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Surf Music (1960-61: Part IV)

© Robert Whillans

Continuing in our look at some of the major forces of the music of the early 1960s that shaped the rest of the decade, this week we look at surf rock: its origins, artists and the reason for its popularity. Surf rock was seen by many to be just another form of bubblegum music, but it may in fact have had a large effect on the music that followed it.

In the late 50s to early 60s, California became the home to many americans searching for a new way of life. They came from all over, the South, the Atlantic, the Mid-West, to this modern Promised Land. They were looking for sun, fun and jobs, and all could be cound in the thirty-first state, much as people had felt during the gold rush, some 100 years ago. Economically, California had it all over the other states, with lumber, oil, minerals and precious metals coming out of their ears. They produced more fruit, vegetable, seed crops and nuts than any other state, as well as having the greatest amount of total farm produce. It held 25 % of all government defense contracts and space program money, as well as half of the 6$ billion Defense Departement budget for their now famous computer chip industry. They were home to Western Electric, Raytheon, Remington Rand, Zenith and Motoral in their Silicon Valley and, most importantly, were third only to Alaska and Texas in land area and offered the most varied terrain of any state, from mountains to desest, farm land to beaches. The population boomed in the post-war decades, going from 7 million in 1940 to 10.6 million in 1950, from 15.8 million in 1960 to 17 million two years later, averaging about 1,700 new inhabitants every day. California was so prosperous, that almost everyone could afford a swimming pool, and all were able to take time of from their schedules to relax in one of its 160 state parks, 53 of them being beaches.

The beaches were important, especially for the California youth, who could afford to live well off their parent's income. For them, surfing was their life's main passion, for it was what life was supposed to be all about. Relaxing, having fun, spending time on the beach with your friends. First popularized in 1959 by the movie Gidget, surfing soon became the biggest craze in 1961 as soon as the West Coast started making its own surf boards. Boards evolved quickly, making it easy for kids to get and use them, with some 30,000 teens catching a wave. By 1963, 100,000 were said to be surfers, and they all thought of nothing but surf. There were movies, magazines, television shows... but what about music???

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