GOOD VIBRATIONS

“Surf music is actually just the sound of the waves played on a guitar, that wet, splashy sound.”—Dick Dale, the King of the Surf Guitar¹

If you think about it, surfing is as sonic as it is physical. The sound of the ocean is the first song the Earth ever played. The ocean creates its own music. An angry sea sounds violent; the cannon crack of a barrel hitting flat water is an audible monster that will wake all of the senses. The gentle brush of small waves lapping onto the shore is a sound humans have used to lull themselves to sleep for eons. Then there’s the rarely heard, otherworldly howl of a tube, only heard from inside said tube—this is “surf music”, but just one branch of the surf music tree that has roots and limbs sprawling and intermingling throughout the past, present, and future.

The cosmic connections between surfing and music are endless. You’ve got the actual genre of “surf music”, then there’s music that makes you want to surf, music made by surfers, and the music that lives in your head while you’re surfing. Obviously, there are a billion other links between surfing and music. But for the sake of brevity and priceless page-space in this magazine, let’s focus on a few elements that connect surfing and music utilizing the above-referenced list.

SURF MUSIC, THE GENRE

In the early ’60s, surfing was having a moment. Hollywood was hyping the scene. Gidget was Gidgeting all over big and small screens, and the California beach lifestyle became a lifestyle that the whole world wanted in on. Why wouldn’t you? Sixties surfing was the best. Big, bright, beautiful boards, bronzed bodies, hot rods and woodies are parked at the water’s edge. Surfing enjoyed a rebellious yet wholesome feel, and at the time, the scene was small, focused on Malibu, in Hawai’i, and up and down the California coast for the most part. The sound of surfing back then was easy to pinpoint, so easy, they just went ahead and called it “surf music”. It started with bands like The Chantays, The Surfaris, Jan and Dean, The Trashmen, The Beach Boys, and of course, King of the Surf Guitar, Dick Dale. Truth be told, most of the musicians involved in early surf music didn’t actually surf, but they most definitely captured the essence of surfing.

Here’s a challenge to prove this hypothesis: Put on The Chantays’ “Pipeline”, close your eyes, try not to think about surfing—you can’t not think about surfing while listening to this jam and