Surfing Safari:
California Surf Music
and the Rise of
Suburban Youth
Culture
A Mapping the Beat Exploration
Project Web Site
http://surfingsafari.wordpress.com/
“Music is as close to surfing as you
can get without actually going in the
water.”
 Describe sounds you might hear
if you were out in the ocean, past
the breakers, sitting up on your
surfboard waiting for a big wave
to roll in.
 How are these sounds similar to
music?
What is Surf Music?
 What characteristics, images, song
titles, artists, etc come to mind?
 Is surf music distinctly American? In
other words, did it originate here?
 Did the sport of surfing originate
here?
 How do you think surfing itself and
its historical trends might have
This lesson will continue to
explore these questions as
well as answers to the
following questions:
1. How Does the Physical and Social
Character of a Region Shape Popular
Music?
2. How Does Popular Music Shape the
Cultural Character of the Region?
3. How Has Surf Music Continued to
Evolve and Adapt through the
Decades?
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
Jack Johnson
1953
2003
Surfin’ USA
Del Mar, Ventura, Santa Cruz, Trestles, Narrabeen,
Manhattan, Doheny, Haggerties, Swamies, Pacific
Palisades, San Onofre, Sunset, Redondo, La Jolla,
Wa’imea Bay
What did the physical/geographical
character of Southern California look
like before 1950?
 Extensive beaches, consistent waves, tolerably
warm water, & sunny weather make CA one of
world’s greatest surf locations, especially the
region between Malibu and San Onofre.
 Surf origins in Polynesia, Hawai’i, the world’s
most isolated archipelago, with the biggest
waves every winter = surf magnet.
 Only way to get there through the 1930s was
by boat making California and Australia among
the most geographically conducive for surfing
to spread.
 Historic and geographical considerations,
patterns of migration, socio-economic
conditions, & social values converged in 1960s
CA to launch surfing into an international craze.
 Since the disastrous 1969 oil spill in Santa
Barbara channel, surfers more involved in
environmental and ecological concerns.
 In many ways, it was the music that turned the
world’s attention to the beach.
History of Surfing in California
Hawai’i-California
Connection
 Early Polynesian surfing
 American and European
tourism to Hawai’i after 1893
 Surfing popularization in early
20th century via Jack London
and Alexander Ford Hume
 First of many surfing clubs,
Hume’s Outrigger Canoe Club
 Duke Kahanomoku
What is Hawai’ian Music?
Hawa’iian music has a very distinctive
sound.
Can you identify the instruments being
played?
Listen to the Hawaiian Ukulele
Listen to the Hawaiian Steel Guitar
Ukulele Players on a CA Beach
Surfing Boom
 Early 1930s Rise of Surfing Clubs and Surfing
Photography
 Post World War II Migration to California and Economic
Prosperity
 First Surf Films
 Bud Browne
 John Severson
 Bruce Brown
 Technological Innovations:
 Light-Weight Surfboards
 Transistor Radio
 Wet Suit
As the population of surfers multiplied in California, Hawai’i and
elsewhere around the world, the images and popular
representation of surfing narrowed. Opening in 1959, “Gidget”
the movie touched off a worldwide sensation. The story
stemmed from the real life experiences Kathy “Gidget” Kohner
who, although never a serious surfer, was a Malibu regular.
Click below to watch a brief scene
from the 1959 film Gidget.
By the 1960s, surf culture had become a fullfledged industry, comprised of music, movies,
magazines, mass produced boards, clothes and
gear and surf music especially played no small
part in the surf craze.
Among the first surf bands to
emerge in the 1950’s were. . .
Dick Dale & the Del-Tones
The Surfaris
An excerpt from Surfin’ Guitars by Robert Dalley:
“ Instrumental surf music was a unique style of music that
first appeared in the early sixties. What made it unique
was that it developed around the culture and language of
the sport of surfing. The music was an attempt on the part
of the musician to convey the feeling and rhythm of surfing
to others through the music. Although this music was
mostly a regional phenomenon centered on the West
Coast of Southern California, its presence was felt
worldwide where instrumental music knew no language
barriers. Dick Dale is credited with introducing this style of
music and . . . seemed to get things started with ‘Let’s Go
Trippin’ released in 1961. It was Dick Dale who influenced
many local artists and groups.”
Listen to Dick Dale's Let's Go Trippin’
Dick Dale
Dick Dale is known as the “King of the
surf guitar,” and founder of the “surf
sound.” Dick Dale took up surfing in the
late 1950s, but had greater success
expressing his love of the sport on his
instrument. Born Richard Anthony
Monsour, in Beirut, Lebanon, to a Polish
mother and Lebanese father, Dale’s
musical influences stemmed, not from
Polynesia, but from his roots as his
music re-worked the Middle-Eastern
scales taught to him by his uncle, who
played the oud. Dale and his band the
Del-Tones drew large audiences, touring
around southern California and inspired
a host of other local bands from Jan and
Dean to the Surfaris to experiment with
the instrumental guitar sound. Playing
to youth-filled crowds in large halls
these bands resonated with the
booming, post-War youth culture in
southern California from the beaches
inland to Ontario and Riverside. Dale
wrote the soundtrack to the popular
“Beach Party” film, but despite his local
success and status as founder of the
widely popular genre, global attention
clamored to Brian Wilson’s and his
Click on the image below to watch
Dick Dale & the Del Tones perform Miserlou
Iconic California surf musicians of the
1960s created a wave of influence on Rock
& Roll and popular music across the
country.
Their music was the sound of the people,
intended to inspire and express the
seemingly
collective
desire
for
independence and that drive to catch the
biggest
wave.
This music took two forms simultaneously,
One was instrumental rock, with a guitar playing
the lead line (melody) as with such musicians as
Dick Dale, The Surfaris, The Ventures, and The
Chantays
Listen to Pipeline by The Chantays
Members Jim Fuller, Pat
Connolly, Ron Wilson, Bob
Berryhill, and Jim Pash of
Glendora, California, met in
junior high school and were
each directly influenced by
Dick Dale’s performance
style and early success. The
Surfaris
biggest
hit
“Wipeout,” completed in just
two takes, reached number
two on the Billboard charts in
1963 and remained in the top
100 for an inimitable total of
189 weeks. It was far and
away the most successful hit
to
come
out
of
the
instrumental
surf
music
genre.
The Surfaris
While sound could provide the imagery of a wave coming
crashing down or the sound of a surfer’s “Wipeout” as The
Surfaris were so craftily able to create...
Lyrics now provided an added means of expression. . .
“I have watched you on the shore, standing by the ocean’s roar”– Surfer
Girl lyrics, Beach Boys
The second form was songs about surfing,
what is known as “vocal surf pop”
introduced by
The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean.
Listen to Jan & Dean’s Surf City
The Beach Boys
Originally comprised of brothers Brian,
Dennis, and Carl Wilson along with their
cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine,
The Beach Boys formed in 1961 in
Hawthorne, California. They were
initially managed by the Wilsons’ father
(Murry) who championed them to
signing with Capitol Records in 1962.
But the music of The Beach Boys was
much different from the then established
instrumental guitar- and drum-driven
surf music of artists like Dick Dale and
Eddie Bertrand. The Wilson boys grew
up singing around the piano with their
father at the keys, listening intently to
and imitating the close vocal harmonies
of such groups as The Four Freshmen.
Their music began and continued to
flourish as more of a “vocal surf pop”
genre that happened to be about the
subject of surfing (Brian wrote lyrics
reflecting the Southern Californian youth
surf culture) than falling under the label
of “surf music.”
Compare and List Similarities Between
Miserlou and Two More Iconic Surf Songs
Wipe Out by
The Surfaris
Surfin’ Safari
by The Beach
Boys
What did you notice about. . .
 Melodies
 Rhythms
 Instruments used
 Characteristic sounds
 Emotions expressed
Other similarities that come to mind?
How has surf music continued to
evolve and adapt through the
decades?
1950-1960s
 Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
 The Surfaris
2000-2010s
 Ka’au Krater Boys, Surf
 Jack Johnson, Sitting,
Waiting, Wishing
 The Chantays
 Jan & Dean
 The Beach Boys
 Donavan Frankenreiter,
Lovely Day
 Tristan Prettyman, Love,
Love, Love
Conclusion
Historic and geographical
considerations, patterns of
migration, socio-economic
conditions, and social group
values converged to make
California in the 1960s the right
place and time for surfing to
burst onto the scene of
America’s consciousness.
Southern California launched
surfing into an international
craze and it remains an
important component of
California’s popular culture.
In many ways, it was the
Surfing Safari Collaborators
Liane Brouillette, Principal Investigator
Maureen Burns, Arts Education Specialist
Barbara Cohen, Humanities Specialist
Julie Cohen, California Historian
Tim Cooley, Ethnomusicologist
Stephanie Streja, Music Educator