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00:00:10and we're rolling all right here we go strange beautiful grass of green with your majestic
00:00:18silver seas your mysterious mountains i wish to see closer may i land my kinky machine
00:00:25although the world wonders me with your majestic and superior cackling hand your people i do not
00:00:34understand so to you i shall put an end and you never hear surf music again those are the words
00:00:49of
00:00:50jimmy hendrix that have been cited thousands of times as if jimmy was saying surf music had died
00:00:56in the 60s and it couldn't be further from the truth hendrix was wrong
00:01:04so
00:01:09so
00:01:42Just like Motown for Detroit and reggae for Jamaica, it was local, regional music that came out of the lives
00:01:49of, you know, young kids in Southern California.
00:01:55The growth of surf music was really quite phenomenal.
00:01:59It started in 1961 in Southern California with only a handful of bands and a handful of recordings.
00:02:04And within a year or two, there were hundreds of recordings by hundreds of bands across the country.
00:02:10In the beginning, it was just about the music and the surfers enjoying the music and embracing it and kind
00:02:15of claiming it as their own.
00:02:21Surf music is a bunch of kids on a beach around a bonfire and just having the best time without
00:02:28any social obligations or school pressures.
00:02:31And there was no future and no war and no economy and nothing to worry about.
00:02:37I was attracted to the simplicity and the energy of it.
00:02:41That's what rock and roll is and was, was simplicity and energy.
00:02:46I dropped the flute like a hot potato, you know, because I love the guitar.
00:02:56Because there was no sound systems, we knew that we couldn't hear the voice anyway.
00:03:01And we were more interested in the melodic and in the power.
00:03:05Surf music truly is rock instrumental with a reverb tank.
00:03:14There's something about the sound of instrumental surf music that flips a switch with people.
00:03:18There's something magic that happens.
00:03:21Something magic that happens with the audience.
00:03:25They regress.
00:03:26They start feeling younger.
00:03:28They want to get up out of their seats and dance.
00:03:31We had those amps.
00:03:33It was that kind of music where they didn't care.
00:03:36It was the fun of the music because it was loud.
00:03:41There's no pretension.
00:03:42There's no hidden meanings.
00:03:44There's no message.
00:03:45It's just pure, unadulterated fun.
00:03:53In the early 60s, my family lived in Montclair, Southern California.
00:03:58A little dry, dusty town in the Inland Empire on the edge of the Mojave Desert.
00:04:04Montclair was removed from ground zero of surf music by 40 or 50 miles.
00:04:10But I got a transistor radio in 1959, and that opened up the world to me.
00:04:16Here's 101, the king of the surf guitar, Dick Dale with Del Tones.
00:04:23And one day in 1961, I'm listening to KMEN in San Bernardino,
00:04:28and they were the first radio station to actually play Dick Dale's first record.
00:04:33Once I heard my first Dick Dale record, I was hooked on that kind of music,
00:04:37and I started collecting surf records left and right.
00:04:40And at the same time, I was learning how to play guitar.
00:04:43Bands like Dick Dale and the Del Tones, the Challengers, Eddie and the Showmen, and the Bel Airs,
00:04:48they were like my teachers.
00:04:50And a few years later, I realized that I had several thousand records.
00:04:55And I discovered that there had been surf bands from every state in the Union
00:04:59and from almost every overseas country.
00:05:02It was just an amazingly diverse form of music that had spread like wildfire.
00:05:10And so I wondered, where did this music come from to begin with?
00:05:13What happened to it?
00:05:14Did it really go away?
00:05:16If it did, why?
00:05:33The outside world didn't really view surfers all that much at first
00:05:36because there was just so few of them.
00:05:38And it was more or less seen as a he-man athletic pursuit that was very rare.
00:05:42Sometimes a dynamic romantic photograph or drawing of surfers would appear on the travel magazines.
00:05:50Surfing as a culture kind of flew in the face of mainstream culture.
00:05:55It was nonproductive, kind of hedonistic, pleasure-seeking, responsibility-avoiding kind of thing.
00:06:02And no self-respecting parent would endorse their children pursuing that in exchange for school and career.
00:06:11Because our parents were all children of the Depression.
00:06:16For them, it was security.
00:06:18As a surfer, you were getting the idea that maybe that was a false god.
00:06:23Maybe there was other things that were important.
00:06:26There was a real high priority on having a job.
00:06:29Everybody wanted to have a job and be productive and be contributing to society and all of that kind of
00:06:35thing.
00:06:35Well, if you said you were a surfer, it was like you were a dropout of that.
00:06:40And you were, sort of.
00:06:42By the time surf music exploded in Southern California in the early 60s,
00:06:47surfing culture had pretty much been firmly established here, at least since the late 50s.
00:06:53As surfers, we'd drive to the beach and we'd get jacked up to the music on the car radio.
00:06:58Interestingly, the music that we were surfing to at that time was probably jazz.
00:07:06We'd get some beer, go to some guy's house, try and get some girls to come over and put on
00:07:11jazz records.
00:07:11Like Herbie Mann at the Village Gate, Miles Davis, Henry Mancini, the theme to Peter Gunn, the theme to Black
00:07:18Saddle.
00:07:20In Newport was a place called the Rendezvous Ballroom.
00:07:23And my parents found out about the Rendezvous and started taking me there when I was maybe 14.
00:07:29And during a wonderful several-year period, I heard every major big band that would come through.
00:07:38Gene Krupa's band and Les Brown, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey.
00:07:44To be there on the bandstand and watching the band and the vocalists and the drummers and all that was,
00:07:50God, it was marvelous.
00:07:51And then we start going down to the lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, and there's a bunch of guys from the
00:07:57Stan Kenton Orchestra that are playing there.
00:07:59Shelly Mann's the drummer, Howard Rumsey on bass, Connie Condoli, trumpet, Shorty Rogers' trumpet, Bob Cooper's sax, Bud Shank's sax.
00:08:08And one of the more innovative filmmakers was Bruce Brown.
00:08:12And Bruce Brown would go down to the lighthouse because that's where the jazz was played.
00:08:21The reason that jazz was adapted to surfing by surfers was that it had kind of a lyrical, flowing, surf
00:08:31-like environment it created.
00:08:33And surfing the wave was sort of improvisational, and jazz was improvisational.
00:08:39It was about virtuosity, and jazz was about individual instrumental virtuosity.
00:08:45So there were really lots of kind of symbiotic aspects of the two forms of expression.
00:08:55These artists like Henry Mancini, Les Baxter, and Martin Denny were looking for an atmosphere.
00:09:00And that atmosphere really gelled with beach culture and ultimately surf culture.
00:09:05It really wasn't as much of an idea of a California culture.
00:09:09It was like a transplanted Hawaiian thing.
00:09:12They had like kooky luau's down at the beach.
00:09:14They kind of wanted to be like Hawaiians.
00:09:18In that kind of later 50s time frame, the fact that the board went from a 100-pound piece of
00:09:25dense wood
00:09:26to a light 30- or 40-pound fiberglass balsa wood board,
00:09:30surfboards became even more accessible when foam came out in 59,
00:09:34so they could make as many boards as they needed to fill the demand.
00:09:38The sport had gone from maybe 500, 1,500 surfers to 5, or 6, or 7, or 8,000 surfers.
00:09:45And that's where it was when the movie Gidget came out.
00:09:53One day I came to Malibu and there was a shack there, and I think Harry Stonelink and Toobstake built
00:09:58it.
00:09:59Different guys would hang out there because there was some shade.
00:10:01Terry Tracy, who was living there, was married and lived elsewhere, like Englewood or something.
00:10:06He was at the shack a lot, and he would just hang there, you know, and hang out with guys
00:10:11and get them to buy him some beer and stuff like that.
00:10:14He named Gidget.
00:10:17There was a girl midget that arrived on the scene and sets up headquarters.
00:10:25What she does, she goes home and tells her daddy all this stuff.
00:10:30Her daddy writes a book.
00:10:31I remember the day that my father picked me up at Malibu and drove me home.
00:10:37It was in the Dynaflow Buick, because my board was sticking out of the back.
00:10:42And I turned to him and I said, I'd like to write a story about what's going on at Malibu.
00:10:47And my father said, why don't you tell me everything, and I'll write the story for you.
00:10:52I'm the writer.
00:10:53So I started telling him that I was called Gidget at Malibu, which meant girl midget.
00:11:00I told him about Terry, Tubestick Tracy, that lived in a shack with Harry Stone Lake.
00:11:06And I told him how incredibly interesting the lifestyle that I saw at Malibu was.
00:11:13It was all about what was outside, and I thought the whole sort of lifestyle was fascinating,
00:11:18that there were surfboards, there were young men, there was somebody living in a shack,
00:11:23and we were waiting for the wave.
00:11:30That book really was, I don't know, they're going bitchin' rocket bombs,
00:11:36and go Gidget, go shoot the curl.
00:11:39God, can you believe that?
00:11:42I can't.
00:11:43Columbia Studios bought the rights to the novel,
00:11:46and in 1959, the Hollywood version hits theaters nationwide.
00:11:59The movie comes out, everybody loved the movie except, for guess whom, surfers.
00:12:06The movie Gidget was kind of interesting.
00:12:08These days it would be poo-pooed, the surfers would sneeze at it.
00:12:12But when it came out, it was the first acknowledgement by the mainstream world of surfing.
00:12:18The theme song to the movie was sung by James Darin.
00:12:21It became a top 100 hit record in the spring of 1959.
00:12:27When the Gidget film comes out, a teenage culture emerges in a completely different environment.
00:12:33You're not seeing skyscrapers, you're not seeing buildings, you're not seeing metal microphones.
00:12:37You're seeing a shack in the sand next to water and luminous waves that people are zooming in and out
00:12:45of with these little boards.
00:12:46This is just unprecedented, and no one's seen anything like this.
00:12:49It made me cool, and it glorified the surf culture, even though it did it sort of in a dorky
00:12:55way.
00:12:56Every time Hollywood touches surfing, they goof it up.
00:13:00Even when surfers try to do surfing, they don't get it right.
00:13:04So when Hollywood does it, what are they going to get?
00:13:08So, surfers were listening to jazz and rhythm and blues, but where was the surf music?
00:13:17There was no such thing as surf music at the time.
00:13:21I'd never heard that expression, surf music.
00:13:26That maybe somebody had a bongo drop.
00:13:29When you're in the water and Malibu is six to eight feet, you're out there and here comes a set.
00:13:37I guarantee you, you're not going to sit there saying, oh, bro, this is music to surf.
00:13:45You don't do that.
00:13:46You just take off on waves.
00:13:48Surfing films of the 1950s were not seen by all that many people.
00:13:53Bud Brown had been making surfing movies from about 1942 or 43 and showing them just at, you know, lifeguard
00:14:00stations.
00:14:01Greg Null was making little tiny films called Search for Surf.
00:14:05Just before Gidget came out, Bruce Brown was doing his first movie, Slippery When Wet.
00:14:10Gidget gives the ability for these people to make full-length features and draw larger audiences.
00:14:18Once Gidget becomes popular, teenagers that are into rock and roll start gravitating towards surfing.
00:14:24In the surf movies, they wouldn't have music sent on the footage itself.
00:14:28It was just, they'd turn on the projector.
00:14:32He was just putting an album on and he'd put on the soundtrack to Peter Gunn.
00:14:44The Mancini-Peter Gunn thing was used for big waves at Sunset Beach.
00:14:47We'd be looking at the screen and you'd see this wave and you couldn't really tell what was going on
00:14:52with it.
00:14:52And all of a sudden you'd see a couple of ants sweep up the face and the driving boom, boom,
00:14:56boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
00:14:57And my God, those waves are 25 feet.
00:15:00And, you know, you'd just get jacked out of your mind.
00:15:03And so you started to see a lot of interesting things come about from the filmmakers, for instance.
00:15:08I remember John Severson in a film sequence at SACUS of a hot offshore morning having Kemp Auberk play flamenco
00:15:17guitar.
00:15:26I honestly think that Bud Brown was probably the first person to connect instrumental music to the surf culture
00:15:35because he acquired the Fireballs music right when it came out in the late 50s.
00:15:44And he immediately started playing those albums with his movies.
00:15:53Things were changing.
00:15:54Civil rights movement was getting going.
00:15:56Folk music was getting big.
00:15:58The Kingston Trio came along.
00:16:00So there were all these kind of hints at what was going to be developing culturally in the 60s.
00:16:06It was still kind of in its youth.
00:16:08Kids weren't really paying that much attention.
00:16:11They were just doing their thing.
00:16:13But in reality, 1959, 1960 was a pretty bland period musically.
00:16:18What you were hearing on the radio just before surf music broke was mostly teen idols and heavily orchestrated material.
00:16:28That was the era of Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell,
00:16:31what are generally regarded as the ones who tamed rock and roll down to where it was safe
00:16:35and the early days of the dangerous stuff were kind of over
00:16:39and it was still about four years before the Beatles came along.
00:16:42With Elvis in the army and Chuck Berry, you know, busted by the Man Act and Little Richard finding religion,
00:16:48Jerry Lee Lewis getting busted for having a wife who was 13.
00:16:53On the flip side of that, big rock and roll stars were gone.
00:17:01We started to hear instrumental rock and roll about 1956 with Bill Doggett and Honky Tonk.
00:17:09And then Bill Justice had Raunchy in 57 and that had a really neat little echoey Nashville sort of guitar
00:17:16twang to it.
00:17:18And that was really exploited by Dwayne Eddy, who came out with Rebel Rouser in 1958.
00:17:23On the flip side of that, you had Link Wray with Rawhide and Rumble and eventually Jack the Ripper.
00:17:30Then there was Johnny and the Hurricanes with their full band, organ, saxophone, guitar riffs.
00:17:36The Fireballs were from New Mexico, a little more Tex-Mex style.
00:17:40And I started to get some really tough rock and roll sounds that were based in guitar.
00:17:46As a young guitar player, what really held the fascination for me and the cool factor
00:17:50was this new sound, this instrumental guitar-led rock and roll.
00:17:53I was particularly attracted to the instrumental players, Dwayne Eddy, Link Wray.
00:17:59That was probably the most vital stuff that was going on at that time.
00:18:03It was spontaneous and exciting and they pretty much started the kind of music
00:18:08that evolved into surf music in California.
00:18:11And ultimately that led to The Ventures.
00:18:19The Ventures had Bach Don't Run, which was like the Fireballs,
00:18:22a straight guitar sound with no saxophone.
00:18:25And that was like the shopper around the world in 1960.
00:18:28Walk, Don't Run was a national top ten record
00:18:31that inspired and influenced thousands of kids learning how to play guitar at the time,
00:18:35myself included.
00:18:37And all of the bands that we played in would play Walk, Don't Run,
00:18:40as well as all of the other guitar-dominant instrumentals
00:18:44that we were hearing on the radio at the time.
00:18:53So it was 1955 that I found, and my dad went crazy,
00:18:59a 1941 WLD Flathead Harley.
00:19:03It was like it just came out of the military the way it was.
00:19:06It was wild.
00:19:10I lived in Southwest L.A.
00:19:12My buddy Ray said to me one day, he said,
00:19:14let's go down to Balboa and check out the babes.
00:19:17So we went on down there and pulled into that town,
00:19:21and it was something like Alice in Wonderland.
00:19:24I mean, it had the ferry that would take you across the channel to Balboa Island.
00:19:29You were on a peninsula that was three miles long.
00:19:33Because of our motorcycles, I guess we scared some of the people, maybe,
00:19:38and the police invited us to leave.
00:19:40So we left and came back in the car,
00:19:43brought our guitars with us, a couple of guitars.
00:19:51Well, as you walk down Balboa Boulevard,
00:19:54you have the fun zone on the left, which is bordering the bay,
00:19:58and you have the rendezvous on the right.
00:20:02After you've passed the Balboa Theater, you're at the Rinky Dink.
00:20:06This is an area that was populated with people coming down
00:20:10for Easter break, for the summertime.
00:20:13We were playing at the Rinky Dink on weekends.
00:20:16Our audience became primarily surfers,
00:20:19and these were people that heard about us from other surfers,
00:20:22from other people, even from Dick.
00:20:24Everybody that was there looked at least like they were part of the surf culture.
00:20:28So this looked like a surf culture happening.
00:20:31The Vox was for adults.
00:20:34The Prisoner Socrates was for folk music.
00:20:37So the kids had no place to go.
00:20:39So when we moved to the rendezvous, we were a magnet.
00:20:42Dick didn't set out to be a surf guitarist.
00:20:45He wanted to be a country western singer.
00:20:48What happened was that he started playing at the rendezvous ballroom.
00:20:51Even though he wanted to be up there singing, the kids say,
00:20:54we'll play an instrumental.
00:20:55Next week, Dick Dale was playing this song called Let's Go Trippin' that he made up.
00:20:59Let's Go Trippin'!
00:21:04The kids used to say, let's go trippin' down to the beach to hear Dick Dale play.
00:21:10So he wrote a song about it, and it became an anthem.
00:21:14And from that grew another instrumental and grew another instrumental,
00:21:18and Dick wasn't calling it the surf music, he was calling it the Dick Dale sound.
00:21:23When we went to the rendezvous, we went there to listen to the music and to dance
00:21:28and to just be part of the celebration of all of us having the common interest of surfing and surf
00:21:35music.
00:21:36I was surfing with 17 surfers, and I said,
00:21:40I'm playing tonight at the rendezvous ballroom.
00:21:41It's the biggest ballroom on the peninsula.
00:21:44Come on down and have fun.
00:21:4617 surfers, that was my first audience.
00:21:48They go, you're the king, man, you're the king, that sound on your guitar.
00:21:53Once we heard the Dick Dale surfer thing, it was like there's no turning back.
00:21:57We had started surf music.
00:22:25Miserleau was an eastern Mediterranean folk song that had been around for centuries.
00:22:30But I took it from listening to my uncle playing on an oud, the traditional way,
00:22:35where it goes,
00:22:36and the belly dances would come out.
00:22:44And I said, well, that's too slow to play.
00:22:48So why don't I do the Gene Cooper drumming picking?
00:22:55So I went...
00:23:02That's how that came to be.
00:23:04And this song comes on the radio, and I had never heard anything like that before.
00:23:09It really changed everything.
00:23:11So all of a sudden, kids are talking about who's going to drive this weekend
00:23:15to go down to the rendezvous, to go to a Dick Dale stomp.
00:23:18He was awesome.
00:23:20Dick Dale was obviously a big influence,
00:23:22and we would all go down there and watch him, you know, every Friday and Saturday night.
00:23:26Everything was tight, strong, with an attitude.
00:23:30With the combination of the bass, the rhythm guitar, and the drums gave that animal feel to it.
00:23:37Dick Dale's sound was just totally unique from anything I'd ever heard before.
00:23:43The sound was intense, and it was big.
00:23:48Our music was identified as surf music in 1960,
00:23:51and we didn't have a name for the band yet.
00:23:53And it happened that Dick's sister, Shirley,
00:23:56invited people to suggest names, and somehow the name Deltones came out.
00:24:00So we were called Dick Dale and the Deltones.
00:24:04Later, it was changed to Dick Dale and his Deltones.
00:24:07We just started filling up the place.
00:24:10Playing with the Deltones was just a gas.
00:24:13It was like a dream come true.
00:24:17I mean, I never thought in a million years that I would end up doing anything like that.
00:24:20And for a guy with all the little surf girls around, the place being packed,
00:24:24just seeing the lines of kids around the block, you know, waiting to get in,
00:24:28I didn't care about getting paid.
00:24:30I didn't care about anything.
00:24:31I just wanted to be a part of it.
00:24:33We had a new sound.
00:24:34Dick emphasized being loud.
00:24:37I wanted that tribal sound,
00:24:39and I couldn't find an amp that was powerful enough
00:24:41to sound like Gene Cooper's drums until I met Leo Fender.
00:24:45He was like Einstein.
00:24:47And he says, here, I just made this,
00:24:48and we're trying to get the bugs out of it.
00:24:50Why don't you bang on it and tell me what you think of it?
00:24:52That gave me this big tribal thunder where I'm going,
00:24:56dun-dun-dada, dun-dun-dada, dun-dun-dada, dun-dun-dada, like that.
00:25:00Leo used to say,
00:25:01if it can withstand the barrage of punishment of Dick Dale,
00:25:05then it is fit for the human consumption.
00:25:08Leo Fender listened and worked with musicians at the time.
00:25:12It was the work he did with Dick Dale
00:25:14that led to the revolutionary development of the Showman amplifier,
00:25:17the most powerful amplifier at the time.
00:25:20He also worked with Dick to develop the Fender reverb unit in 1961.
00:25:24Taking a stone.
00:25:25This was a device that gave a wet, kind of a drippy sound to the guitar.
00:25:29And later, that sound became strongly associated with the sound of surf music.
00:25:34As soon as we started playing, they were on the dance floor.
00:25:38Everybody reacted to the music.
00:25:40Obviously, or they wouldn't be lining up to get in.
00:25:42You could see that everybody was feeling the music,
00:25:45not listening to it, but feeling the music.
00:25:48And thus, they started the surfer stomp that went along with it.
00:25:58Of course, you couldn't miss the sound of the surfer stomp.
00:26:01I remember it as couples, you know, facing each other,
00:26:04just stomping away, kind of shuffling.
00:26:08It was an old wooden floor at the rendezvous.
00:26:12The floor would move up and down.
00:26:14You could kind of feel the whole building moving.
00:26:17You know, it's sweaty, it's hot, they're stomping, it's loud.
00:26:20It was great.
00:26:21It built up to 4,000 people a night.
00:26:24And I kept adding to my band, bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.
00:26:36Our music attracted some attention with the city officials.
00:26:41They said the guitar music was evil and devil music.
00:26:48And it was a suggestion that we leave town.
00:26:55They fired me.
00:26:56And they didn't realize that people were standing out in line,
00:27:00coming in from all these places to watch us do what we were doing.
00:27:08And all of a sudden, bands started playing this new style of rock and roll
00:27:12that Dick Dale and the Deltones were doing,
00:27:14this sound called surf music.
00:27:16We were hanging around Torrance Beach in the early summer of 61,
00:27:20and I kept hearing the surfers there talking about,
00:27:22hey, man, are you going down to the rendezvous this weekend?
00:27:25We're going down to see Dick Dale, you know.
00:27:27I had no idea what it was all about.
00:27:29We went down ourselves to see what was going on.
00:27:32I was blown away.
00:27:39I met this guy, Eddie Bertrand, on a school bus in 1959,
00:27:43and we discovered that we were both fledgling guitarists,
00:27:47both Dwayne Eddy fans.
00:27:50So we got together and played guitars one day and went,
00:27:54wow, this is really neat.
00:27:56I developed a style of rhythm guitar playing
00:27:58that covered both the drums and the bass
00:28:00because I wanted it to sound complete with just Eddie and I.
00:28:07And that ironically came to sort of be regarded
00:28:10as the surf style of rhythm playing.
00:28:13The sound that we got just fascinated us.
00:28:17So we got a drummer and we got a sax player.
00:28:21It became a band.
00:28:22It was, you know, it just decided we needed to be a band.
00:28:31I was still learning my basic chords
00:28:33and I was just learning how to play a bar position B flat.
00:28:37And I was switching back and forth
00:28:39between that and the D minor chord.
00:28:41I started hearing this melody in my head to go with that.
00:28:45Right about that time, there was this wrestler in L.A. called Mr. Moto.
00:28:49That's the name for the song, so we titled it Mr. Moto.
00:28:53Mr. Moto was one of the first 45 RPM records I bought as a kid.
00:28:57I really liked the chord changes and the melody.
00:28:59It was probably the first instrumental I learned how to play on the guitar.
00:29:03I did the musical arrangements and Eddie played the lead guitar
00:29:06and Delvey was the business manager.
00:29:08I said to him, would you guys like to make some money?
00:29:12And they said, sure.
00:29:13So I booked us a sock hop at the high school I was going to.
00:29:18The first dance we threw, we passed out flyers around the beach
00:29:21and sure enough, we got about 200 kids to come.
00:29:24You know, most of them were the surfers.
00:29:26I remember one surfer came up to me and he simply said,
00:29:29well, man, your music sounds like feels out there on a wave.
00:29:32You ought to call it surf music.
00:29:34I don't know if the Bellers ever considered themselves a surf band at first.
00:29:37I think people who were digging the band kind of just tagged us that.
00:29:41The world of surfing claimed us, so to speak, as theirs.
00:29:46We went from 200 kids at the beginning of the summer
00:29:49to 1,500 kids at the end of the summer.
00:29:52We made an amazing amount of money.
00:29:54I couldn't believe it, being a kid and making all this money
00:29:56every time we did a dance.
00:29:58The first dance we threw, I remember going home
00:30:00and we had about 600 bucks.
00:30:02We threw it out all on a mattress and we're like,
00:30:05you know, doing this with it.
00:30:06We played at a party and took that money and went to Hollywood
00:30:10and decided to make a record.
00:30:11We rented some time at Liberty Recording Studio,
00:30:14went in, spent about an hour or two and recorded five tracks.
00:30:18Mr. Moto had two takes because I didn't like how I played the chorus.
00:30:22Other than that, it was all first takes and we were out the door.
00:30:25The record came out and it didn't do anything for like six months.
00:30:28So we started hyping the record to the radio stations.
00:30:31We got our friends to call in and request it.
00:30:34And at that time, KRLA was running these things
00:30:36where they played the top ten from high schools every night
00:30:39on Sam Riddle's show.
00:30:41Came on at 9 o'clock every night.
00:30:43It was called Topic Youth.
00:30:45And every night, he would highlight a different high school
00:30:47and he would play the top ten records that that high school submitted.
00:30:51We started creating these phony surveys.
00:30:57So I sent in a list of the top ten.
00:30:59Of course, Mr. Moto was number one.
00:31:01I created a whole bogus top ten for the Redondo High School
00:31:06where I was going.
00:31:08And that night, it was all about Redondo High School
00:31:10and Mr. Moto was number one on the Redondo High School survey.
00:31:14And then one night, he plays the top ten from Palos Verdes High School.
00:31:18And he says, I don't know who you guys are, but good luck.
00:31:20And there it goes.
00:31:21And I went, just nuts.
00:31:23If you saw the movie That Thing You Do,
00:31:25you know exactly what it was like for a bunch of young kids
00:31:29to hear the song playing on the radio.
00:31:31I mean, I got a big boost.
00:31:33Every morning at 8 o'clock as I'm getting ready to go to school,
00:31:36I could turn on the radio and hear Mr. Moto.
00:31:39Big thrill.
00:31:39Big thrill.
00:31:41After Mr. Moto became a small hit,
00:31:43next thing on, I'm getting phone calls from the parents in the group
00:31:46trying to tell me what their direction is for the group.
00:31:48Some of these people I'd never even talked to.
00:31:51I got real upset.
00:31:52My mother says, well, quit the band.
00:31:54Start another one.
00:31:55I said, I can't do that.
00:31:56And I remember crying.
00:31:58Something happened to kind of split that group apart.
00:32:01And that something that happened was the Fender Reverb unit.
00:32:05Eddie Bertrand decided he really wanted to start using that
00:32:09to modify his sound in the band.
00:32:11Paul Johnson, the other guitar player,
00:32:13really didn't want to go in that direction.
00:32:15So there was a separation of the ways.
00:32:18And Eddie Bertrand left the group to form Eddie and the Showman
00:32:21and continue with his powerful reverb-driven guitar instrumentals.
00:32:25Squad Car.
00:32:26We're looking at two.
00:32:28Squad Car was written by Paul Johnson,
00:32:30but Eddie recorded the most powerful and frantic version of the song
00:32:34that became a local radio hit.
00:32:36It was kind of an easy thing to do,
00:32:38and it all happened within probably a couple, three weeks
00:32:41after the Bel-Airs broke up.
00:32:43We played the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa,
00:32:45and we just kept playing louder and louder and louder.
00:32:54By the end of the night, that speaker was shredded.
00:32:57I thought, well, I'll go to Fender.
00:32:59He'll fix this.
00:33:00Showed up, and he looks up.
00:33:01He says, now, how can I help you?
00:33:03I said, well, I have a bandmaster piggyback,
00:33:06and I ripped the speaker to shreds.
00:33:08I was just thinking, what if we put two speakers in there?
00:33:13And he said, tell you what, you leave that stuff with me.
00:33:16I'll give you something to play out of until then.
00:33:18Went back in two weeks,
00:33:20and here's this cabinet with two speakers in it.
00:33:23And I played it.
00:33:27And I went, my God, this thing just sounds huge.
00:33:30The last thing Leo said to me,
00:33:33whatever you do, don't tell anybody what we've done,
00:33:36because we don't produce these amps.
00:33:39Other musicians would come, like, bam, up to the stage,
00:33:42and, what's that?
00:33:44And I'd say, what's what?
00:33:47Anyway, within probably a month, I'm guessing,
00:33:50it became the standard bandmaster,
00:33:52had two 12s from then on.
00:33:55He wanted to model his sound after Dick Dale's sound.
00:33:58He was totally blown away by the power
00:34:00of that Fender guitar, reverb, and amp combination.
00:34:03They really got a foothold locally
00:34:05when they became the house band
00:34:06at the retail clerk's hall in Buena Park,
00:34:09and started to attract as many kids there,
00:34:11actually on weekends,
00:34:12as Dick Dale was bringing to Harmony Park.
00:34:18In November of 1962,
00:34:20we came out with an album called Surfer's Choice.
00:34:24A number of the songs on the album
00:34:26were recorded at the Harmony Park Ballroom in Anaheim.
00:34:35In 1963, Dick Dale and the Deltones
00:34:38were having such success
00:34:39that they booked a tour up and down the East Coast.
00:34:45It must have been 63,
00:34:47where we had a small tour back East.
00:34:50Mainly we played at this nightclub in New Jersey,
00:34:52and of course it was a drinking crowd,
00:34:54a much different crowd than we had in Southern California.
00:34:58And when we went on stage and played,
00:35:00it was like we were from Mars.
00:35:02They could not relate to this music.
00:35:05Now here's the youngster you read about
00:35:07recently in Life magazine.
00:35:09Here from Boston and Quincy, Mass,
00:35:12and now the coast,
00:35:14Dick Dale surfing and a-swingin'.
00:35:16So let's have a fine hand.
00:35:21Well, I looked at the heavies,
00:35:23they were moving in fast.
00:35:25I knew I better make it
00:35:26cause it just don't last.
00:35:27I'm surfin'.
00:35:29Yeah, swingin' and a-suffin'.
00:35:32It was a disappointment for Dick.
00:35:34We had to play behind a curtain
00:35:36while Dick was up front.
00:35:37It's probably because they didn't want to
00:35:38pay us union scale or whatever.
00:35:47Let's have a nice hand for this youngster to get off, okay?
00:35:50Capital, in their wisdom,
00:35:52had decided that they didn't want to use
00:35:54the deltones on the records.
00:35:55They wanted to use studio players.
00:35:57Big mistake, I think.
00:36:00Dick said,
00:36:01well, if I can't have my band,
00:36:02I've got to have at least one of my guys,
00:36:03and he chose me, thankfully.
00:36:07While we were back east...
00:36:08Let's go surfing now,
00:36:11everybody's learning how,
00:36:12come on and supply with me,
00:36:14come on and supply with me.
00:36:16Early in the morning,
00:36:17we'll be parking now.
00:36:18The Beach Boys had, like, their first hit.
00:36:22The talk around the beach was,
00:36:24who are these Grammys?
00:36:26You know, the whole feeling behind it
00:36:28was that these guys were just
00:36:29a bunch of inlanders
00:36:31who were trying to jump on the trend
00:36:33as it was developing.
00:36:35It only sounded vaguely like it related
00:36:37to the kind of music we were playing.
00:36:39There was a big question mark
00:36:41as to how authentic this was.
00:36:42In fact, some of the surfers
00:36:44were so annoyed,
00:36:45this was candy-coating
00:36:46and commercializing the sport.
00:36:48And I remember hearing
00:36:49a bunch of surfers saying,
00:36:50hey, let's go beat those guys up.
00:36:54You know, this is my favorite sport,
00:36:55next to skydiving.
00:37:01Look, I just drove up.
00:37:03Looks like a couple of
00:37:04senior citizen dropouts.
00:37:12The Beach Boys were booed.
00:37:15Vegetables and fruit were thrown at them
00:37:17on the stage by the surfers
00:37:18because they thought they were, quote,
00:37:21rank.
00:37:21Who wants to hear these stupid lyrics?
00:37:24It wasn't heavy duty.
00:37:25It wasn't power.
00:37:28I remember listening to the radio
00:37:29and going,
00:37:30how do they get to spread the word
00:37:32about surf music?
00:37:33And here we are trying to do it
00:37:35and here's Dick, the innovator,
00:37:37the father of surf music.
00:37:38You know, he doesn't get to partake
00:37:40in spreading this word.
00:37:42Dick Dale is the originator,
00:37:44not one of the originators.
00:37:47The originator.
00:37:49Here are the challengers.
00:37:52Everybody's talking about
00:37:53the seventh song
00:37:54In the whole wide world
00:37:56There is only one
00:37:57I just quit.
00:37:58Walked away from the bellers
00:38:00and I started the challengers.
00:38:02I was booking these little Legion halls
00:38:05and I call up the Pepsi company
00:38:07to bring down a truck.
00:38:08I called Brian Wilson
00:38:09and I have him come down
00:38:10and so it'll be us and the Beach Boys
00:38:11and next thing you know
00:38:12the place was crowded
00:38:13and then cops
00:38:14and then fights would break out
00:38:15and then that was the last time
00:38:17we could use that hall.
00:38:19That happened to us
00:38:20about three or four times.
00:38:22The challengers were
00:38:23the hardest working band.
00:38:26We backed more artists,
00:38:27made more recordings
00:38:28in all of the bands combined.
00:38:30We were always the dependable band
00:38:32that could back you live
00:38:33and then do our show
00:38:34and draw a certain number
00:38:36of people to the venue.
00:38:37So that really set the stage
00:38:39for credible appearances
00:38:41on television and radio
00:38:42and we would play
00:38:44the theme song
00:38:45for Lloyd Thaxton's TV show.
00:38:48My name is Lloyd Thaxton.
00:38:49Go, Lloyd!
00:38:51The Lloyd Thaxton show
00:38:52was hugely popular
00:38:54here in Southern California.
00:38:55We would all rush home
00:38:56from high school
00:38:57to watch Lloyd Thaxton.
00:38:59His was the only TV dance hop
00:39:01that featured surf music
00:39:02on a regular basis
00:39:03including the challengers.
00:39:04In fact, they asked him
00:39:07to endorse their second album
00:39:08Surfing with the Challengers.
00:39:10Be careful what you say
00:39:13I played what I wanted to play
00:39:14and it just so happened
00:39:16that I liked the music
00:39:18that the kids liked.
00:39:19Here they are, the astronauts!
00:39:23Most shows came from New York
00:39:24and they had the New York look.
00:39:27No one ever saw
00:39:27the surf music back east.
00:39:29They didn't see this.
00:39:30Well, they could come to California
00:39:32by turning on their television set
00:39:33and watching the Lloyd Thaxton show.
00:39:36That's what made surfing move
00:39:38out of Southern California
00:39:40to go all across the nation
00:39:41and eventually all over the world.
00:39:43And it happened because of the Dick Dales.
00:39:45It happened because of the Challengers.
00:39:47They brought the surf to me.
00:39:49The Challengers gained
00:39:50a national reputation
00:39:52and became one of the most successful
00:39:53surf instrumental bands
00:39:55by virtue of their many appearances
00:39:57on local TV shows
00:39:59and syndicated TV shows
00:40:01like Hollywood & Go-Go and Shabang.
00:40:04On behalf of myself
00:40:06and the rest of the guys
00:40:07in the group,
00:40:08we would like to thank you all
00:40:09for making our song, Pipeline,
00:40:12such a big hit throughout the nation.
00:40:13We would like to play it for you now.
00:40:21What ended up becoming Pipeline,
00:40:23it was at one time called 44 Magnum.
00:40:26Next time we called it Liberty's Whip,
00:40:28but we went to this Bruce Brown movie.
00:40:30They showed this sequence of Bonsai Pipeline
00:40:32and we're going,
00:40:33whoa, this is cool.
00:40:35Why don't we call this song Pipeline?
00:40:37The first time I heard the opening
00:40:38glissando to Pipeline,
00:40:40I was impressed.
00:40:41It was the first time
00:40:42I'd heard anything like that
00:40:43and as a result of Pipeline,
00:40:46the glissando became a standard technique
00:40:48used by surf bands.
00:40:49When Pipeline came out,
00:40:52we were playing at the rendezvous ballroom.
00:40:54We'd have thousands of people
00:40:55in there doing the surfer stomp.
00:40:57All the surfers would show up
00:40:58in the Hirachis
00:40:59and the whole place would start rocking
00:41:01because everybody was stomping on the floor.
00:41:03It was wild frenzy dancing, you know.
00:41:06Just people would just let themselves go.
00:41:08Every time I walked into that retail clerk's hall
00:41:12or the rendezvous,
00:41:12either one of those giant places,
00:41:14I would have to hold my ears
00:41:16and it would take me 10 or 15 minutes
00:41:18just to get through the DB level
00:41:20that was being pumped through that room.
00:41:24Everyone sort of jumped up and down
00:41:25and used into the music
00:41:27and the building would move
00:41:29like a wooden gym floor
00:41:30and it was flexible
00:41:31and I think it bounced the musicians
00:41:33on this stage
00:41:34from the crowd going up and down.
00:41:37The rendezvous was a lot of fun
00:41:39but also kind of dangerous.
00:41:41But there were confrontations
00:41:43between the people from the beach
00:41:45and the inland people
00:41:47and I can remember going out and dancing
00:41:50and some big nasty looking biker type ho dad
00:41:54coming up to me and saying,
00:41:55you dance shitty.
00:41:57A whole line of people would link arms
00:42:00and then facing them was another line.
00:42:04They would run up to the other line.
00:42:07They would come up like this and go back.
00:42:10Destined for trouble.
00:42:15This guy got in a fight
00:42:17with this other guy.
00:42:19One of the fighter's girlfriends
00:42:21got involved and started mouthing at the other guy
00:42:23and then all of a sudden
00:42:24this guy pulled out a switchblade
00:42:26and stabbed at the guy
00:42:28and missed him
00:42:29and hit the girl
00:42:29and it went into her eye or something
00:42:32and my girlfriend and I just fled
00:42:34and never went back.
00:42:36Surf music was a male-dominated cultural event
00:42:40and that's why Kathy Marshall's presence on the scene
00:42:43was extremely significant.
00:42:46She could have been a huge star
00:42:48if the future had unfolded a bit differently
00:42:49but she does deserve a unique place in the history books.
00:42:53Kathy never released a commercial recording
00:42:56but she went in the studio with Eddie and the showman
00:42:59to record a demo of Bullseye.
00:43:08Being a girl and playing guitar
00:43:10I don't know if I was good enough
00:43:12to have said
00:43:13come on in
00:43:14let's play like a guy
00:43:15but it also rubbed me wrong
00:43:17when oh you're really good for a girl
00:43:19because I didn't want to be good for a girl
00:43:22I wanted to be as good as the guys.
00:43:25My grandmother
00:43:25had a little get-together on a Sunday afternoon
00:43:29and she invited one of her friends
00:43:30and he brought his electric guitar.
00:43:33I just was mesmerized.
00:43:37The transistor radio
00:43:38was how I learned how to play the guitar.
00:43:40From the golden world of gas
00:43:42and the 1510 Music Man
00:43:44here's a picket for you.
00:43:47I would come home from school
00:43:49turn on the transistor radio
00:43:51pick up my guitar
00:43:52and learn whatever song was on
00:43:54the radio.
00:43:55I was so devoted to it
00:43:57and I think my mom
00:43:58could see me getting better at it.
00:43:59It was her suggestion
00:44:01that I take guitar lessons.
00:44:05The first time I heard
00:44:06a surf band live
00:44:08was the time I played with one.
00:44:11My sister was having
00:44:12a graduation party at her house
00:44:14and so they hired a local band
00:44:16called The Blazers
00:44:17and my mom mentioned
00:44:19that I played guitar.
00:44:20Their manager says
00:44:21oh well let me hear her.
00:44:23so I sat down
00:44:24and I played Pipeline.
00:44:31So the day of the party
00:44:33I got up
00:44:34and I played with The Blazers.
00:44:43When the party was over with
00:44:45their manager said
00:44:47to my mom
00:44:47I don't think I've ever seen
00:44:49a girl rock and roll
00:44:50electric guitar player before.
00:44:52What do you think about her
00:44:54playing with The Blazers?
00:44:55And she said okay.
00:44:59The Blazers
00:45:00they were all surfers.
00:45:02We'd get up at 5 o'clock
00:45:04in the morning
00:45:04my mom would take us
00:45:05all down to Huntington Beach.
00:45:07They would surf
00:45:08and we'd sit on the beach
00:45:09and just play our guitars.
00:45:11It was surf music.
00:45:13Retail Clerks Union Hall
00:45:15in Buena Park
00:45:15and it was like the mecca
00:45:17for all the stars to go.
00:45:19It's the first time
00:45:20I ever saw Eddie
00:45:21and the showman play.
00:45:22Eddie and the showman
00:45:23to me were like
00:45:24a huge step up
00:45:26in musician quality
00:45:27and I was kind of
00:45:28in awe of them.
00:45:29He was a good looking guy.
00:45:31What impressed me more
00:45:32was his presence.
00:45:34Just before
00:45:35the Righteous Brothers
00:45:36were to go on
00:45:37Eddie's dad
00:45:38came to my mom
00:45:39and said would she
00:45:39go on with Eddie
00:45:40and the showman
00:45:41and my mom
00:45:42said yes.
00:45:44I would play a lick
00:45:45and then he'd play a lick.
00:45:46It was like a battle
00:45:48going back and forth
00:45:49and then the next thing
00:45:50I know he started
00:45:51stepping on my licks
00:45:52and I walked up
00:45:53to his guitar
00:45:54like I was really
00:45:54going to watch him play
00:45:56and I just pulled
00:45:57his plug.
00:45:58I was so mad
00:45:59I just yanked
00:46:00his plug out.
00:46:01After that
00:46:02I had a really good
00:46:03following it
00:46:04because of this
00:46:04little rivalry
00:46:05that went on
00:46:06between Eddie
00:46:07and I
00:46:07from that point on.
00:46:09I was 14
00:46:10Eddie was 18 or 19
00:46:12and our relationship
00:46:13was rocky at times.
00:46:16I don't want to say
00:46:17love-hate relationship
00:46:19I mean I cared for him
00:46:20and I think he liked me
00:46:21and I liked him.
00:46:22It seemed like
00:46:23he resented me at times
00:46:24but he always tried
00:46:24to help me too
00:46:25and he was the star
00:46:27because he had the presence.
00:46:30He was very patient
00:46:31with me.
00:46:36Dave and the Marksman
00:46:37Eddie and the Showman
00:46:38and Kathy Marshall
00:46:39went out on the road
00:46:40and toured California
00:46:41like a little review
00:46:43and it was just like
00:46:44one big happy family
00:46:45having a great time
00:46:46on the road like that.
00:46:51We had some really
00:46:52great times
00:46:53on those tours.
00:46:55The first time
00:46:56I heard Dick Dale
00:46:57play live
00:46:58was the day
00:46:58I played with him.
00:47:00I was not allowed
00:47:01to go to Harmony Park
00:47:02which is where
00:47:03his venue was
00:47:04most of the time.
00:47:05Harmony Park
00:47:06had a reputation
00:47:06of being a kind
00:47:08of a rough place
00:47:09so I never got
00:47:10to see him in person.
00:47:11My manager booked me
00:47:13to play with him
00:47:14at the Huntington Pavilion
00:47:17and I was scared to death
00:47:20because I had heard stories
00:47:22that he's very rough
00:47:23and he's not a nice guy
00:47:25and all this stuff.
00:47:27When they brought me
00:47:28up on stage
00:47:28he was playing with me
00:47:31at the same time.
00:47:32He was just like
00:47:33being a rhythm guitar player
00:47:35playing behind me
00:47:36and he stopped
00:47:37what he was doing
00:47:37and he walked over
00:47:39and he stood there
00:47:40for a minute
00:47:40you know
00:47:41in front of the whole crowd
00:47:42and then he threw
00:47:43his hands up
00:47:44like he couldn't compete
00:47:45and went over
00:47:46and put his guitar down
00:47:47and then stood
00:47:48off to the side.
00:47:50I gave her a title
00:47:51I called her
00:47:52Queen of the Surf Guitar.
00:47:54I never heard
00:47:55of another girl
00:47:56rock and roll
00:47:57electric guitar player
00:47:59at the time.
00:48:00I was an anomaly
00:48:01I mean it was
00:48:02something very different.
00:48:04I didn't think
00:48:04about being well known
00:48:06or being even compared
00:48:07to someone like Dick Dale
00:48:08and my impetus
00:48:10was I just want
00:48:11to play guitar.
00:48:12Gather on kids
00:48:13and I'll tell you a story
00:48:14on how you can become
00:48:16a blonde haired surfer boy.
00:48:17You grab yourself
00:48:19a surfboard
00:48:19swimsuit and all
00:48:20and hop until you're woody
00:48:22and find them
00:48:23ten feet tall.
00:48:24None of us really
00:48:25could comprehend
00:48:27how big it was going to get.
00:48:28Giddy up 409
00:48:30watch out for those
00:48:31stingrays in 427.
00:48:33Within a short period
00:48:34the large movie studio
00:48:35saw an opportunity
00:48:36and started producing
00:48:38teen exploitation movies
00:48:39in the form of
00:48:40beach party films.
00:48:43the mainstream
00:48:44jumped on it
00:48:45and began to
00:48:46merchandise the heck
00:48:47out of it.
00:48:47It was just like
00:48:48in the movies.
00:48:51Those depictions
00:48:52of fights
00:48:53and stuff like that
00:48:55those fights
00:48:56actually happened.
00:48:57Beach party
00:48:58with Frankie and Annette.
00:49:00Beach party tonight.
00:49:02That made more money
00:49:04than Cleopatra did.
00:49:05So find the beauty
00:49:07in commercialism.
00:49:09The good part is
00:49:10they woke up the world
00:49:12to the world
00:49:13of surfing.
00:49:14And that blew it up
00:49:16into a hula hoop
00:49:17kind of fad
00:49:19from which it never
00:49:20recovered.
00:49:22Thank you very much
00:49:23Keith.
00:49:23Thank you mixtures.
00:49:25And um
00:49:27just about ready.
00:49:29Eddie and the showman
00:49:29got to do the Hollywood Bowl
00:49:31which in itself
00:49:32was insane.
00:49:34I'd like to tell you
00:49:35about Eddie and the showman.
00:49:36I walked out
00:49:37and here's
00:49:3810,000 plus people.
00:49:40These boys
00:49:41come from the South Bay
00:49:42Palace Verdades.
00:49:44The feeling I had
00:49:45was like
00:49:45whoa.
00:49:47All right Eddie
00:49:47tell them what
00:49:48you're going to play.
00:49:58There was a period
00:49:59of time
00:49:59that you could
00:50:00open up
00:50:00Time Magazine
00:50:01Sports Illustrated
00:50:02and surfing
00:50:03was included
00:50:04as part of
00:50:05mainstream America.
00:50:06It just became
00:50:07an industry
00:50:08just like
00:50:09music business.
00:50:11And they got
00:50:12swept up
00:50:12into this
00:50:13romantic wave
00:50:14that if you go
00:50:14out west
00:50:15it's not movie stars
00:50:17it's the bees
00:50:18it's blondes
00:50:19it's surf music
00:50:20it's all the freedom
00:50:21that you could
00:50:22ask for
00:50:23because there wasn't
00:50:24anything else
00:50:24on the horizon yet.
00:50:26The media
00:50:27just glamorized it
00:50:29even more
00:50:29but it was glamorous.
00:50:31There was this desire
00:50:33for everybody
00:50:34to have this identity
00:50:36with this surf culture.
00:50:38Because suddenly
00:50:38you were bleaching
00:50:39your hair
00:50:39you had a flat top
00:50:40with a little bit
00:50:40of peroxide on it
00:50:41so you looked like
00:50:42you'd been to the beach
00:50:43but you haven't been there
00:50:44but you look like it.
00:50:45Kids would drive around
00:50:47in the Midwest
00:50:47in the United States
00:50:48with half a surfboard
00:50:49hanging out the trunk
00:50:50of the car
00:50:51to emulate being a surfer
00:50:52and they'd never seen
00:50:53the ocean.
00:50:53The surfing community
00:50:55at the time
00:50:55wasn't really thrilled
00:50:57about going national
00:50:59having surfing get that
00:51:01big because now
00:51:02it's bringing a lot
00:51:03of people
00:51:03who aren't really
00:51:04true surfers
00:51:06into the field
00:51:07but it happened
00:51:08because of the music.
00:51:11in 1961
00:51:13there was a literal
00:51:14explosion of bands
00:51:15and dances
00:51:16and 45 RPM records.
00:51:18Within a short period
00:51:19thousands of garages
00:51:21across Southern California
00:51:22began to fill
00:51:24with teenagers
00:51:24who were eager
00:51:25to form their own bands
00:51:26and jump on
00:51:28this new phenomenon.
00:51:33The 45 RPM record
00:51:35became a way
00:51:35for these bands
00:51:36to market themselves
00:51:37and their music.
00:51:38The number of recordings
00:51:40steadily escalated
00:51:41and peaked
00:51:42during the summer
00:51:43of 1963
00:51:44but only a handful
00:51:46found their way
00:51:47onto the radio
00:51:47and even fewer
00:51:49were picked up
00:51:49by major labels
00:51:50and became hit records
00:51:51such as Pipeline
00:51:52by the Shantaes
00:51:53or Wipeout
00:51:54by the Safaris.
00:51:58Ronnie being
00:51:59the consummate musician
00:52:00he was
00:52:00starts this drum beat
00:52:02and we go
00:52:03well we better
00:52:03put some chords
00:52:04and a melody
00:52:05to this
00:52:05because it'd be
00:52:06a drum solo
00:52:07if we don't.
00:52:08We got a shingle
00:52:10from the roof
00:52:10Bob cracked it
00:52:12over his knees
00:52:12something like
00:52:13he had surfboard cracking
00:52:14and then Dale
00:52:15had this crazy laugh
00:52:16that he did
00:52:16at parties.
00:52:19Wipeout!
00:52:21Pretty soon
00:52:22Wipeout
00:52:22went worldwide.
00:52:24So we were having
00:52:26a really good time
00:52:28then
00:52:38when the Beatles
00:52:39came out
00:52:40surf music
00:52:41suffered a lot.
00:52:44The Beatles
00:52:45changed everything.
00:52:47I don't think
00:52:48people wanted to sit
00:52:48and just listen
00:52:49to instruments anymore.
00:52:51They wanted lyrics
00:52:52and they wanted voice.
00:52:54the songs
00:52:56instead of being
00:52:57about surfer girl
00:52:58or your hot rod
00:52:59it became
00:53:01you know
00:53:01protest songs
00:53:02and it just became
00:53:04a very unhopeful time.
00:53:06The surf bands
00:53:08for the most part
00:53:08just sort of like
00:53:09one day
00:53:10they were not there anymore.
00:53:11The marketing people
00:53:13were just gearing up
00:53:14to really cash in
00:53:16on the surf culture
00:53:16when the Beatles
00:53:17showed up.
00:53:18I had other bands
00:53:19after the Bel Airs
00:53:20and the surf vein
00:53:21but it all was gone
00:53:22by 1965.
00:53:24The folk rock thing
00:53:25was just starting
00:53:26and I jumped on that.
00:53:28Lyrics tell you
00:53:30what to think.
00:53:31Instrumental music
00:53:32doesn't.
00:53:33It gives you
00:53:33the freedom
00:53:34to think what you want
00:53:35and go where you will.
00:53:37That's why I loved
00:53:38instrumental music.
00:53:40To me
00:53:41it was bubble gum
00:53:42because once again
00:53:43we were doing this
00:53:44rock and roll
00:53:45and rhythm and blues.
00:53:47The artists
00:53:47that were just
00:53:48breaking out
00:53:49climbing up the charts
00:53:50it was just like
00:53:51they hit a brick wall.
00:53:55In 1966
00:53:57the Rendezvous Ballroom
00:53:59the legendary home
00:54:00to Dick Dale
00:54:01and the birthplace
00:54:02of surf music
00:54:02burned to the ground.
00:54:09Surf music
00:54:09should never be
00:54:10anything but fun.
00:54:12It just happened
00:54:13that it ended
00:54:14and it couldn't support
00:54:15it couldn't pay
00:54:17its way
00:54:18anymore.
00:54:20The music changed
00:54:22and the people changed
00:54:23and their attitudes changed.
00:54:26And you
00:54:28never hear
00:54:30surf music again.
00:54:35Jimi Hendrix
00:54:36may have been right.
00:54:38Surf music
00:54:39experienced
00:54:39an existential crisis.
00:54:41The music of the 70s
00:54:42was characterized
00:54:43by long
00:54:44drawn out solos,
00:54:46overproduced arrangements,
00:54:47conceptual album music
00:54:49with hidden meaning
00:54:51and there was disco.
00:54:53I mean,
00:54:54it just seemed like
00:54:55nobody was interested
00:54:57in surf music anymore.
00:54:58But that wasn't true
00:54:59for me.
00:55:00So it occurred to me
00:55:01one day
00:55:02that it might be fun
00:55:02to put a band together
00:55:04and make a surf record
00:55:05which is something
00:55:06I wanted to do
00:55:07back in the 60s
00:55:08but I never had the chance.
00:55:20surf music
00:55:21had died
00:55:21a long time ago.
00:55:22Nobody even knew
00:55:23what surf music was.
00:55:24There were no
00:55:24surf music crowds.
00:55:26There was no such thing.
00:55:28Always the Beach Boys,
00:55:29big name band like that
00:55:30and Jan and Dean
00:55:31probably were doing
00:55:32something somewhere.
00:55:34You know,
00:55:34as time went by
00:55:35in the music
00:55:36in the 70s,
00:55:37everything was overblown,
00:55:38overproduced big guitar,
00:55:42big hair
00:55:42and I think people
00:55:44started getting tired of that.
00:55:45I think the main appeal
00:55:47of John and the Night Riders
00:55:48was just the pulse.
00:55:50It was primal
00:55:51to the nth power.
00:55:53This was recorded
00:55:54at a friend's house
00:55:56in Orange County
00:55:57on a four-track
00:55:59reel-to-reel tape recorder
00:56:01and I took the tape
00:56:03into Los Angeles
00:56:04to have it pressed up
00:56:04by a record company
00:56:05and I asked them
00:56:06to do it on blue vinyl.
00:56:08Because I thought
00:56:09it looked cool.
00:56:14I took this record
00:56:15and I drove it to K-Rock
00:56:17which was in Pasadena.
00:56:18I walked right
00:56:19into the control room
00:56:20and I said,
00:56:21hey, you've got to play
00:56:21this record
00:56:22and they put it on
00:56:23and they played it
00:56:23immediately right on the spot.
00:56:25That's how cool
00:56:25the station was.
00:56:27And then we booked
00:56:28a studio in Los Angeles
00:56:29and recorded
00:56:31what eventually
00:56:31became Surf Beat 80.
00:56:33This album hadn't been out
00:56:35longer than a couple of months
00:56:36when I had a phone call
00:56:37from a concert promoter
00:56:38who wanted to hire us
00:56:39to open a big show
00:56:41at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
00:56:43Well, it's historically known
00:56:44as the concert
00:56:45that revived surf music.
00:56:47It was the surf punks
00:56:48and Dick Dale
00:56:49at the Santa Monica Civic
00:56:50and we're the opening act.
00:57:02John and the Night Riders
00:57:03we were like doing
00:57:03lightning speed versions of
00:57:05I mean, we were like,
00:57:07you know, surf music
00:57:08on drugs or something.
00:57:09That just opened the door.
00:57:10All the LA bands
00:57:12like the Go-Go's
00:57:13and the Missing Persons
00:57:14they all wanted
00:57:15John and the Night Riders
00:57:16to open for them.
00:57:16All right, surf surf!
00:57:18More and more people
00:57:19were picking up on this sound.
00:57:21I mean, in the 1960s
00:57:23I don't believe
00:57:23any surf band ever played
00:57:25at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go
00:57:26and yet in the 80s
00:57:28several surf bands
00:57:30played at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go.
00:57:43The only gigs
00:57:44they could even get
00:57:47were with areas
00:57:49of the punk rock audience
00:57:50and if John and the Night Riders
00:57:52came out and rocked
00:57:53they'd slam dance to them too.
00:57:56As long as you ducked
00:57:57the beer cans
00:57:58it was fun.
00:57:59It was a very exciting time
00:58:00in Hollywood.
00:58:00A lot of punk bands playing.
00:58:02LA Weekly
00:58:02and BAM Magazine
00:58:04and all these trades
00:58:05were talking about the band.
00:58:07The punk scene
00:58:08had been given birth.
00:58:10He had X
00:58:10and the germs.
00:58:12That whole scene
00:58:13was going on.
00:58:14People have just
00:58:14embraced it again
00:58:15into this whole era
00:58:17the early 80s
00:58:18but when you got off
00:58:19into surf punk world
00:58:20we just found
00:58:21our little slot
00:58:22right in that.
00:58:23So there was a whole
00:58:24instrumental revival
00:58:25like nobody
00:58:26had ever seen before
00:58:27and it started happening
00:58:29all over the world.
00:58:34All of a sudden
00:58:35John says
00:58:35okay guys
00:58:36we're going to Europe.
00:58:37That was almost shocking.
00:58:39Are these people nuts?
00:58:40They want surf music
00:58:41in Europe.
00:58:42That first show
00:58:43that we did in Holland
00:58:44was at a huge
00:58:45rockabilly festival.
00:58:47At the time
00:58:48what was very current
00:58:49and trendy
00:58:49and popular
00:58:50in Holland
00:58:50was the
00:58:52Clark Gable movie
00:58:53Gone with the Wind
00:58:54and they were all
00:58:55like into this
00:58:55southern motif.
00:59:00We were playing
00:59:01in a very large hall
00:59:03and there must have been
00:59:04several thousand
00:59:05rockabilly fans there
00:59:06and I remember
00:59:08being constantly
00:59:09booed by the audience.
00:59:12And then a bunch
00:59:13of German rockabilly guys
00:59:14were kind of yelling
00:59:15at us
00:59:16like rockabilly man
00:59:18rockabilly.
00:59:22The promoter
00:59:23had told us
00:59:24before we left
00:59:25you need to learn
00:59:26the song of the south
00:59:27surf style.
00:59:28So we flew right off
00:59:29into Dixie.
00:59:39The moment
00:59:40we did that song
00:59:41that crowd erupted
00:59:42and loved us.
01:00:04Everybody in the crowd
01:00:06man just started
01:00:06waving flags
01:00:08and everybody
01:00:09started cheering.
01:00:10The crowd
01:00:10did a complete
01:00:11180 degree
01:00:13change in their
01:00:13attitude
01:00:14and we walked
01:00:15off that stage
01:00:16as heroes.
01:00:21I think if we
01:00:22wouldn't have done
01:00:23that they may have
01:00:24stormed the stage.
01:00:25John the Night Riders
01:00:26may have never
01:00:27come back to America
01:00:28you know.
01:00:29I remember thinking
01:00:30on the flight home
01:00:32that European audiences
01:00:34really weren't
01:00:35that much different
01:00:35than those in the States.
01:00:37It was obvious to me
01:00:38that surf music
01:00:39had a universal appeal.
01:00:41There was a place
01:00:42for it
01:00:43in the pop music scene.
01:00:47We came home
01:00:48to do more tours
01:00:49make more records
01:00:51and played more venues.
01:00:58Throughout the 80s
01:00:59new surf bands
01:01:00continued to form.
01:01:02Bands like
01:01:03the Surf Raiders
01:01:03Paul Johnson
01:01:05and the Packards
01:01:05the Evasions
01:01:07the Surf Punks
01:01:09the Insect Surfers
01:01:10and the Malibus
01:01:12were among a growing
01:01:13number of surf bands
01:01:14that all helped
01:01:15to draw attention
01:01:16to the music.
01:01:18Dick Dale
01:01:19was featured
01:01:19in a segment
01:01:20on KABC's
01:01:22Eye on L.A.
01:01:23He was interviewed
01:01:24at his home
01:01:24in Newport Beach
01:01:25when he felt
01:01:26he was ready
01:01:26for a comeback
01:01:27after battling cancer
01:01:28and being absent
01:01:29from the concert scene
01:01:31throughout the 1970s.
01:01:34and he did come back
01:01:35to tour
01:01:36and record again.
01:01:37You know
01:01:38it's really great
01:01:38to see somebody
01:01:39make a comeback
01:01:40like that.
01:01:41The Ventures
01:01:41who toured exclusively
01:01:43in Japan for years
01:01:44returned to U.S. stages
01:01:46after a decade
01:01:47of absence.
01:01:50Reunion concerts
01:01:51were held
01:01:56and people
01:01:57remembered
01:01:58the fun again.
01:02:10And then
01:02:11something happened
01:02:12in 1994
01:02:12that sparked
01:02:13the popularity
01:02:14of surf music
01:02:15to a greater degree
01:02:16than ever before.
01:02:17The best picture
01:02:19of the Cannes Film Festival.
01:02:24For just sheer
01:02:27like rock-charged
01:02:29viscera
01:02:30I think it would
01:02:31have to be
01:02:32Miserlue.
01:02:33Pulp Fiction
01:02:34really cemented
01:02:36surf music
01:02:37into the consciousness
01:02:38of the world.
01:02:41As a result
01:02:41surf bands
01:02:42started forming
01:02:43in even greater numbers
01:02:44all across the globe.
01:02:46This time period
01:02:47became known
01:02:48as the third wave.
01:02:49All around Europe
01:02:50the same story
01:02:51is repeating.
01:02:52Pulp Fiction
01:02:53who really presented
01:02:54the surf music
01:02:55to a wider audience.
01:02:56Instead of using
01:02:57the word surf music
01:02:58a lot of people now
01:03:00so you're playing
01:03:01Pulp Fiction music.
01:03:03Founded in the late 80s
01:03:05the Huntington Beach
01:03:06International Surfing Museum
01:03:07continues to support
01:03:08the surf music community
01:03:10with Sunday afternoon
01:03:11concerts during the summer.
01:03:15For the last several years
01:03:17Liborno
01:03:17a small Tuscany town
01:03:19on the west coast
01:03:20of Italy
01:03:20has been the location
01:03:21for a huge
01:03:22three-day
01:03:23international surf music
01:03:25event called
01:03:25the Surfer Joe Festival.
01:03:27Well the Surfer Joe
01:03:28Summer Festival
01:03:29was born from my idea
01:03:30a few years ago
01:03:31with the purpose
01:03:32to put together
01:03:33all the Italian
01:03:33surf bands
01:03:34but people were thinking
01:03:35that I was crazy
01:03:36trying to put together
01:03:38shows
01:03:38and push
01:03:39the entire
01:03:40surf music movement
01:03:41in Italy.
01:03:42We had the first festival
01:03:43in 2003
01:03:44and the festival
01:03:45was absolutely great.
01:03:55Los Straightjackets
01:03:56have recorded
01:03:56over 13 albums to date
01:03:58and have appeared
01:03:59several times
01:04:00on the Conan O'Brien show.
01:04:01Not surprisingly
01:04:02they're hugely popular
01:04:04in Mexico.
01:04:05The first time
01:04:06Los Straightjackets
01:04:07went to Mexico
01:04:08we weren't sure
01:04:08how they were going
01:04:09to receive us
01:04:10if they would have
01:04:10thought that we were
01:04:11making fun of them
01:04:12or something
01:04:13which we weren't
01:04:13we were inspired
01:04:14by their culture.
01:04:15There were two shows
01:04:16one in Mexico City
01:04:18and one in Guadalajara
01:04:19and they were both
01:04:19sold out.
01:04:20It was a shock
01:04:21we had no idea
01:04:21we were that popular there.
01:04:32Dick Dale started
01:04:33to tour
01:04:34headlined in Vegas
01:04:35and made records again.
01:04:45and every so often
01:04:47I'd hear about
01:04:48surf bands
01:04:48popping up
01:04:49in some of the most
01:04:50surprising places
01:04:51like Japan
01:04:52Finland
01:04:53Croatia
01:04:54countries you'd never
01:04:55expect to hear
01:04:56surf music from.
01:05:13The appeal of the music
01:05:15was cross-cultural
01:05:17and even more diverse
01:05:19than before.
01:05:21Surf music had experienced
01:05:22a full-fledged revival.
01:05:24It became obvious to me
01:05:26that surf music
01:05:27was very much alive
01:05:28with a universal appeal
01:05:29that I hadn't imagined
01:05:31a few years earlier.
01:05:32Surf music is my life.
01:05:35Unfortunately.
01:05:36Surf music for me
01:05:37is a religious life form.
01:05:39It just gets in your heart
01:05:40it gets in your soul
01:05:41it gets in your spirit.
01:05:42For me
01:05:42it's my childhood
01:05:43it takes me back.
01:05:45It's all in the melody
01:05:45and the beat.
01:05:49It's still
01:05:50all about escapism
01:05:52enjoying the moment
01:05:53dancing
01:05:54having fun.
01:06:09Even though
01:06:10we're slowly losing
01:06:12the pioneers
01:06:13and the people
01:06:14who first played
01:06:15around with this
01:06:16it's bigger than
01:06:17it's ever been.
01:06:18By far.
01:06:20The spirit of surf music fans
01:06:22has not been dampened
01:06:24by the test of time.
01:06:25That spirit still represents
01:06:27all of the things
01:06:28that made the sound
01:06:29of surf popular
01:06:30in the days before
01:06:31the Beatles.
01:06:32It's commonly assumed
01:06:33that when Jimmy said
01:06:36that you'll never hear
01:06:37surf music ever again
01:06:39that he was saying
01:06:40we're here now
01:06:41and screw you
01:06:43but he apparently
01:06:44was a really big fan
01:06:46of Dick Dale
01:06:46and the real reason
01:06:48he said it was
01:06:49there had been
01:06:49a false news report
01:06:51at the time
01:06:51that Dick Dale
01:06:52was ill and dying.
01:06:54I had collapsed
01:06:55and then I was
01:06:57at the hospital
01:06:59Jimmy was recording
01:07:01at the time
01:07:02hey I heard Dale
01:07:04did a no show
01:07:06and his guitar player
01:07:07said
01:07:08no man
01:07:09he's dying
01:07:14and then Jimmy said
01:07:16man
01:07:17he said
01:07:18you'll never hear
01:07:18surf music again
01:07:20but he knew
01:07:21what a fighter I was
01:07:23and he said
01:07:24that sounds like
01:07:26a lie to me
01:07:29I have that on tape
01:07:32somewhere
01:07:34the king of surf guitar
01:07:37has passed away
01:07:38Dick Dale
01:07:39led the way
01:07:40for generations
01:07:44Dale performed
01:07:45at blazing speeds
01:07:46until the end
01:07:47Dick Dale
01:07:48was 81 years old
01:07:53you'll never hear
01:07:54surf music again
01:07:58that's a big lie
01:08:00that's a big lie
01:08:39that's a big lie
01:08:39a junior
01:08:39he said
01:08:39he'll see you
01:08:39the
01:08:39a fire
01:08:39पे
01:08:48guitar solo
01:09:18guitar solo
01:10:05That's about it.
01:10:09guitar solo
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