Surfing History: The Sixties Influence and Change on our Sport. (part 3)

Then Jan and Dean along with the Beach Boys bursting into the music scene in full color. Unlike some guitar slashing groups of the 60’s these two groups communicated what they felt about surfing. Their contribution was mixed harmonies and lyrical tunes about all that was “happening”, such as cars, waves and girls. These two groups interpreted that adolescent era perfectly.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was one of the most influential musicians of the day. His Lyrics not only struck home with surfers but with the popular culture as well. In the early 60’s Brian Wilson’s band director, Fred Morgan, “recalled flunking Brian in music composition for writing a song with a bunch of cords in it rather than the sonata he’d requested. I also gave him an “F” on a composition that later became known as Surf’in U.S.A”, said Morgan”. (Lueras 136)

As the reality of the war in Vietnam sunk in and youths across America were receiving draft notices or coming home from the war in boxes, wild winds of change swept across America. In 1964 part of these changes came from Europe in the form of bugs, Beatles to be precise. For some time the Fab Four ruled the airwaves, and were mobbed by there fans everywhere. A strange musical hysteria broke out in America. Surf music and other surf related manias hung in there until the mid-sixties. Then came the sound of acid rock from the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco. Psychedelic hippies entered the scene and groups like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix developed a drug related style of music. Where was surfing? It had momentarily taken a back seat, but the surfers didn’t mind it much. They were to busy jamming to their tunes and trying to catch the perfect wave. Meanwhile, Jimi Hendrix was singing to the drug culture, “you’ll never hear surf music again”. He was wrong.

Surf History Part 4