75 Comments
User's avatar
Monika Danilovska's avatar

I think that "Beach Party" was the song i enjoyed most. I loved the upbeat summery vibes. It lifted my mood and really made me feel like i went back in time.

Expand full comment
Zazil's avatar

I like learning about how the one of many Kings of music, one is Richard Monsour, King of The Surf Guitar, along with others such as the King of Rock, Elvis. The guitar-like song was something that caught my eye because it was something different to see functioning. How did rock help rock's bad rep?

Expand full comment
carolina's avatar

It’s really interesting how rock music changed over time as a reaction to what was happening in the world. After some scandals, the music industry had to clean up its image, which led to the rise of the Teen Idol era. At the same time, surf rock started to grow, led by Dick Dale, who brought his Lebanese roots into his amazing guitar sound. Then came the Beach Boys, who mixed echo-filled guitars with the fun, sunny feeling of California. It’s cool to see how this time period helped shape the music styles that came later.

Expand full comment
Aubrie De Jesus's avatar

What stood out to me was how people tried to change the image of rock after all the scandals - like the industry just decided to disassociate rock from the artist's history and push out these super polished teen idols. I think its crazy how much control and influence the labels had. I also thought it was cool how Dick Dale brought in his culture and still made something that fit into rock but sounded way different. Would rock have become something different from what we know of it now, if it hadn't been so commercialized so fast or at all?

Expand full comment
Jordan Lopez's avatar

Love seeing the mention of microtonal music and especially middle eastern music as it’s so different compared to western music. A whole other world of modalities in music and I think it sounds so appealing like in Misirlou.

Was spring reverb utilized in any other genres before surf rock?

Expand full comment
bella's avatar

Surf rock helped rock music with a lot with cleaning up the scandals and also helped rock music reach more people. I also think it's cool that surf rock brought in sounds from other cultures like dick dale influence. Without the mix and shift of the friendly vibes brought in i don't think rock would've grown as it has. Do you think rock would've stayed survived if it had all stayed rebellious?

Expand full comment
Yahaira C's avatar

I found it interesting how many scandals and tragedy hit the music industry. I liked how whenever they sang it was full of energy and everyone started dancing, it was like they felt free. I also liked learning about how the melody can shift genres in the song. I also liked learning about the different guitars and how they all sounded different. My question would be what did people like about it?

Expand full comment
Jenavee's avatar

Teen stars became more popular. There was the clean type of rock which wasn't edgy. There was surf rock which is more uplifting. It makes you want to dance.

Expand full comment
Jimena's avatar

I love the different sounds that all the types of guitars make. The uniqueness of all the songs amazes me. The ad of surf rock is very unique and I find it funny how it is very literal. If I was alive during that time I would 100% fall for the ads. Did the ads uniqueness help attract more people?

Expand full comment
Esteban B's avatar

The shift that rock and roll had with surf rock was interesting but not surprising that it found success for the public audience. After the controversies that many of the previous rock and roll artist had like with elvis, jerry lee lewis, and chuck berry, many decided that they wanted a shift to a more frendlier aesthetic that was shown by the shift to the surf music of southern california. This shift in surf music has shown success even to this day with music by the beach boys and dick dale being remembered by the youth and parts of there songs inspiring current music. The emergence of surf music had changed music forver and markes one of the first big changes in rock and roll. A question I have is what would have happened to rock and roll had it not shifted to the influence of surf music?

Expand full comment
Chris M's avatar

The appeal of rock music to a wider audience beyond rebellious teens and youth was a crucial shift in the genres development. Appealing to parents and an older demographic while reshaping the genre to be more friendly and wholesome was a change that positively impacted the growth, spread, and longevity of rock. Surf rock and its influence in other media like movies further solidified the genres place in the music industry. What would’ve happened if rock remained a genre tailored towards rowdy youth?

Expand full comment
Angel B.'s avatar

It is always interesting to look back on history, especially looking on how people dealt with the consequences of the actions of those before them, and this is a perfect example. These labels attempting to rebrand rock from a "bad boy" feel to a clean one is interesting but makes sense as they wanted to separate their stars from those of old who were tainted by controversy. Additionally I really enjoyed how Surf Guitar felt, I also enjoyed learning that Dick Davis took inspiration from his heritage to forge this new sub genre. This for me does raise the question, if Rock didn't have to rebrand, would Surf Guitar have been as much as a success as it was? Would Rock have become what we have today if it wasn't for the controversy surrounding it at the time?

Expand full comment
Ashley L's avatar

I really like how artists incorporate what they learn and put it into rock. The oud, a guitar like instrument sounds really good and healing by itself, when it was incorporated into rock it attracted many young teens because it sounded unique and new. The song “Surfin USA” by Dick Dale was something that I took notice of because it has a really catchy beat for me. It also reminds me of when I was a kid watching 1900 movies with songs that I took a liking to but never knew the name of.

Expand full comment
Anthony Santoyo's avatar

It's crazy how much of a comeback the music industry of rock made. It was smart to make songs that would not only reach out to rebellious young fans but also parents. I find it funny how the song "The Bird is the Word" was a big hit, and it made sense because the made no sense which is why many of the fans loved it. I wonder, if the music industry a huge hit like before, would it be able to make another comeback?

Expand full comment
Marco Felix-Casillas's avatar

This whole Genre of music came from the inspiration of different cultures. One of the most iconic surf music riffs comes from another culture just sped up. It reminds me of what we do in today's culture, on tiktok you will find many sped up or slowed down versions of songs. I wonder what would've happened if cultures didn't collab?

Expand full comment
arianna's avatar

It’s funny how making a genre more palatable for parents made such an impact. Straying away from the edge that most think of when it comes to rock and making all these new sub genres was unexpected. I would have never guessed that the Backstreet Boys were connected to rock like that.

Expand full comment