TOP 40 BIZARRE SURF MUSIC
This is a list of odd songs related to the surf/hot rod genre (instro and vocal).
I left out many songs, but obviously, there’s no way to compile every kistch surf song they released.
If you want to know more about the genre, just check the book “Summer Fun” in this site, but sorry it’s written in spanish language only.
And folks, sorry for my poor english too.
1.- SURF PUNKS - I Live For The Sun: The Rick Henn classic sodomized by the punk/new wave stuff of the late 70s. Drew Steel and Dennis Dragon were the alma mater of this californian-eightiesque band.
Dragon used to write and perform lots of surf film soundtracks of the 60s and 70s, working for Grant Rohloff and Hal Jepsen.
2.- BRUCE JOHNSTON – Pipeline: In 1977, in the midst of the disco craze, beach boy Bruce jumps in the bandwagon. The classic Chantays surf hymn is filtered through the disco sound, a weird exercise of fussion. Like in the good ol’ times, this neat piece of surf music is produced by Gary Usher.
3.- ANNETTE FUNICELLO – The Battle Of San Onofre: God created the world in six days, then rested for a day and at the following day he created Annette Funicello.
Silly recited lyrics about a gang of surfers confronting a bunch of scuba divers. The concept is stupid but the instrumental track is just great. The Phantom surfers took the guitar riff and made a whole surf instro song around it in their 1991 Lp "18 Deadly Ones".
4.- PHAROS – Pintor: The alternate title could be “Antonio Machín Goes Surfin’”. Several months passed since I realise this song is a instro surf arrangement of the classic vocal pop tune “Angelitos Negros”. The song was a hit in Spain performed by cuban singer Antonio Machín. Pure surf exotica with latin feel.
5.- NEW DIMENSIONS – The Phantom Skier (vocal/intrumental): Some wise asses from the surf music industry tried to take the ski as a musical concept in order to get a “ski music” concept. If the beach party movie genre could go to the slopes, why don’t the Beverly Hills kids do the same? The New Dimensions made a vocal and instrumental version of the theme. The instro shines with the ultra-reverbered verse.
6.- BOB DENVER – Ho Daddy: From the 1964 film “For Those Who Think Young”. Bob Denver of “Gilligan’s Island” fame, appears in this movie along with Nancy Sinatra.
Denver sings this beatnik rap covered by sand performing an elementary school visual trick. The tribal dance is performed among others by surf own enfant terrible Miki Dora.
7.- RHYTHM KINGS – Exotic: More bizarre combinations. This time a traditional flamenco style song made popular by spanish writer Federico García Lorca is combined with that colorful California of 1963.
Several chicano rhythm&blues bands proliferated in the San Joaquin valley area. Some of these bands were related to surf music when their repertoire was instrumental. The talented Rhythm Kings took the riff of “Zorongo Gitano” and was included in their song “Exotic” of 1963. Later, Bob Vaught & the Renegaids did a fierce version of the song.
8.- FIRST CLASS – Beach Baby: This english band from the 70s were devoted disciples of the sound created by Brian Wilson. They weren`t afraid to sing about the California clichés of the early 60s ten years later.
9.- BEACH BOYS – Luau: Flip side from their first single. Composed by Bruce Morgan, the son of the Morgans who oriented the BB in their very beginning. The Hawthorne boys never liked this tune so much. Maybe it was imposed by the Morgans due to the lack of original stuff from the band.
“Luau” evokes the south seas fake conscience of the american society that today we know as tiki culture.
10.- DICK DALE & STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN – Pipeline: From the soundtrack of the revivalist beach party flick “Back To The Beach” (1987). This tune appears in the scene where Dick and Stevie are dueling with their guitars. The cover suffers from the production sound of the era, and like some vintage beach party movie soundtracks, is produced by Gary Usher.
11.- VIC MIZZY – Daybreak At Malibu: Mizzy was a composer who worked for the tv and film industry creating such musical items as the Addams family main theme. In 1967 he composed and conducted the soundtrack for the film “Don’t Make Waves” starring Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale and the beautiful Sharon Tate.
There’s two versions of the song in the film, both of them got a peculiar mix of surf-psychedelic-garage-bigband sound. The summer of love and the beach party gang all in one.
12.- MARTIN DENNY – Paradise Cove: Denny was one of the monarchs of the light jazz style known as exotica so popular at the late 50s and early 60s.
This pianist made the charts with a cover of the Les Baxter’s composition “Quiet Village”.
Denny could take any piece of music and arrange it to the exotica feel. In the early sixties he covered the Ray Hunt surf instro classic made popular by the Surfmen.
13.- HUSTLERS – Barefooted Venture: Bruce Brown was a surfer who became a surfilmamker. Between 1959 and 1964 he filmed, edited and narrated several documental surf films. His 1961 production was “Barefoot Adventure” with an original score by the Bud Shank jazz band.
Months later, when the surf music fever came, the Hustlers reverberized the tune with a more danceable rhythm.
14.- BRIAN LORD & THE MIDNIGHTERS - The Big Surfer: A few months before JFK was killed, this single was published. Frank Zappa was involved in this Kennedy impersonation backed with a surf instro.
15.- DAVIE ALLAN & THE ARROWS – Mind Transferal: The best description of this song: “Pipeline” goes psychedelic. From the soundtrack of the biker film “The Glory Stompers” (1967). Pipelinesque rhythm guitar, lead fuzz guitar and weird sound effects.
16.- JAN & DEAN – Walk On The Wet Side: Jan Berry was a composer and producer always at the shadow of Brian Wilson. From time to time sent Dean for some burguers, and created interesting instrumental pieces like this. With horn section and the bridge courtesy of the Pyramids.
17.- BEACH BOYS – California Callin’: From their 1985 Lp (first one after the tragic death of drummer Dennis Wilson). Ringo Starr makes a cameo.
Actually this is a Beach Boys 80s sub-product with Brian in his Landy era and with Mike Love trying to make a buck taking advantage of silly beach boys clichés.
The basic structure of the song is similar to “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and was written by the forgotten Al Jardine.
18.- TURTLES – Surfer Dan: Another piece of surf music out of its time. The Turtles released their fifth studio album in late 1968. The record was conceived as a battle of the bands with songs from several styles. “Surfer Dan” was dedicated to Dean Torrance of Jan & Dean fame.
19.- DICK DALE & THE DELTONES – Sloop John B.: This folk classic was made popular by the Beach Boys in the pop universe when they covered it in 1965. Three years before Brian Wilson arranged the sophisticated version of “Sloop…” Dick recorded the song for the “Surfer’s Choice” album with his peculiar voice and a mellow surf guitar solo.
20.- JULIO IGLESIAS & THE BEACH BOYS – Surfer Girl: I think it was in Washington. The july fourth of 1984, in the midst of the US national celebration, the one and only Julito “sang” the Beach Boys song with the lyrics in one hand and scared shitless.
21.- PHANTOM SURFERS – Bésame Mucho: It was a must to list this San Francisco revival surf band from the pre-pulp fiction era. In their first and second Lp there’s lots of songs to include in this bizarre list but I choose this. Latin surf from the 90s performed from the masked surfers themselves.
22.- ARTHUR LYMAN – Hawaii 5-0: This vibraphonist formed his own combo after leaving the Martin Denny group. In his last days of fame he did this Ventures cover, hawaiian style of course. A shame there are no bird calls.
23.- REBELDES – Mediterráneo: In Spain, in the 80s, there were no “cool conscience”, no vintage obsession, no kustom kulture thing, no surf retro movement, no post pulp fiction aseptic surf bands… But there was a band from Barcelona who in 1988 wrote and performed the surf vocal “Mediterráneo” and… you know what? It became the song of the summer of that year, I mean a smash summer hit. If this could be amazing in the states, imagine in Spain.
24.- BLUE HAWAIIANS – Swingin’ Hula Girl: This is pure neo-exotica delicatessen from this high quality surf/lounge act.
The band was a sensation in the mid 90s in the L.A. musical scene, and was the band to see if you were or pretended to be a snotty high profile in the show biz scene of L.A.
25.- SEA CRUISE - Beach Boys Medley: Maybe the most bizarre entry in this list. Another disco age gem. An odd looking pair of guys named Jay & Germain released a thematic disco music Lp devoting to the Beach Boys songs and other summer vanalities. The 12 minute medley is a pastiche with a string section, a horn section, a disco beat and falsettos very enjoyable if you are pretty drunk. Seems like an eurotrash production but it could be from Canada too.
26.- NEGATIVOS – Haciendo Surf En Mi Mente: This is the 80s mod band of cult of Spain. They were from Barcelona and they wrote this song with a Beach Boys flavor.
27.- IRON BUTTERFLY – Filled With Fear: Surf instro hidden under the effects of lisergic acid. The band more known for their psychedelic anthem “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”, let us know that their two lead guitarists were surf guitar players with a crew cut before growing their hair and use the wah-wah pedal. Sure “Filled…” is a vocal song but there’s some guitar riffs on it full of reverb.
28.- UNTAMED YOUTH – Iron Cross: It’s not a surf vocal song, but the iron cross was an iconic military award that linked bikers, greasers and surfers in the late 50s and early 60s. People used to get fucked for its nazi vinculation. In early XXI century the symbol became in vogue and has been overused for the pseudocool kustomkulture-fashion of today.
29.- ANNETTE FUNICELLO – Surfer’s Cha Cha Cha: Thanks to the succes of the film “Beach Party” starring Annette along with Frankie Avalon, Vista records tried to catch in with an entire album of beach related music. There were no enough stuff to fill the album, so they took a couple of old Annette tunes and voilà. The old “Luau Cha Cha Cha” became “Surfer’s Cha Cha Cha”. Silly and corny… but try to dance to the music if you make sure no one is looking at you.
30.- BEACH BOYS – Do It Again: This is no a bizarre gem. This is a modest hit from the BB from 1969. It’s interesting that the Hawthorne kids started with the nostalgia feel just a few years from their surf/hotrod/summer days. Maybe the nostalgia came from Mike Love when he realised the band wasn’t hip anymore, so the money didn’t flow like 1965.
31.- FRANK SINATRA Jr. – The Beach Girls And The Monster: One year after his ridiculous kidnaping, the ol’ blue eyes’ son try to sing the main theme from this B movie. The back up band is an unknown surf combo (maybe the Truants) who provided the entire soundtrack of the film.
32.- DICK DALE – Mama’s Gone Surfin’: Another Lp filler. Dick in the Capitol era was forced to sing things like this (maybe red in his face) in the 1964 Lp “Summer Surf”. Mama wants to shoot the curl, mama wants to be a surfer girl!!!
33.- JOHNNY FORTUNE – Siboney: Cal-mex surf instro courtesy of this guitarist in the Chet Atkins style. The album “Soul Surfer” was released in 1963. Mariachi trumpet included.
34.- TIDES – Surfin’ Boy: The record label Mercury Wing, produced a surf vocal album in early 1964 for an early teenage audience if you have to judge for the entire music of the Lp. Studio band of course. “Surfin’ Boy” is a good musical choice for a pre-teen birthday party. It’s awesome the amount of stuff they labeled as surf to make a quick buck.
35.- JON & THE NIGHTRIDERS – Charge Of The Nightriders (William Tell Overture): John Blair, is a surf music historian who formed one of the first revival surf bands in late 70s. This is a curiosity from their 1984 Lp with a spectacular effect.
36.- VAL KILMER (TOP SECRET! SOUNDTRACK) – Skeet Surfin’: Actor Val Kilmer sings this Beach Boys/Sunrays parody wich opens the movie “Top Secret!”. The lyrics are hilarious, so the surfboards are exchanged for guns.
37.- JAMES BROWN – Surfin’ Along: The godfather of soul was forced to sing this thing in the crest of the surf boom. Dignity can avoid even a figure like James Brown.
38.- LONELY ONES – Misirlou: This surf band used to play at the pub Stub’s. The owner of the place was a man with strong christian believes.
In their only Ep, there’s christian comentaries between songs.
39.- SLOUGH BOYS – Surfin’ On Cedar Lake: Protest song with a Trashmen attitude. This Iowa band made fun of senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper in a time when there were problems with the electric plant of Cedar Rapids.
40.- KATHY MARSHALL – An acetate never published: To end the list, an ultrarare entry. Kathy was a 13 year old California lolita crowned as queen of the surf guitar in the early 60s. She used to get backed up by such a great surf bands as Eddie and the Showmen or the Blazers. Mel Taylor and Don Wilson of the Ventures wrote a song for her, wich was recorded but never published.
Written by Didac Piquer Puigdemont.
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