Surfin’ Bird! And other songs by The Trashmen.
Davie Allan & the Arrows did some good surf-style stuff.
Trivia: The Turtles started out as a surf-rock group called the Crossfires (or the Crossfires from the Planet Mars). An LP of old Crossfires tracks was released back around 1980; it was pretty good.
Also check out “Chiquita” by the Dave Clark Five.
I have a 45 called “Blue Bell Bounce” by the Blue Echoes that is a great surf tune; Google tells me it’s available on a couple of CD anthologies.
Popped in to mention the Blue Stingrays, although it doesn’t look like their sole album is available on MP3 (I don’t have iTunes on this computer to see if it’s available from Apple). Surf-N-Burn is a ton o’ fun (and word on the beach is that the Blue Stingrays were actually Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, *sans *Tom Petty).
I’ll also second/third/fourth the recommendations of The Mermen and Los Straitjackets for newer sounds.
Jan and Dean, also mentioned earlier, created my favorite surf song with vocals, Ride the Wild Surf.
From the '80s garage, the Surf Trio!
This thread’s gonna make me dig out a bunch of vinyl.
You might want to listen to Gary Hoey as well.
He’s of a more recent breed of surf guitarists. I really like his covers, but some of his originals are kinda boring.
He’s mostly known for his “Ho Ho Hoey” albums where he does guitar covers of Christmas songs.
The Blue Hawaiians, for example.
I don’t see The Belairs mentioned yet.
From The Book of Rock Lists by Dave Marsh and Kevin Stein, c. 1981:
10 GREAT SURF BANDS Not Including the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, or Even Jack Nitzsche:
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THE CHANTAYS, “Pipeline”
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DICK DALE AND THE DEL-TONES, “Misilou [sic],” “Let’s Go Trippin’”
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THE SURFARIS, “Wipe Out,” “Surfer Joe”
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THE TRASHMEN,* “Surfin’ Bird”
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THE PYRAMIDS, “Penetration”
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THE WAILERS, "Tall Cool One’
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THE SENTINALS, “Latinia”
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THE MARKETTS, “Surfer’s Stomp”
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THE TRADE WINDS,** “New York’s a Lonely Town”
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THE REVELS, “Church Key”
*Okay, so they were from Minnesota. They still played real surf music, reverb guitars and all.
**Okay, so they were from Providence, Rhode Island, and mostly a vocal group, when the great surf bands were all-instrumental. But Narragansett Beach is the hottest surf spot on the East Coast, so at least they know what they were talking about. And every landlocked Midwesterner who heard “New York’s a Lonely Town” finally knew the truth about the music and himself. So how could we omit it?
I’d nominate Sublime - Paddle Out (of course) but most of that album is quite surf-y
In a totally other direction - maybe some super chill electronica? Like “Eple” by Royksopp ?
Thanks so much folks. Tonight I’m gonna do some shopping. Since I’m unemployed, I’m gonna be really cheap and picky.
The Bambi Molesters are a modern band with a sort of hip version of surf:
The video leaves me underwhelmed but I think the Drums’ “Let’s Go Surfin” is a great modern example of surf rock that manages to stake out a little original territory in a genre that has a pretty narrow focus. It has this energy that manages to feel both zestful and mellow at the same time.
Don’t forget the North Coast lament: There’s No Surf in Cleveland by the entirely bogus Euclid Beach Band.
Some other “modern” surf groups that’ve turned out good music: Pollo del Mar, The Torquays, Rudy and the Surf Kings and The Halibuts.
Rudy and the Surf Kings Do Christmas has a great rocking version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” that would be a staple of my Xmas favorites list, if I had one.
My car radio is switched off from before Halloween through New Year to avoid any and all Christmassy music crap. I’m sure you mean well but that is one tune I won’t be checking out.
The Beach Boys’s best surf tune wasn’t one of their hits, it was a song entitled “Don’t Back Down”. Pure gold, I’m tellin’ ya…I promise it’s worth the $0.99 if you can find it.
I made a first round of purchasing. I need to shop slowly on unemployment income. I figure I can pick up a few each month.
Here’s what I got:
Mystery Planet – The Bomboras
Bikini Drag – The Pyramids
Killer Dana – The Chantays
Stormtail – The Aquamarines
Phoebe’s Got a New Bikini – Severine Devereaux
Super Rocket Rumble - Man or Astro-man?
C’mon Do the Laika! – Laika & The Cosmonauts
Son of Daikaiju – Daikaiju
Wrong Turn – Bambi Molesters
El Niño – Red Elvises
Thanks for all the ideas and I’m not done with them yet!
I picked up a few more surf songs with my first paycheck from the new job. Most were based on suggestions from this thread, though sometimes a picked a different cover version that I liked better.
Stick Shift - The Duals
Squad Car - Los Straitjackets
Tall Cool One - The Ventures
Neptunes Revenge - The Mermen
The Whales - The Mermen
Soul Surfin’ - The Mermen
Pipeline - Chantay’s
So, thanks again folks. I will build the collection slowly and steadily.