Beginning in the late 1950’s an entirely new genre of rock music started reverberating within southern California’s beachside teenage dance halls and over the radio airwaves: an echo-laden guitar-driven beat-heavy instrumental sound that recreated sonically the exhilaration that surfers say they experience when they catch a big Pacific Ocean wave rolling in toward shore.
The harmony vocals of the Beach Boys became internationally popular, but purists say that the only true surf music are those small-combo instrumental recordings with driving Fender guitars.
This week Joel Najman’s My Place program features an hour of vintage instrumental surf music by artists including Dick Dale, The Chantays and The Surfaris.