(Guitar, b. 1937) Backed by The Del-Tones, California’s ‘King of the Surf Guitar’ dented 1962’s Hot 100 with ‘Let’s Go Trippin’’. Its immediate follow-ups – also instrumentals – were less successful, but an album, Surfer’s Choice and its ‘Miserlou’ single sold moderately well, and he appeared in associated assembly line movies such as 1963’s Beach Party. When ‘Miserlou’ was heard over the opening credits to 1994’s Pulp Fiction, Dale rose anew ...
‘King of the Surf Guitar’ Dick Dale was born Richard Monsour in Boston, Massachusetts in 1937. Dale learned to play drums, ukulele and trumpet before taking up the guitar, inspired by country music. His first break in music was winning an Elvis Presley soundalike contest. Dale began playing guitar in clubs, solo at first, but later backed by The Del-Tones. He was an early enthusiast of the surfing scene that ...
(Singer-songwriter, b. 1975) The acoustic musings of Jack Johnson have a laid-back feel that betray a lifetime dedicated to surfing and skateboarding. Indeed, until an accident Johnson was a professional surfer himself, but subsequently became a musician. Unsurprisingly, this Hawaii-born surfer was a hit in Australia before the rest of the world, but his third album In Between Dreams (2005) saw him achieve a No. 1 placing in the UK charts, ...
(Vocal duo, 1957–66) In 1957, at Los Angeles high school, Jan Berry (1941–2004) and Dean Torrence (b. 1940), together with Bruce Johnston (later of The Beach Boys), drummer Sandy Nelson and Arnie Ginsburg, formed The Barons. Berry, Torrence and Ginsburg recorded ‘Jennie Lee’ (about a local stripper), which was released in 1958 and credited to Jan and Arnie, as Torrence was in the US Army reserves. Although it made the US ...
America’s most successful pop group, graduating from fun-in-the-California-sun surf and hot-rod songs to multi-textured, intricately arranged numbers of exquisite harmonic structure, The Beach Boys initially achieved fame with a line-up consisting of the Wilson brothers, Brian (born 20 June 1942), Dennis (1944–83) and Carl (1946–98), together with their cousin Mike Love (born 15 March 1941) and Brian’s high school friend Al Jardine (born 3 September 1942). Harmonizing Together 1950s vocal outfits such ...
(Instrumental group, 1961–66) After a flop with ‘Love And Fury’, they raced to No. 1 with 1962’s ethereal ‘Telstar’. This quintessential British instrumental did likewise in the US Hot 100, though further progress there was checked when executive politics caused the cancellation of a tour. Three more singles made 1963’s domestic Top 20 before The Tornados became passé with the coming of Merseybeat. Sales dwindled, too, through releases that either repeated ...
(Instrumental group, 1958–present) Formed in Seattle by Nokie Edwards (lead guitar), Bob Bogle (bass), Don Wilson (guitar) and Howie Johnson (drums), the group’s first and best-known hit was ‘Walk Don’t Run’, which they heard played by Chet Atkins and was written by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith. Two more US Top 10 hits, 1964’s ‘Walk Don’t Run ‘64’ and 1969’s ‘Hawaii Five-O’, were almost irrelevant, as The Ventures were superstars in Japan, ...
Popular music’s most influential decade saw British and American rock develop in parallel, the creative torch passing across the Atlantic to The Beatles, then returning as the West Coast rock boom reflected the influence of drugs on music. In rock, guitar was now the undisputed focus of the music with ‘axe heroes’ like Clapton, Hendrix, Townshend and Page all inspiring a generation of followers. Meanwhile, soul music was enjoying halcyon days ...
Characterized by twangy, reverberation-soaked guitars; percussive instrumentals designed to simulate the effect of crashing waves; vocal harmonies underscored by a soaring falsetto – surf music was perfectly suited to an early 1960s pop scene of escapism and innocent fun and was to have a profound and lasting influence on the sound of the rock guitar. Whereas chart-friendly instrumental recordings by bands such as The Ventures in the US and The Shadows ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.