SURF ROCK

Historically, surf rock is a contradiction in terms. In the 1960s when surf music was developing as a genre, surf culture and rock and roll culture were competing youth cultures.

The new crowd of mostly male teenaged surfers began to develop their own culture, dressing and speaking in a distinctive way. At high school, the bleached-blonde surfers wore Pendleton shirts; sandals; whit, tight, and somewhat short Levis; and baggies - very large, loose, boxer-style shorts. After school, they jumped into oversized station wagons with wooden sides, which transported their polys (surfboards), drove to the beach and dashed to the ocean.

Surfers listened to their own music that originated with Dick Dale and his Del-Tones and is characterized by the classic lead, rhythm, and bass guitar and drums combo developed at the same time in both genres, using similar instruments and both contributing to the development of the instruments themselves.

In September 1961, "Lets Go Trippin'" topped the California charts and edged toward the national Top 50. Dale followed with "Surfbeat," "Surfing Drums," and "Shake 'n' Stomp," and in 1962 produced the classical surf instrumental, "Miserlou." Instrumental rock band The Ventures also had a number of surf hits, their most widely known being "Walk Don't Run".

Since the 1960s, in a sense surf music has become a subgenre of rock music. This is seen for example in the induction of classic surf band The Beach Boys into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Surfaris in to the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame.