights that year. They were a far cry from a surf band when RCA Records "found" them in Colorado and flew them to Los Angeles. The band had no clear idea what surf music was, but they soon learned how to play it. Their first single, released in July 1963, was written by producer Lee Hazlewood. "Baja" barely entered the Billboard Top 100, but was hugely popular in Southern California and quickly joined to the set list of every surf band within earshot.

Subsequent singles and albums attracted little interest, but the guys stayed busy with personal appearances and TV shows. They toured Japan and appeared in four major Hollywood films between 1964 and 1966. It didn't matter that they were a landlocked bunch of hodads whose sound was fabricated by their record company. The Astronauts gave us some of the most effective and incredible surf music of the period, beginning with "Baja."

The Pharos are one of surf music's continuing mysteries. Virtually nothing is known about this band or their 1963 single "Pintor." The band was probably another group of studio musicians. The tune is a perky Latin number in the same tradition as The Sentinals' "Latin'ia." It was released at the same time as The Astronauts' "Baja" and The Beach Boys' "Surfin' U.S.A." All three are well-crafted and well-recorded surf records, indicative of the variety that existed within the genre of surf music even at that early stage. It wasn't all just reverbed guitar instrumentals with three chords. Some bands actually knew four chords!

When decisions were being made about which recordings to include in this collection, a few allowances were made for obscure releases that were particularly good examples of vintage surf music. Tons of surf singles and many albums have remained clouded in obscurity for more than 30 years. While not especially groundbreaking, a large number of these vinyl relics can be admired for what they are: good surf records with untold stories. The New Dimensions' "Cat On A Hot Foam Board" is one of these (and you've gotta love the title).

New Dimensions lead guitarist Michael Lloyd, then 13, subsequently formed the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and later enjoyed a career as a hit producer, with Sean Cassidy and The Bellamy Brothers among his credits. Piano player Jimmy Greenspoon later turned up playing keyboards for Three Dog Night.

Jan Berry and Dean Torrance received only one certified gold record during their career. It was for "Surf City." Brian Wilson gave them the song at about the time The Beach Boys were recording "Surfin' U.S.A." In a 1982 interview, Torrance said, "Brian had ['Surf City'] partially finished and to be truthful, I think he was tired of playing around with the song. He gave it to us when it was about half done. Brian was always writing and he had tunes upon tunes upon tunes lying around. His publishing company was called Sea of Tunes for obvious reasons. He was tickled pink that someone else wanted to record one of his songs, because in those days people weren't exactly beating a path to his door."

Jan & Dean's first (and only) #1 hit, "Surf City," made them popular surf music stars, won the 1963 Billboard #1 Award, and teased an already California-focused teenage public with the declaration that there were "two girls for every boy" down at Surf City - which, of course, was any city that you could get to in your '34 woodie. Listen closely and you can hear Brian Wilson singing background vocals.

The Rhythm Rockers were one of the most popular Orange County bands prior to the British Invasion. They recorded their only album in the summer of 1963, a surf classic called "Soul Surfin'." They had played together since the late '50s, and had become one of the area's better dance bands similar to Dick Dale & The Del-Tones, Dave Myers & The Surftones, and Bob Vaught & The Renegades.

The Rhythm Rockers became one of the regular house bands at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa after Dick Dale & The Del-Tones left in late 1961. They also appeared as a backup band for The Righteous Brothers. "Breakfast At Tressels" refers to a popular surfing locale (actually spelled "Trestles") near San Onofre in Orange County, and is taken from the Soul Surfin' album.

"King Of The Surf Guitar" was the title track of Dick Dale's first album after he signed with Capitol Records in 1963. By then, nobody in Southern California was arguing the fact that Dick Dale was King of the Surf Guitar, and Capitol wanted the rest of the country (and world) to understand. Capitol did a lot to promote this record but, like the majority of surf music, it sold better locally than elsewhere.

To maintain control and produce a professional sound, Capitol hired seasoned studio musicians to substitute for most of The Del-Tones. Compared to his earlier recordings with The Del-Tones, the Capitol material seems a lot less spontaneous and raw - two qualities that helped define the unique aspect of surf music and set it apart from the heavily produced studio rock that was so prevalent at the time. Still, the Capitol recordings retain the power and grace of Dale's guitar style and sound.

"King Of The Surf Guitar" served as a status report for surf music, and revealed how popular Dick Dale was in Southern California ("from Balboa to Anaheim, San Bernardino to Riverside..."). The female vocalists who delivered the message were The Blossoms, a black vocal group that featured Darlene Love of The Crystals, Jean King, and Fanita James. The trio also sang on Duane Eddy's 1962 hit "(Dance With The) Guitar Man."

One of the surf bands whose reverbed instrumental music was revived in Pulp Fiction was The Centurians. After Pulp Fiction, their 1963 album was reissued on compact disc and the band regrouped for a series of personal appearances.

The Centurians were based in Costa Mesa and nearby Newport Beach. In 1962 they were hired by Phil Spector to play on several tracks he was producing for Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans.

The Centurians developed a reverbed surf sound typical of teen bands from the Orange County coast. "Surfin' At Mazatland," taken from their only album, reflects the Latin flavor that crept into a lot of surf music, thanks to the proximity of fabuloso surf spots on Mexico's Baja Peninsula.

The Blossoms, who sang on Dick Dale's first Capitol single in June 1963, also sang on Al Casey's "Surfin' Hootenanny," appearing as the K-C-Ettes. In a story similar to that of The Astronauts, Casey was an established recording artist before 1963 whose guitar style was far removed from surf music, but who had a very successful attempt playing in the style.

Originally from Arizona, Casey first received attention as the lead guitarist on the 1956 Sanford Clark hit "The Fool." He became a regular member of Duane Eddy's backup band, The Rebels, playing guitar, bass, and piano.

"Surfin' Hootenanny" was his third (and final) charted record under his own name and his biggest hit, reaching #48 in July 1963. Hootenanny was a folk music slang term for a concert. Casey's rousing invocation to party mentions three artists that "you're gonna meet" at the surfin' hootenanny: Dick Dale, The Ventures, and Duane Eddy. It wasn't hard to guess who surf music's influences were.

Bernard "Jack" Nitzsche has been described as the most innovative pop music arranger/composer/producer of the 1960s. He arranged and orchestrated most of Phil Spector's major hit records.

In the summer of 1963, Nitzsche produced the heavily orchestrated hit instrumental, "The Lonely Surfer." The first record to be released under his own name, it was recorded by studio musicians including Leon Russell on piano and Glen Campbell on guitar.

This record showed how surf music could take a form besides reverbed rock 'n' roll and remain valid. Its originality has been questioned since the recent "discovery" of an obscure 1960 instrumental by Del Ray & The Roamers called "The Lonley [sic] Highway," which has a similar melody. Given its maudlin, string-laden moodiness, it is surprising that "The Lonely Surfer" was so successful (a Top 40 hit in Billboard).

Nitzsche later collaborated with The Rolling Stones, Buffalo Springfield, and Neil Young, and scored a number of film soundtracks.

It would probably be a safe bet to say that the first slow dance of the new school year in September 1963 was to The Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl." It was about as close to a perfect love song as you could get, it spoke directly to a pop music audience and a surf music audience, and it appealed to both genders. With only a few exceptions ("Lana" and "Farmer's Daughter" come to mind), Brian Wilson had been writing songs mostly about surfing and cars - not about girls, a subject that would eventually be at the heart of his songs.

"Surfer Girl" is said to be one of Wilson's favorite Beach Boys songs. It's certainly a beautiful, well-crafted recording and showcases the lush harmonies that became the group's greatest asset. The song also paints a terrific image of the illusory surfer girl.

Surfing wasn't exclusively male in the early- to mid-'60s. Joyce Hoffman, Margo Godfrey, Marge Calhoun, and others were well-respected surfing champions. Many women also learned how to ride tandem - a man and woman on a surfboard at the same time. Tandem surfing often involved some tricky gymnastics on the part of the woman, who usually rode the distance on her partner's shoulders - not an easy feat when you're travelling 25 miles an hour on the crest of a wave.

Some have thought that Wilson wrote "Surfer Girl" for his girlfriend, Judy Bowles, but Wilson claims it was about lots of surfer girls. The record climbed to #7 and became the band's second Top 10 hit of the year . They were well on their way to a string of at least 28 charted records through 1970. Some of their bigger hits (including "Help Me, Rhonda" and "Good Vibrations") were achieved at the peak of the British Invasion, long after surfing and other surf groups had faded from public attention.

Orange County is well represented in this collection because the area was rich with surfing locations and surf bands. The ones featured here were among the more important, inspirational, memorable, or simply noteworthy. The Blazers were simply great.

The band was from Fullerton, just a few miles north of Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. Their first record was produced in the same studio in Downey where The Chantays had recorded "Pipeline." In an interview with Robert Dalley, drummer Chris Holguin recalled, "Surf music was going strong and we wanted to cut a record, so we came up with a tune we called 'Beaver Patrol.' [In the studio] I was set up behind a barrier with two mikes, one overhead and the other near the snare in order to get a better sound out of me. The rest of the band was in the open with their amplifiers pointing away from each other. This setup was the reason why the record sounds so alive!"

A few radio stations banned the record because of the title. Only one other surf record had that distinction: "Shootin' Beavers" by The Tornadoes (who are represented in this collection with "Bustin' Surfboards"). These records evidenced a certain licentious and playfully humorous side to the high-testosterone 1960s surfing culture. The slang word "beaver" may also have come from a type of wet suit used by surfers that had a snap-on crotch, a beaver tail-shaped appendage to the top half of the suit. This type of wet suit was called a "beaver tail."

"Beaver Patrol" was the first of only two singles self-released by The Blazers in 1963. Both indicate the influence that Dick Dale & The Del-Tones had on the band, especially on guitarist Vern Acree. Obscure recordings such as "Beaver Patrol" frequently provide some of the best examples of surf music. When one of these rarities is performed well, and recorded well, it elevates the record to a certain legendary status. "Beaver Patrol," despite the vernacular, is in this category.

At the same time as The Beach Boys were singing about surfer girls and little deuce coupes and Jan & Dean were going to Surf City, a couple of important South Bay bands were recording their first records. Many successful musicians who began their careers in surf bands seem to develop convenient amnesia whenever asked about "those" days. Not so with members of The Turtles, who were all over the hit parade between 1965 and 1969. They've always owned up to their beginnings as The Crossfires, a nifty six-piece surf band from Westchester near the L.A. airport.

The Crossfires performed frequently in and around Westchester for several years. They were one of the very few bands with two lead vocalists, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who doubled as the band's twin sax players. The group had an animated stage presence and a reputation for being wild but fun.

In the summer of 1963, they cut "Fiberglass Jungle" at Western Recorders in Los Angeles, a studio used quite frequently by The Beach Boys. Although invisible outside of the Los Angeles area, the record shows how influential Dick Dale's style had been on lead guitarist Al Nichol.

Even though Eddie & The Showmen lacked a hit record, they had five singles released by Liberty Records. The band produced several of the most blazing surf instrumentals of 1963, but gained little attention outside of Palos Verdes and northern Orange County.

Eddie & The Showmen evolved from the seminal surf band The Belairs when guitarist Eddie Bertrand left to form his own group. Influenced by Dick Dale & The Del-Tones, Bertrand wanted a more exciting, heavier sound using the Fender Reverb Unit. The result was a band that many remember as one of the area's top draws in 1963. Drummer Dick Dodd later had hits with The Standells.

"Mr. Rebel" was named after KRLA DJ Reb Foster. Eddie & The Showmen worked for Foster at the Retail Clerk's Hall in Buena Park and at Foster's own teen club, the Revelaire, in Redondo Beach. These were shows that quite often featured a vocal group or a singer with a hit record who used a local band for back-up. Reb Foster used Eddie & The Showmen quite often for this purpose. As a result, they backed up Dodie Stevens, Vic Dana, Chris Montez, Kathy Young, Jackie DeShannon, Jimmy Clanton, and many others.

Set 3: Ebb Tide (1963-1967)

The Pyramids were a Long Beach band whose output included four singles and one album. They had the fourth best-selling surf instrumental of the early 1960s, "Penetration." The tune was the result of writer Steve Leonard's attempt to create an instrumental similar to The Chantays' "Pipeline." He used the same basic compositional elements but placed them in a higher key, resulting in a similar but distinct tune.

During the recording of "Penetration," rhythm guitarist Willy Glover left the studio to eat while the others continued to work. The band's lead guitarist, Skip Mercier, recorded a rhythm guitar track and then, half-serious, overdubbed his lead. By the time Glover returned to the studio, the tune was "in the can," and headed for a top chart position of #18 in February 1964.

Partially in response to the press coverage given The Beatles in early 1964, and because he felt The Pyramids needed a gimmick, the band's manager suggested they all shave their heads. They did exactly that, and played some shows with Beatle wigs that would go flying off their heads at some predetermined moment.

The Pyramids made a brief appearance in the 1964 film Bikini Beach before they stopped performing in 1965.

As the story goes, The Original Surfaris were originally called The Surfaris. They were legally forced to give up the name to the band who recorded "Wipe Out," because that band's hit gave them a certain artistic identity that needed to be maintained.

As The Original Surfaris, most of their records were mistakenly credited to "The Surfaris." They appeared on more singles and albums than most surf bands. Many of these recordings were due to the efforts of promoter Tony Hilder.

Hilder produced "Bombora," a band original named after the Australian word for a huge wave. Dick Dale described surf music as the feeling of power you have while surfing that's transferred into your guitar, a feeling of "vibration and pulsification." "Bombora" is a perfect example of what Dale meant.

The Rotations' recording of "Heavies" (very big waves) was a studio contrivance - recorded by only two people, Paul Buff and Dave Aerni. Buff owned the Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga, used by The Surfaris and others. Aerni was from Riverside and managed The Tornadoes (their "Bustin' Surfboards" appears in this collection). Buff and Aerni multitracked themselves playing different instruments and created "Heavies."

"Heavies" languished in obscurity until Frank Zappa used the first 20 seconds of it on his 1967 Mothers Of Invention album We're Only In It For The Money. The tune is embedded within his Side Two overture titled "Nasal Retentive Calliope Music."

Dave Myers was one of the few guitar players in Southern California who had several years of experience before forming a surf band. When he saw Dick Dale & The Del-Tones play, he was impressed by the way Dale had made his guitar more of a lead instrument. That inspired him to form a band of his own.

The Surftones (a name derived from Dale's band The Del-Tones) became a house band at Balboa's Rendezvous Ballroom after Dale's departure in late 1961. The Surftones performed in California and Arizona throughout 1962 and into 1963. They recorded three singles, a number of tracks that appeared on various compilation albums, and their own album for Del-Fi Records. "Moment Of Truth" was their first single, recorded in early 1963 and produced by Bob Hafner, Tony Hilder's production assistant. The Surftones recorded many other tunes for Hilder, some of which were used on their album.

The Sunsets were one of several studio groups brought together by the talented and prolific songwriter, arranger, and record producer Gary Usher. These groups included The Super Stocks on Capitol, The Hondells on Mercury, and The Four Speeds on Challenge Records. It was usually the same nucleus of vocalists and musicians - Usher, Richard Burns, Chuck Girard, Joe Kelly, Richard Podolor (aka Allen, represented earlier in this collection by "The Rising Surf"), Dennis McCarthy and Wayne Edwards - and various additional personnel. The artists who recorded "My Little Surfin' Woodie" - Usher, Burns, McCarthy, and Edwards - were the same ones who created most of The Hondells' recordings.

Usher is the lead singer on "My Little Surfin' Woodie," released in September 1963 at the peak of surf music's popularity. As a recording artist, songwriter, and producer, along with Brian Wilson and KFWB DJ Roger Christian. Usher's credits include such memorable recordings as "409," "In My Room," "Shut Down," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Don't Worry Baby," and "My Little Surfin' Woodie," among others.

The Chevells named themselves after the Chevrolet Chevelle coupe, a favorite muscle car of the era. They came together in Orange County in 1961 and 1962, organized by lead guitarist John Thompson. In the summer of 1963 the band bought a couple of studio hours for $65 and had 1,000 copies of their record pressed. They took their records to a few local record stores, which quickly sold out, thanks to some radio airplay.

A couple of subsequent repressings, made possible by a new distribution deal, reportedly sold in excess of 50,000 copies. If true, "Let There Be Surf" was one of the biggest-selling independently released surf instrumental recordings.

"Surfin' Bird" is one of the silliest records ever made, but guaranteed to make you laugh and "stomp-a your feet." Released in December 1963, it climbed into the national Top 10 alongside records by The Kingsmen ("Louie Louie"), The Rip Chords ("Hey Little Cobra"), Leslie Gore ("You Don't Own Me"), and that new group from England, The Beatles ("I Want To Hold Your Hand").

Everyone recognized "Surfin' Bird" for what it was: a variation of The Rivingtons' 1962 doo-wop hit, "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow." The Rivingtons sued, contesting authorship of the song, but settled out of court.

The Trashmen were natives of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Like The Astronauts, The Trashmen didn't begin as a surf band. Tony Andreason, the band's lead guitarist, explained in a 1992 interview for Kicks magazine, "We'd heard about Dick Dale. Steve, Dal, and I went on vacation to California in late '62 and stayed right on the beach in Balboa. The Chantays were playin', The Righteous Brothers were down there doin' fast R&B. Dick Dale was dynamic, really outstanding and better even than his records. People tell me that I'm quite a surf guitarist but Dick Dale can run miles around me! We learned all his stuff when we got back, and nobody in Minneapolis had ever heard anything like it. The other groups even started to copy us without even hearin' Dick Dale."

The infectious "Surfin' Bird" was a popular number at personal appearances and became The Trashmen's first record. It was recorded at the Kay Bank Studios in Minneapolis, and became the #4 record in the country in February 1964.

Drummer Rick Henn from Pacific Palisades put together a band called The Renegades in 1962. They played for parties, dances, and teen clubs in the West Los Angeles area.

In 1963, they met promoter Kim Fowley, who arranged their first single, and had it released on a small label.

In late 1963, Fowley and others tried to create a spin-off of surf music connected with snow skiing. Unlike the successful hot rod spin-off, the skiing fad failed as did skateboarding and slot car racing spin-offs.

Fowley produced three singles for the Challenge label that were only remotely connected with snow skiing. The first of these was "Ski Storm" by The Snow Men, a local trio (guitar, bass, and drums) from Palisades High School, and two members of The Renegades.

"Ski Storm" may not have been a very successful release, but it brought together two groups of musicians who later formed The Sunrays and scored two national hits, "I Live For The Sun" (included in this collection) and "Andrea."

In 1964, competition from The Beatles knocked surf music out of the water. The Beach Boys kept up, though, with Top 10 hits "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "I Get Around." To find surf bands that played with the same verve, spontaneity, and power as many of them had in 1963, you had to look harder in unexpected places.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, had a sizeable population of teen rock bands in 1963 and 1964. Like The Trashmen, The Ready Men had also been bitten by the surf music bug. "Our biggest outside influence was probably The Astronauts from Colorado," said the Ready Men's lead guitarist, Kirk Ready. "We loved those guys! We were very much into that kinda guitar sound with a lotta reverb and all." The Ready Men specialized in Top 40 cover songs and surf instrumentals, and became popular at local fraternities and teen dances.

The band went to the Kay Bank Studio and recorded four tracks, two vocals and two instrumentals - all pretty killer stuff. One of each was released on a local Twin Cities label: The Trashmen-inspired vocal rave-up, "Shortnin' Bread," and a nice moody track called "Surfer Blues."

Another track, "Disintegration," unreleased until 1995, stands up nicely against any surf instrumental.

In 1955, Annette Funicello successfully auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club TV show. She continued as one of the show's most popular personalities until it left the air in 1958. A successful recording and acting career followed, with her first movie role was in the 1963 film Beach Party.

Released five years after Gidget, Beach Party was the first of many films over the next four years that were concerned with the beach and the surfing culture. It was the first major studio film to unite surf music with the pop-culture image of the surfing lifestyle. According to author Stephen McParland, "The subsequent success of Beach Party (and its numerous sequels) was simply due to the fact that American International Pictures had the perfect idea and coupled it with the talent needed to bring the idea to fruition. The theme of teenage freedom (there were no parental interruptions of the kind that plagued teenage fun in the Gidget productions), embodied with music which itself conjured similar images and emotions, created a particular type of image, perhaps more fanciful than factual, but then that's Hollywood!"

The film featured three songs written by Gary Usher and Roger Christian. Beach Party also had appearances by Frankie Avalon and Dick Dale & The Del-Tones, and surfing personalities Mickey Dora and Johnny Fain.

Annette sang the film's title track, "Beach Party," which was rerecorded for her Buena Vista album Annette's Beach Party. Funicello and Avalon costarred in several other films, including Annette's last two films, Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley.

In 1962, The Twangs were a local teen band from San Clemente, California. By 1962, they were well-versed in rock 'n' roll instrumentals à la Duane Eddy and The Ventures.

The European heritage of the band's Walter and Gaston Georis, who arrived in Southern California from Belgium in the mid-'50s, showed in their use of the clavietta. Gaston described the instrument in the liner notes of the band's first album as "...a combination of the piano, harmonica, and accordion" with Italian origins.

As the popularity of surf music grew in 1963, The Twangs became the Sandells: "sand" for the surfing culture, and "ells" to follow the fashion of many group names.

The band was heard by the president of World Pacific Records, Richard Bock, who thought they would be perfect for a motorcycle concept album he wanted to do. The idea of guitar instrumentals with motorcycle themes was innovative in late 1963, a full year before the genre would have cultural meaning thanks to The Hondells' "Little Honda."

Surfing documentary filmmaker Bruce Brown became familiar with The Sandells' music through Hobie Alter, for whom band member Danny Brawner worked. Brown chose one of the tracks The Sandells had recorded for his newest film's theme song and retitled it "Theme From Endless Summer." Before The Endless Summer was released, the band changed their name to The Sandals, after the footwear preferred by beachgoers. Realizing that the popular type of footwear used by beachgoers was the sandal, a small change was made to their name and they became The Sandals.

Endless Summer remains one of the best documentaries ever made and the first surfing documentary to be released nationwide. The group disbanded in 1969, but reemerged in 1994 when Brown released the sequel, The Endless Summer II: The Journey Continues (see Set 4 of this collection for The Sandals' "Wingnut's Theme").

Peter Anders (real name: Peter Andreoli) and Vincent Poncia were singers from Providence, Rhode Island, who made several records with The Videls between 1958 and 1962. Phil Spector hired them to help create song arrangements and demos, including The Ronettes 1964 hit, "Do I Love You?"

Their work with Spector led Red Bird Records to offer Anders and Poncia work as producers. "New York's A Lonely Town" was their first project for the label and was released under the group name The Trade Winds.

A record inspired by the sound of The Beach Boys and by the studio wizardry of Phil Spector, "New York's A Lonely Town" entered the Top 40 in February 1965. Its attraction wasn't due to the surfing connection as much as it was the record's production, one of the most beautiful non-Beach Boys treatments of a surfing-themed song.

The Challengers were put together in 1962 by drummer Richard Delvy, who had played with The Belairs (represented earlier in this collection by "Mr. Moto"). The Challengers were one of the earliest surf bands on the scene and the first to release an entire album of genre music appropriately titled Surf Beat.

They became one of the most visible surf bands, thanks to Delvy's promotion. Their first album sold a remarkable 200,000 copies and they appeared regularly on local TV dance shows. One of the band's best-remembered recordings, "K-39," features session drummer Hal Blaine (a veteran of many recordings with The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean). The cryptic title of the 1964 release referred to a popular surfing spot 39 kilometers south of the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Fantastic Baggys was a creation of the highly talented Phil Sloan and Steve Barri, experienced songwriting partners who worked for Screen Gems. When "Tell 'Em I'm Surfin'" was recorded in 1964, Sloan was 18 and Barri was 21! Together, they wrote, produced, and arranged the record. Besides the lead vocals, they also overdubbed the backing vocals and guitar solos. They sang on dozens of songs by Jan & Dean, and wrote and produced songs by many other artists.

When The Rondels' single "On The Run" was released in February 1964, The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was the #1 record in the country. Most Top 40 radio stations set aside new surf records in favor of recordings by British artists. Except for a handful of surf and hot rod records on the national charts that stations felt obligated to have in rotation (e.g., The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird," The Rip Chords' "Hey Little Cobra," Jan & Dean's "Drag City," and maybe The Pyramids' "Penetration"), most others were ignored while records by The Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Dusty Springfield, or The Searchers were given "pick hit" treatment.

It was getting a bit late for elemental reverbed guitar records to stir any interest. Despite being released and distributed nationally by Dot Records, virtually nothing is known about The Rondels' bouncy surf instrumental. There's surely an interesting story behind this record, but its telling will have to come some other time.

The Ventures are the best-selling and most enduring rock instrumental band in pop music history. "Walk-Don't Run," their biggest hit record to date, reached #2 on the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1960. Formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1959, the band continues to perform and record today. They have been hugely popular in Japan, where they have won numerous music awards and gold records. By 1970, they had recorded 38 albums! Of all the instrumental bands that preceded and influenced surf music, The Ventures were arguably the most important and inspirational.

"Walk-Don't Run" was written and recorded by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith. Chet Atkins had adapted the tune to his country style in 1958. The Ventures worked up their landmark rock 'n' roll arrangement of the piece by listening to Atkins' version.

One of the band's attempts to capitalize on surf music was "Walk-Don't Run '64," a new version of the 1960 hit. In an April 1990 interview for DISCoveries magazine, drummer Mel Taylor recalled why they rerecorded their own major hit: "The main reason was we were searching for a single release. We wanted something to reach the people so we did a surf-sounding version of 'Walk-Don't Run.'"

The record featured a distinctive reverb effect on the lead guitar that sounded cleaner and sharper, with more echo than other surf instrumentals. In the same DISCoveries interview, guitarist Don Wilson tried to explain the unique reverb effect on his rhythm guitar part, but admitted he didn't recall whether it was due to the guitar amp, the studio controls, or his playing technique.

Recorded in July 1964 with Leon Russell sitting in on organ, "Walk-Don't Run '64" debuted on the national charts at #86 and climbed to #8. It was the band's third million-selling record.

The Sunrays started in 1960 as a Pacific Palisades band called The Renegades. The group made two records prior to September 1964, one of which was under the name The Rangers. Eddie Medora and Marty DiGiovanni joined the three members of another Pacific Palisades band, The Showmen, and recorded "Ski Storm" (included earlier in this collection) as The Snow Men.

In 1964, The Renegades auditioned for Murry Wilson, former manager of The Beach Boys. Wilson took a liking to the band and began to work with them. Their audition was at the Wilson home in Hawthorne. Before releasing their first record, the band changed their name to The Sunrays. In a 1988 interview for California Music magazine, Rick Henn recalled, "The vice-president of Tower Records was named Eddie Raye. He was a cool black dude, a very mellow guy and I think he was the one who came up with the name Sunrays because it was beach - and summer - oriented. I never did like it because our single was 'I Live For The Sun'...but they liked it on a marketing level. On a career level for a group it stunk! It was like those studio bands from the late '50s...'Pick Up' by The Pick Ups on Pick Up Records or 'Corvette' by The Corvettes on Corvette Records. It smacked of being a studio band and that was one thing we weren't!"

The band's first record contained two songs written by Murry Wilson. The record failed nationally, but became a modest hit in parts of the Midwest and South. Wilson let the band determine the next single. "I Live For The Sun," written by Rick Henn, reached #51 on the Billboard charts in 1965.

Besides Los Angeles, the West Coast had another hub of recording activity in the 1960s - San Francisco. The Bay Area would receive a lot of attention in the late '60s, but in the early part of the decade, Southern California had most of the action. The exceptions were groups like The Astronauts and The Trashmen who weren't locals but played with enough energy and the right amount of reverb to make them "honorary locals." The Bay Area had a contribution, too, in the form of two excellent singles by a Berkeley band called The Fender IV. The A-side of their second single was "Malibu Run," released in February 1965.

The band's lead guitarist, Randy Holden, later founded The Other Half, a hard-rock outfit that recorded several singles and one album in 1967 and 1968 before disbanding. Holden then played lead guitar for Blue Cheer, an early acid-rock band from San Francisco.

Bobby Fuller arrived in El Paso, Texas, with his family in 1956 when he was about 14. He developed an intense interest in music at an early age and learned how to play drums. His first serious musical involvement was with a rock 'n' roll band called The Embers. In 1960 and 1961, Fuller became more interested in the guitar and eventually switched entirely to that instrument. On a visit to Southern California in the summer of 1963, he heard live surf music for the first time. He came looking for a recording contract, but found Dick Dale & The Del-Tones and a very active accumulation of guitar-dominated teen bands. The sound of surf music inspired three surf-related records by Fuller in 1964.

After the entire band relocated to Los Angeles in 1964, they landed a recording contract, had two national hits with "Love's Made A Fool Of You" and "I Fought The Law," played on a few singles by other artists such as Johnny Crawford (of the TV series The Rifleman), and started a lengthy residency as the house band at P.J.'s, a popular Santa Monica Boulevard nightclub.

By the end of 1965, a decision was made to record a live album and it was natural to pick P.J.'s as the location for the project. More than an album's-worth of material was recorded at P.J.'s in November and December that year. The planned album, though, never materialized for reasons that are still unclear. In recent years, however, some of these recordings have appeared on various records. While the tapes contain primarily vocal selections, the inclusion of a handful of surf instrumentals validates Fuller's fascination with the style that began with his 1963 "field trip" to Southern California. Live rock 'n' roll recordings from 1965 are uncommon; live surf music from the time period is even more so.

"Misirlou" is taken from the live P.J.'s recordings and showcases both Fuller's and Jim Reese's excellent command of the surf guitar style (a bit ironic considering Reese's alleged disdain for surf music as uncreative and silly). Reese and Fuller traded lead and rhythm parts on nearly every song the band performed and recorded, especially the instrumentals. In the liner notes to a 1983 collection of rare Bobby Fuller recordings, writer Greg Shaw observed, "On the live tapes, one is struck not only by the quality of material, but equally by the power of the band. Bobby and Jim Reese played dual-lead guitar with passion and conviction, backed by a rock-solid rhythm. On a number where they traded off solos, like 'Misirlou'...the intensity is worthy of The Yardbirds or any of the other noted "guitar bands" of the '60s, but with a distinctly American sound, heavy on reverb, raunchy and wild."

The band's treatment of "Misirlou" was a nice tribute to surf guitar king Dick Dale. It was an extended arrangement, probably close to the way Dale performed it live, and incorporated a few bars of "Hava Nagila," another ethnic tune that Dale had popularized. At the time "Misirlou" was recorded, the Bobby Fuller Four was only a few weeks away from the appearance of "I Fought The Law" on the national pop charts.

The Sea Shells' "Hit The Surf" is a mystery. Nothing substantial is known about the group except that their ode to surfing came along in 1967. By that time FM radio was gaining a substantial alternative rock audience (you'd only hear the long version of The Doors' "Light My Fire" on an FM station).

Apparently, the song was used as the theme for an unsuccessful ABC-TV series pilot about a surfer-type college guy. The fad, or craze, that was surf music had run its course, but by no means had disappeared. Most surf bands wiped out amid the throes of dramatic musical changes. Those that survived more than a few years did so by changing with the music and not looking back.

Set 4: New Waves (1977-1995)

Throughout the '70s, '80s, and now in the '90s, there have been numerous attempts to recreate the sound, style, or attitude of the music that was identified so strongly with surfing in the early 1960s. Surf music "revivalists" are an interesting lot. Some are successful, others aren't; some are wildly creative, others remain strictly adherent to the classic sound and style; some take an indulgent avant-garde approach to the genre, others practice restrained minimalism. As a result, surf revival recordings in the last two and a half decades have varied widely in style and originality.

There have been two major revivals of interest in surf music since 1965. The first occurred roughly from 1980 to about 1984. The other began slowly during the early '90s and, as this collection is issued, is becoming even more widespread.

In 1980, a surprisingly large number of surf bands appeared in major cities across the country, and overseas. However, most of the action was smack dab in Southern California. The music was like the early 1960s, but the bands were older, musically more mature, and weren't out to make a career for themselves as musicians; this time it was strictly for fun. The bands still recorded and released their own singles or used small, independent labels. Audiences included fans of all ages.

Out of this revival of interest, Dick Dale returned from self-imposed retirement. The Ventures started performing in the U.S. again, and some original bands like The Chantays and The Surfaris regrouped for revival concerts.

Jon & The Nightriders had more than a passing effect on the 1980 surf music revival. For several years, they were active on the Southern California club scene. They recorded four albums and several singles, and worked with legendary producers Shel Talmy (The Who, The Kinks, et. al) and Kim Fowley. They toured Europe in 1981 and stayed fairly active in Southern California through 1982 until the local interest in surf music seemed to fade again. Undaunted, the band came together in 1986 and recorded their fourth album. "Storm Dancer" is a track from this album, released first in Europe, then in the U.S. four years later.

The Malibooz began in New York around 1964 as The Moon Dawgs. They started with instrumentals, then switched to songs by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Animals, The Kinks, and others. They changed their name to The Malibus, but changed it again because New Yorkers mispronounced it "Mali-bus," as in public transportation.

The band splintered, with Egan and Zambetti making their way to the West Coast. In 1980, guitarist and vocalist Walter Egan regrouped The Malibooz. Rhino Records released "Goin' To Malibu" in 1981 as one of the tracks on the band's Malibooz Rule! album.

The Surf Raiders came together in guitarist Robert Dalley's Covina garage in 1980 and began appearing at dances and clubs. They helped to set a trend in which non-professional musicians (i.e., those with day jobs) who had an interest in surf music, and tons of records at home to prove it, started to form their own bands. Dalley and rhythm guitarist Neal Kuzee were both record collectors who loved surf music. As students of the sound and style, it didn't take long for The Surf Raiders to become technically proficient.

In 1983, the band cut "Wave Walk'n." Several more singles and two albums later, The Surf Raiders stopped performing, but not before making a sizeable contribution to the 1980s surf music revival and helping to expose the music to a much wider, and frequently younger, audience.

Harold Bronson, one of the owners of Rhino Records, loved surf music, even backing the A-side of a 1975 Mogan David & His Winos single with a newly composed instrumental, "Savage Surf." In a more concerted effort, he collected a group of local musicians with the goal of refining the surf instrumental sound by taking advantage of modern recording techniques and contemporizing the sound with a taste of heavy metal. Dick Dale's influence was acknowledged with a choice of the band name: The Wedge was the name of a dangerous surfing spot at the tip of Balboa Peninsula, immortalized by Dick Dale & The Del-Tones in their powerhouse instrumental of the same name.

The band's "Night Of The Living Wedge," an excellent example of combining a contemporary sound with a vintage style, is the most exciting track from The Big, Bad, Boss Beat Of...The Wedge EP, released in the fall of 1980. Missing are the traditional reverbed guitars. Instead, the guitars have a slightly distorted edge to them that wasn't far removed from the rock guitar tone du jour at the time. The style of the tune, though, owes everything to The Ventures and Dick Dale.

Harold Bronson asked his friend, drummer Tom Brown, to recruit musicians to make a good surf instrumental record. Brown had a lengthy background as a drummer. He played with The Illusions (represented earlier in the collection with "Jezabel") and he began a long-standing association with Eddie Bertrand after the breakup of Eddie & The Showmen. In the mid-'80s, Brown joined the staff of Rhino Records, where he continues to work as a manager of RhinoDirect's Customer Service department ("Goddamn!").

Like surf music in the '60s, punk rock music of the '70s had both an attitude and a style. While surf music was almost always positive and happy, punk rock expressed dissatisfaction and anger. However, like some punk rock groups, the Surf Punks had a self-parodying side, and a sense of humor. The band was organized by drummer and producer Dennis Dragon, who was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying, "What we're doing isn't really music. It's more of an attitude. If people want to bag it, they'll have to put it somewhere between Spike Jones and the Sierra Club...with maybe a little [Frank] Zappa and The Monkees thrown in."

The band debuted at the Santa Monica Civic auditorium in October 1979. Their shows tended to be very theatrical with a lot of stage props. Some shows included real sand, a full-sized lifeguard tower, and a troupe of young girls in bikinis. "I don't claim to have any original ideas," Dragon said, "It's just that we live down here [in Malibu] and we're simply reflecting what's happening. So, when I see a guy out in the water and he's on this wave, and he actually thinks he owns that wave - well, I gotta talk about it, 'cause that's totally crazy!"

The Surf Punks' themes reflected the politics of the beach culture, which by the '80s had grown substantially. So had its problems. "My Beach" noted with sardonic humor that the beaches had become more territorial than ever.

Corky Carroll is a five-time U.S. champion and a three-time international champion. In 1968, he was voted #1 surfer in the world by Surfer magazine. He was on the Miller Lite All-Stars team for 11 years, and in recent months, he has appeared frequently in radio and TV commercials extolling the delights of Ocean Spray fruit juices. Corky's appeared in several feature films, including North Shore, and who knows how many more surfing movies over the years. He's also dabbled in rock and folk music since the early '70s, and is cohost of a weekly chat show on AOL's Surflink.

In 1971, Carroll collaborated with Dennis Dragon on an album project. Dragon later formed the Surf Punks. The idea for the Surf Punks was actually suggested by Carroll.

For several years in the late '70s, Carroll worked for Surfer magazine. A friend introduced him to singer-songwriter-musician Chris Darrow, a founding member of the '60s psychedelic rock band Kaleidoscope who later worked with James Taylor and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Together, Carroll and Darrow formed The Cool Water Casuals and wrote "Tan Punks On Boards," apparently in ten minutes during a beach barbeque in 1978. Featuring Corky's autobiographical lyrics, the song was intended to poke fun at The Tubes' 1975 alternative radio hit, "White Punks On Dope," itself a parody of heavy-metal music.

During the 1960s, there were only a few bands in foreign countries playing surf music (Australia had a particularly active scene led by bands such as The Atlantics, The Denvermen, and The Joy Boys). In the last few years, many vocal and instrumental bands from all major industrialized countries have aligned themselves with the vintage sound and style of surf music. One of the earliest of these bands was The Cruncher, formed in Germany in 1987.

Lead guitarist and producer Herbert Hooke was intrigued by the sound of reverbed surf instrumentals, such as "Baja" by The Astronauts.

"The Rebel" (written by former California Lt. Governor Mike Curb when he was involved in the music business during the late '60s) is taken from The Cruncher's second self-produced album, released in 1988. The track was recorded in Hooke's home studio without using the typical Fender Reverb Unit. Yet the artificially produced surf sound is quite effective. This nicely recorded track benefits from the use of an electric 12-string guitar on each of the tune's bridges.

Guitarist David Arnson formed the Insect Surfers in Washington, D.C., in 1979. He regrouped the band after moving to Los Angeles in 1985. Clearly, they view their music with a certain passion for the classic surf instrumentals and a solid respect for the slightly distorted guitar sound of Link Wray's contribution to instrumental rock.

The Insect Surfers have been described as "postmodern surf music," "traditional, yet progressive," "Psychedelic Rangers," and "The Clash meet The Ventures." They've remained part of the local club scene for 10 years with essentially the same personnel, and have maintained a devoted fan following. One of the band's signature tunes is the Arnson-penned "Polaris," taken from their 1991 album Reverb Sun.

The Halibuts are the longest-existing surf revival band in Southern California. They formed in Manhattan Beach in 1982 and are still performing and recording in 1996. Although they use standard instrumentation (i.e., vintage Fender guitars and amps), their original compositions and arrangements of cover tunes tend to involve more complex patterns and melodies.

"Chumming," the title track from their third album, was released in 1993 on their own label and nationally distributed by Upstart Records in 1995. A new album is on the way in 1996.

The Surfdusters formed in Vancouver, Canada in 1989. Their presence in what has now become an "international" surf music community was established by releasing cassette tapes and singles. The fact that the band's rhythm guitarist, Rich Hagensen, also publishes a rock instrumental newsletter on a regular basis has helped The Surfdusters' visibility. The resurgence of interest in surf music created a demand for live appearances around Vancouver.

Hagensen and guitarist Ralph Johnston met in 1982, and their first recordings were issued in 1990. Personal appearances increased and there were several articles about them in various local and international magazines. Battles of the bands, radio interviews, and more independently-released recordings followed. "Save The Waves" originally appeared on The Surfdusters' 1992 self-released cassette Live...Party On '92. In July 1995. The tune was rerecorded especially for this collection.

Formed in Hamburg, Germany, in 1993, The Looney Tunes have nicely duplicated the sound and style of Southern California surf music. Guitarist Sebastian Hartmann had formed The Wizards in 1985 and his second band, The Swyng Jacks, in 1987. The Swyng Jacks released five cassettes of surf instrumentals between 1989 and 1992, all recorded in Hartmann's home studio. After Thomas Ritter of String Records in Germany saw one of The Looney Tunes' performances, the album Cool Surfin' was recorded in July 1993. It featured the Hartmann original "Desert Bound."

Teisco Del Rey's 1994 CD The Many Moods Of Teisco Del Rey was a varied collection of guitar instrumentals played by Del Rey on different guitars with a different backing group for every track. It wasn't exactly surf music, but it helped reestablish guitar-based instrumental rock as a legitimate form of pop music. Del Rey is a writer/musician/weird-guitar collector and a resident of Austin, Texas, and a regular contributor to Guitar Player magazine.

Del Rey assembled an eclectic group of sidemen to help with the album: Clifford Scott and Steve Douglas (sax), Jimmie Vaughan and Paul Johnson (guitar), Mel Taylor (drums), and Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica). "Pier Pressure" features drummer Janne Haavisto of the space-surf band Laika & The Cosmonauts.

Once you get past the idea that Laika & The Cosmonauts, from Helsinki, Finland, couldn't possibly be a surf band, you're ready to be impressed by their music. They've been described as "absurd to the point of bordering on the surreal" and "absolutely brilliant." They don't take themselves too seriously and never lapse into self-parody.

Laika & The Cosmonauts (Laika was the Russian space dog) spring from the European instrumental rock tradition established by such bands as The Tornadoes, The Shadows, and The Spotnicks. They combine elements of surf rock, spy movie themes, and spaghetti western sounds.

Drummer Janne Haavisto, who had his own surf music radio show, formed the band in 1988. Their first two records were released only in Finland. "A Night In Tunisia," a rocked-up version of a Dizzy Gillespie composition, is from their second album, Surfs You Right, released in 1990. With two newer albums on a U.S. label and a successful U.S. tour in 1994, Laika & The Cosmonauts are "shakers and movers" in the current international surf music revival.

The group Man Or Astro-Man? has been described as "Ventures Meets Devo." Their performances are multimedia events in which various film and video images are shown on TV sets placed about the stage. This is due, in part, to the band's early fascination with film scores and soundtracks.

Man Or Astro-Man? formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1993. They have produced at least 12 records on 7 different labels. Their name comes from a line in the 1962 Japanese science-fiction film The Human Vapor: "Is he...man...or is he...Astro-man?" Most of their recordings are original instrumentals with creative titles, such as "Space Potatoes," "Bermuda Triangle Shorts," and "Sadie Hawkins Atom Bomb."

"Reverb 1000" has been released three times: two studio versions (one of them retitled "Reverb 10,000") and a live version, which is presented in this collection. As the tune begins, the band's bassist, Coco The Electronic Monkey Wizard, explains that it's about "wetness," which pretty much sums up the philosophical meaning of surf music.

The Phantom Surfers began performing their style of surf music in San Francisco in 1988. They wore Lone Ranger-style masks on stage and played with synchronized choreography. They recorded a number of albums and singles (on 13 different labels!), and toured Japan in 1993 and Europe in 1994. "Banzai Run" is from their first album, an all-original collection, mostly of instrumentals, from 1991. Their recorded output and frequent performances have given them notoriety among West Coast vintage surf bands.

The Phantom Surfers are part of a 1990s local band scene in the San Fransisco area. Other high profile surf-inspired instrumental rock bands include the Mermen, The Trashmen, The Woodies, The Torpedoes, Pollo Del Mar, and The Aqua Velvets.

The Aqua Velvets were formed in 1989 by guitarist Miles Corbin and bass player Michael Lindner. Corbin wrote a song called "Surf Boogie" and the pair started recording songs in Lindner's basement home studio. They overdubbed instruments and mixed and remixed the tracks until they had a collection of instrumentals that was finally pressed on a limited-edition, self-titled CD in 1993. "Spanish Blue" is taken from that collection.

College radio airplay followed until the record was picked up for national distribution. Their music was featured on the ESPN-TV network and on an MTV swimsuit special. In 1995 they signed with the Mesa/Blue Moon label, distributed by the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic Corporation. A new album followed called Surfmania, also recorded in Lindner's home studio.

The Aqua Velvets, like The Mermen and Laika & The Cosmonauts, are taking surf music away from its stereotyped sound and pushing it into uncharted territory. Bassist Lindner says, "It's an attitude. There's a freedom of expression because you're not tied to words, none of that quarter-note pounding of punk. It's almost psychedelic."

The Seattle-based Boss Martians are one of the newest young surf bands to distinguish themselves in the mid-'90s. The band was established in 1991 by guitarist Evan Foster and bass player Scott Betts. They cite influences of original '60s surf bands such as The Trashmen, The Astronauts, The Pyramids, The Chantays, and of course Dick Dale & The Del-Tones.

The Martians' second recording, 1993's "XKE!" shows a real appreciation of the surf guitar style played at a breakneck speed. Their recent recordings are a mix of mostly original instrumentals and vocals.

The Chantays, together with Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys, Dick Dale, and The Surfaris, have continued to perform over the years with only short periods of non-activity. For years, these "oldies" acts found work mainly at fairs or surf music revival concerts. The Chantays and Dick Dale have broken free of this restriction in recent years.

Realizing that they had a strong following of "oldsters" and gathering mass of younger fans, guitarist Ricky Lewis convinced The Chantays to make their first record in 30 years. Next Set, was recorded live to 16 track, after hours in a Dana Point restaurant using mobile recording equipment. Considering the sound that was achieved, this was a truly amazing self-produced effort.

"Killer Dana" is considered by some to be the best 1963 surf instrumental of 1994! The title pays homage to the legendary surf spot in Dana Point.

The ultimate irony. At the end of Jimi Hendrix's "Third Stone From The Sun" on his first album, Are You Experienced?, he's heard in the background saying, "You'll never hear surf music again." Not only was he wrong, the Mermen's guitarist and primary composer, Jim Thomas, took the band's name from another Hendrix song, "1983...(A Merman I Shall Turn To Be)," from Jimi's Electric Ladyland.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Thomas (who credits such diverse influences as Chopin, Debussey, Aaron Copeland, Neil Young, and the Sex Pistols), bassist Allen Whitman, and drummer Martyn Jones have been together for about seven years. The band's first release, Food For Other Fish, became one of 1994's top-selling records in the Bay Area. College radio airplay followed and the band became hot property at every major Bay Area venue. In 1995, along with another highly acclaimed Bay Area band, The Aqua Velvets, the Mermen inked a major distribution deal with Mesa/Blue Moon Records.

Thomas describes the band's sound as "ocean-oriented" instead of "surf-inspired." A second album released in 1995 was described as "a captivating suite of underwater raptures and wet dreams." The Mermen's press release description becomes surprisingly unpretentious after you've been exposed to their music: "With just guitar, bass, and drums, the Mermen are a mesmerizing assault on the senses. Performing a music that is amazingly sensitive and deeply emotional, the Mermen's music is sometimes whispery, dreamlike and mystical, sometimes light-hearted and exuberant and sometimes downright in your face, brutal and merciless."

"Honeybomb" was on their 1993 self-released album, but the version here is a previously unreleased live performance, recorded in 1995 at KFJC radio, at Foothill College, in Los Altos Hills.

One of the pleasant surprises of 1995 was the release of The Eliminators' debut CD, Unleashed. It sets a high water mark for future surf instrumental bands playing in a vintage style. "Punta Baja" is a fair sampling of the band's sound. It's evocative music, played and recorded with a great deal of professional acumen. Production credit for their album goes to John Blakeley and Walter Georis of The Sandals.

The Eliminators was formed in 1994 in San Clemente by friends who surfed together. Several of their recordings have been used as background music for Budweiser beer commercials.

The Sandals' primary contribution to surf music was their effective theme for Bruce Brown's 1966 epic surfing documentary, The Endless Summer (see Set 3 of this collection). During production of Brown's much-delayed sequel, The Endless Summer II: The Journey Continues, The Sandals regrouped in 1994 to work on music for the film's soundtrack. They have rerecorded all the tracks from their first album and the earlier film. They released a very nice collection of original surf-inspired tunes called The Spirit Of Surf.

"Wingnut's Theme" is taken from this 1994 effort. The title was inspired by the nickname of Robert Weaver, one of the two surfers whose worldwide search for the perfect wave is the subject of The Endless Summer II.

It's fitting to end the fourth CD in this collection with the man given credit for defining the sound and style of surf music. In 1993, at the urging of San Francisco Chronicle music critic Joel Selvin, Dale headlined a series of shows in the Bay Area (the first time he had ever played there). Incidentally, at the first of these shows, the opening act was The Mermen (represented in this collection with "Honeybomb"). These appearances led to an album deal with HighTone Records. Dale's Tribal Thunder album was his first since a 1983 live album called The Tiger's Loose. Tribal Thunder became a hit album on college radio stations (which have become a major influence on the promotion and marketing of alternative rock in the '90s) and his popularity grew. Then, the use of "Miserlou" in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction sent his comeback over the top.

"Esperanza" is from Dale's Tribal Thunder CD. More new albums followed in 1994 and 1996. In the last few years, he's toured extensively, including trips to England, Europe, and Australia. With Dick Dale, the music's come full circle.

The Last Wave: Epilogue

The word "revival" can be a little misleading. The implication is that something has been brought back to life. In a broad sense, surf music has never really gone away. Ever since 1965, there have been many bands, vocal groups, and solo artists who have exercised creative license to produce music within the genre.

The Beach Boys have continued to tour over the years (they even had one of their biggest hit records ever in 1988 with "Kokomo"), each time reminding us that the music's message was timeless and even ageless. Actually, age regression seems to be a contagious experience at a Beach Boys concert.

In a strict sense, the current surf music revival is certainly bringing the genre to life. Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction jump-started the current resurgence, thanks to the use of "Miserlou" as the film's opening theme (The Lively Ones' "Surf Rider" was used as the closing theme). The film had absolutely nothing to do with surfing or with the surf culture, yet the music worked to support the film's mood and atmosphere. The Pulp Fiction soundtrack remained on the national sales charts for months. Its popularity was a good indication that surf music had found a widespread audience in 1994.

There is a lot more evidence of the music's vitality, longevity, permanence, and continuance as a serious form of American popular music. Surf music is frequently used in radio and television commercials and images of the surf culture occur with regularity in the print media. Brian Wilson resurfaced with a solo album, a Disney Channel special, and the long-delayed release of the complete Pet Sounds sessions, and there may be a combined effort with The Beach Boys on a new band record. Jan & Dean and The Surfaris continue to tour and draw huge, vibrant crowds (Jan & Dean are currently doing about 30 shows per year). A number of '60s surf bands have regrouped, most with all or most of the original members - The Lively Ones, The Chantays, The Tornadoes, The Centurians, The Revels, and The Sandals, among others.

Jon & The Nightriders, a major player in the 1980s surf music renaissance, have reunited and recorded a new album in 1996. Loyd Davis and Neal Kuzee, original members of the 1980s revival band The Surf Raiders, have formed a new group called The Sultans Of Surf. The Surf Raiders' lead guitarist, Robert Dalley, has become a respected historian of the music (the much-enlarged new edition of his 1980s book Surfin' Guitars is due to be published in hardback soon). Dalley has also started an international fan club, with its own newsletter, called The Salt Lake City Surf Music Appreciation Society.

Several record companies here and abroad have emerged in the '90s as leaders of vintage surf music reissues in the digital domain: Sundazed, Varese Sarabande, AVI, Rhino, Ace (England), Repertoire (Germany), and the small independents Estrus and Dionysus are the most prolific. Even Del-Fi Records, a label that released tons of great surf music in the 1960s, experienced a growth spurt in the '90s and reissued their entire surf album catalog on compact disc.

Paul Johnson, originally with The Belairs ("Mr. Moto"), remains actively involved in surf music (he has issued several guitar instrumental recordings over the last few years and is preparing a new effort in 1996). Johnson has also joined The Surfaris' touring band as their lead guitarist. (Drummer Don Murray, originally with The Crossfires of "Fiberglass Jungle" fame had also been joining the band on recent dates, before he died unexpectedly in early 1996).

Perhaps the most obvious evidence that surf music has been infused with new life is the growing number of new surf bands, nearly all of them composed of kids whose birth dates were years after the last Reverb Unit rolled off the Fender assembly line. They are everywhere, united by the common desire to make fun music.

In a 1987 interview with Robert Dalley, guitarist Dave Myers (of The Surftones) said: "Surf music was a pure sound of its own. There were lots of places to play, lots of people to come and see you. Many bands had large followings. When the change came, more than the music changed. It was an attitude change."

Sometimes it's true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. While some modern-day "surf revival" bands are experimenting with different sounds and textures, most others stay true to the vintage, reverbed, guitar-dominated instrumental form. Whatever the form, the continued interest in surf music has now spread internationally and the signs are good that it'll be around for awhile. To borrow an appropriate lyric from It Will Stand, a 1964 hit by the vocal group The Showmen:

by John Blair

Writer bio: John Blair is one of the nation's foremost surf music experts. He is author of The Illustrated Discography Of Surf Music 1961-1965, which is available from Popular Culture, Ink, PO Box 1839, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Telephone 1-800-678-8828.

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Amped:	Overdoing it; excited; stoked.
Anglin':	Turning left and/or right on a wave.
Avalanche:	An outer reef surf spot on Oahu, Hawaii; the white water pouring down the face of a wave.
Awesome:	Great; fantastic (also see "Off the Richter," "Off the Wall," "Outrageous").
Back Down:	To decide not to take off on a wave.
Baggys/Baggies:	Oversized, loose fitting boxer-type swim trunks worn for show or comfort by surfers.
Bail out:	To get away from, jump off, or dive off the surfboard just before a potential wipe out.
Banzai:	A gung-ho type of yell given by surfers as they shoot the curl (also see "Cowabunga").
Banzai Pipeline:	A surf spot on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, between Waimea Bay and Sunset Beach; also called Pipeline (also see "Pipeline").
Barrel:	The breaking motion of a perfect wave; a hollow channel formed inside a good wave when it breaks and curls over.
Beach Bunny:	A girl who goes to the beach to watch surfing.
Beached:	Totally stuffed from eating.
Beaver tail:	A wet suit that features a snap-on crotch, the shape of which resembles a beaver's tail.
Big Gun:	A 9-foot or longer surfboard especially designed for large waves.
Big Surf:	Extremely large waves (also see "Bombora," "Heavies").
Bitchin:	(also "Bitchen") Very good; tops; excellent (also see "Boss," "Excellent," "Primo," "Rad").
Body Surfing:	Riding the waves without a surfboard.
Bogus:	False; lame; ridiculous; unbelievable.
Bombora:	An Australian word that refers to a big wave that breaks outside the normal surf line.
Bone Yard:	The area where the waves break.
Boogie Board:	A soft, flexible foam bodyboard invented in the 1970s (unlike a surfboard, a boogie board is ridden lying down).
Boss:	Outstanding; the best (also see "Bitchin," "Excellent," "Primo," "Rad").
Breaker:	Any wave that breaks on the way to the beach.
Breakwater:	A line of large boulders, cement, and/or steel extending out into the water and designed to reduce shoreline erosion.
Bro:	(also "Bra") Short for "brother" (also see "Dude").
Bummer:	Too bad; a total drag.
Bunny:	(see "Beach Bunny")
Carve:	To make a radical turn (also see "Hot-Dogging," "Shred").
Catch a Wave:	To ride a breaking wave.
Climbing:	To carve an S-shaped path on a wave, making a radical
Dropping:	bottom turn, climbing to the wave's crest, then radically cutting back
Coffin:	Riding a surfboard while lying stiffly on one's back with arms crossed.
Cowabunga:	(also "Kowabunga") A yell of excitement by a surfer (also see "Banzai").
Crest:	The top portion of a wave.
Cruncher:	A big, hard-breaking wave that folds over and is almost impossible to ride.
Curl:	The portion of the wave that is spilling over and breaking.
Cut Back:	To turn toward the breaking part of the wave.
Cut out:	To pull out of the wave, like kicking out.
Ding:	A hole, crack, dent, or scratch on the surface of a surfboard.
Doggers:	Multicolored swimming trunks.
Dork:	Someone behaving inappropriately (also see "Geek," "Kook").
Double Spinner:	Two consecutive 360-degree body spins on a surfboard.
Dude:	A male surfing enthusiast (women are referred to as "dudettes").
Dweeb:	A geek; someone who acts or looks like a simpleton.
Eat It:	To fall off of a surfboard (also see "Wipe Out").
El Rollo:	Lying prone on a surfboard and holding on to the sides while rolling 360-degrees during a ride.
Excellent:	Great; fantastic; exceptional (also see "Bitchin," "Boss," "Primo," "Rad").
Face:	The unbroken wall, surface, or nearly vertical front of a wave.
Fer Sure:	The surfer pronunciation of "for sure," meaning absolutely, correct, or definitely.
Geek:	Someone behaving inappropriately (also see "Kook," "Dork").
Glasshouse:	(see "Green Room")
Glassy:	A smooth water surface condition caused by absence of local winds.
Gnarlatious:	Anything that's really great or awesome.
Gnarly:	Treacherous; large and dangerous.
Goofy-Foot:	Riding a surfboard with the right foot forward (left foot forward is the more common stance).
Green Room:	The space inside of a tube.
Gremlin:	A young hodad; a beginning surfer (also see "Grommet").
Gremmy/Gremmie:	(See "Hodad")
Grommet:	A young hodad; a beginning surfer (also see "Gremlin").
Ground Swell:	Large waves generated by distant storms.
Gun:	A large surfboard designed for very big waves (see "Big Gun").
Hairy:	(see "Gnarly")
Hang Five/Ten:	To place five (or ten) toes over the nose of the surfboard (also see "Toes on the Nose").
Head Dip:	Touching the water with your head while surfing.
Headstand:	Standing on one's head while riding a wave.
Heavies:	Very big waves usually higher than 12 feet.
Hit the Surf:	To go surfing.
Honker:	A really big wave (also see "Heavies," "Bombora").
Hot-Dogging:	Fancy surfing done by a skilled surfer.
Hodad:	A non-surfer, usually someone who just hangs around the beach.
Honeys:	Female surfers or girlfriends of surfers.
Huarache Sandals:	Leather sandals worn by surfers with a sole made from tire treads.
Jetty:	(see "Breakwater")
Kahuna:	The Hawaiian god of sun, sand, and surf.
Kamikaze:	Riding the board at the nose with arms held straight out to each side.
Kick Out:	To push down on the tail of a surfboard to lift and turn the nose over the top of the wave.
Knots:	Callouses, or calcium deposits, just below the knee and on the tops of the foot caused by kneeling on the surfboard.
Kook:	(also "Kuk") A surfing beginner; someone who gets in the way or into trouble because of ignorance or inexperience (also see "Dork," "Geek").
Kowabunga:	(see "Cowabunga")
Kuk:	(see "Kook")
Leash:	A cord attaching the surfer's ankle to the surfboard.
Locked In:	Firmly set in the curling portion of the wave with water holding down the tail of the board.
Log:	Slang for pre-foam board made of wood.
Longboard:	A surfboard eight to ten feet long.
Max Out:	To be over the limit.
Mondo:	Something huge; of epic proportions.
Nailed:	To get badly wiped out.
Nose:	The bow or front end of a surfboard.
Off the Richter:	Used to describe something that's very good, excellent, or "off the scale" (also see "Awesome," "Off the Wall," "Outrageous").
Off the Wall:	Incredible, excellent (also see "Awesome," "Off the Richter," "Outrageous").
Outrageous:	Incredible, excellent (also see "Awesome," "Off the Richter," "Off the Wall").
Outside Break:	The area farthest from shore where the waves are breaking.
Over the Falls:	To wipe out, or to get dragged over as the wave breaks.
Pearl:	Driving the nose of a surfboard under water to stop or slow down the ride. The term is borrowed from "pearl diving."
Pendleton:	A brightly colored plaid wool or flannel shirt worn by some surfers.
Pipeline:	A surf spot on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, between Waimea Bay and Sunset Beach; also called Banzai Pipeline. Originally named by surfing filmmaker Bruce Brown (also see "Banzai Pipeline").
Point Break:	A type of surf break where waves wrap around a promontory of land and curl as they break. A classic example of a point break is located at Rincon, California, just south of the Santa Barbara/Ventura County line.
Poser:	A surfer "wanna-be"; someone who only dresses the part.
Pounder:	A hard-breaking wave.
Primo:	The best (also see "Bitchin," "Boss," "Excellent," "Rad").
Pull Out:	To steer a surfboard over or through the back of a wave to end a ride.
Quasimoto:	Riding forward in a hunched-over position; riding a wave on the nose of a surfboard in a crouched position with one arm forward and one arm back, named by surfer Mickey Muöoz.
Rad/Radical:	Very good; tops; excellent (also see "Bitchin," "Boss," "Primo," "Excellent").
Rails:	The rounded edges of the surfboard.
Sano:	Abbreviated form of San Onofre; also means a very clean, nicely contoured wave condition.
Set:	A group of waves.
Shape:	The configuration, or form, of a wave.
Shoot the Curl:	Riding a surfboard through, or in and out of, the hollow part of the wave formed as it crests over.
Shoot the Pier:	Riding a surfboard in between the pilings of a beachside pier.
Shoot the Tube:	(see "Shoot the curl")
Shred:	To surf aggressively (also see "Hot-Dogging).
Sidewalk Surfing:	Skateboarding.
Skeg:	The fin at the tail end of a surfboard.
Soup:	The foamy part of the broken wave; the white water.
Spin Out:	The result of a surfboard's skeg and tail end losing contact with the wave face and the surfer wipes out.
Spinner:	A surfer making a complete 360-degree turn in an upright position while the surfboard keeps going straight (also called a "360").
Stoked:	Happy; excited; contented.
Stringer:	The wood strip running down the center of the board; sometimes used for design.
Surf Bunny:	A surfer's girlfriend; a female surfer (also see "Beach Bunny").
Surfari:	A surfing trip; a hunt for good surf.
Swells:	Unbroken waves moving in groups of similar height and frequency.
Tail:	The stern or rear end of a surfboard.
Takeoff:	The start of a ride.
Taking Gas:	To wipe out.
Tandem:	Two people riding on a surfboard at the same time, usually a man and woman.
360:	(See "Spinner")
Toes on the Nose:	Riding a surfboard with the toes hanging over the front end (also see "Hang Five/Ten")
Tube:	The hollow portion of a wave formed when the crest spills over and makes a tunnel or hollow space in front of the face of the wave.
Val:	Person from the San Fernando Valley, as referred to by persons living in the L.A.-area beach cities.
Walking the Board:	Walking back and forth on the surfboard to maintain control.
Walking the Nose:	Moving forward on the board toward the front or nose.
Wax:	Substance applied to the top, or deck, of surfboards for traction.
Wedge, The:	A famous, but dangerous, body surfing spot located at the tip of the Balboa peninsula in Newport Beach, California.
Wet Suit:	A neoprene rubber suit used by surfers to keep warm.
Wipe Out:	To fall off or be knocked off your board (also see "Eat It").
Woodie:	A station wagon, made in the '40s and '50s, with wood paneling on the sides.

--J.B.