Surf music is a subgenre of popular music created in Southern California between the late 1950s and the mid-1960s, with deep roots in the emerging surf culture...![](http://web.archive.org./web/20231124005017im_/https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitkzk1MlRjl1ORkhiBocouyrmgbAekYNMLlAbwUk6IJ4r0KmUNOEoOGBNs_owMLdf5wI-C3tnj1s434wjNOtEiBUsN-g4hJEpaljmjKwI3gRLIOFwxBfDwg52MmAtjKkhrV6vDfJx7CToJqHepfKvJSs4a7QAj0BxHMsT5Nfa3nqbY9jw9wg-cd7CiYfuM/w400-h400/My-Backyard-Sudio-Records-Presents-1-1.jpg)
...From a strictly musical perspective, surf music is characterized by surf-related lyrics, high harmony vocals, catchy and earworm-y guitar solos and riffs, and high reverberation levels. Traditionally, surf music has always had a successful and relatively influential instrumental and rock and roll side. Still, dream pop and melodic singing generally found more followers and results in the charts.
"I think Dick Dale is the first one to start blowing up expectations about what surf music is with his arrangement of 'Misirlou,'" surf music guitarist Jason Loughlin tells SurferToday.
"But limiting it to the sound of early Ventures records and Dale, which is what most people think of, is too myopic for me."
"I see surf music as a wide umbrella."
"In the same way, country music has many sub-genres like bluegrass, western swing, rockabilly, countrypolitan, country rock, outlaw, and Tex-Mex, and surf music contains many sub-genres."
"The Beach Boys, Exotica, Hawaiian music, Duane Eddy, pop surf like Jack Nitzsche and The Shadows, punk surf, 80s surf like The Mermen - all of these artists and genres fall under the surf umbrella, in my opinion."
"What ties them together is a mood and a sonic landscape."
"There are sonic calling cards like spring reverb and low, twangy melodies, but I think it's unfair to reduce to only that."
"The writing and arrangement play a big role too." - https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/what-is-surf-music
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20231124005017im_/https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3iM0BHSsT3I1sMxGMo45FykYauB6Dkn6UeJIYXMXX54b5Eq3HlujePKPNWvTVv90r5JxfPgXaR2sOOiT4w6ogLP95s6czS538X8hoYrEdZnTh-efRX9OreML8NRr6N5z1OShp7a6TZzRu0Fx01pWqZOapYShusu7E14oSQmzZBf9Tza8qPyw_pK_b2_qK/w400-h400/My-Backyard-Sudio-Records-Presents-1-2.jpg)
trax:
1 Sidewalk Surfer - The Eliminators 2 Pier Pressure - Teisco Del Rey 3 Riot At Huntsville - Big Guitars From Texas 4 Highway Man - The Five Outsiders 5 Ripdeal At Zanderij - The Anacondas 6 Pacific Wave - Evan Johns 7 Big Surf - The El Caminos 8 Crash - The Irradiates 9 Rollout - The Long Boards 10 Kreml De La Kreml - The Beat Tornados 11 Shark Attack - The Coffin Daggers 12 Hot Line - The Bomboras 13 Clean Up On Aisle #9 - Man Or Astro-Man 14 She Rides A Chopper - Evan Foster 15 Tarantula - Los Straitjackets 16 Zombie Stomp - The Creepniks 17 Madagascan Intrigue - The Diamondheads 18 Mystery Science Theater 3000 L - Man Or Astro-Man 19 Too Drunk To Surf - Hawaii Samurai 20 She Kills Me - The Bomboras 21 Skate And Bait - Davie Allan & The Phantom Surfers 22 Black Boots & Bikes - The Krontjong Devils 23 Tombstone Twist - Big John Bates 24 Margarita Meltdown - The Cocktail Preachers 25 Pipeline - Cutback