# Why did "surf music" come to be? Why the connection to surfing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039 "2011-04-12T01:51:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/21 "2011-04-12T14:54:51Z")
Yes it is. At least, it appears on several collections of surf music in my library. that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/22 "2011-04-12T16:08:45Z")
Now I wanna go skeet surfin. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/23 "2011-04-12T17:08:07Z")
Two comments: - Fender and other amps were coming out with reverb - it was a newer innovation; their earlier Tweed amps typically weren’t reverb; the 60’s-update of their model line introduced it. - That coincided with California Culture really coming into its own in the late 50’s and early 60’s (as portrayed in American Graffiti from the 70’s). In some ways, surf music was the music trend, just like Beach movies with Frankie and Annette, hot rods like Tom Wolfe’s Kandy Kolored, Tangerine Flake Baby (or whatever it was called), etc…the fact that the Beach Boys didn’t surf much/at all but were trying to capitalize on the fad… ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/24 "2011-04-12T17:29:20Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [_Misirlou_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou) (‘Egyptian Girl’) was a rebetiko (Greek urban folk music) song first performed in 1927. > > Dick Dale is partly of Lebanese descent, and an uncle was an oud player performing belly-dancing music. He was influenced by Middle-Eastern music, and he also performed a surf version of _Hava Nagila_. Specifically, that fast-picking playing style of Dale’s – isn’t that something very popular in the folk music of the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean area? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/25 "2011-04-12T17:42:03Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Specifically, that fast-picking playing style of Dale’s – isn’t that something very popular in the folk music of the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean area? …and Eddie Van Halen solos, like the one on Beat It? ;)😃 But, to answer your question, yeah bouzouki’s and round-back mandolins were often played with that rapid-pick style…pretty funny that surf dudes and shredders took it over and made sound so _cool_… ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/26 "2011-04-12T17:45:17Z")
Reverb sounds wet. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/27 "2011-04-12T17:48:05Z")
> [@Mooch](#): > > Now I wanna go skeet surfin. Nick Rivers rocks! ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/28 "2011-04-12T21:04:19Z")
> [@Mooch](#): > > Now I wanna go skeet surfin. Just watch out for Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/29 "2011-04-12T21:17:08Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Reverb sounds wet. Whoa - don’t get deep on me, dude. 😉 (in studio/music production lingo, adding any time effect like reverb, chorus, delay, echo, etc. is called your “wet sound.” You typically try to decide what mix of your wet sound and your dry sound (either same track with no effects or an altogether different, dry track you recorded) you want on the final cut…) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039/30 "2011-04-13T12:14:06Z")
He also surfs who only stands and wades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-surf-music-come-to-be-why-the-connection-to-surfing/578039.md?page=1)