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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Music General Discussion »

Permalink why not HOT ROD music?

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Can anyone share some tabs for Hot Rod songs?

I don't think I even know what hot rod instrumental music is! What's an example? Like maybe "Wild Weekend" or something? Is it an actual genre/group of artists, or just a sound? Educate me!

Full length "Chases Lead to Crashes" available now - The Red Planets

I know there's been a thread about this before, but instro hot rod stuff is just surf with hot rod related titles and sound samples. Most of the groups playing hot rod-themed instros were studio bands comprised of session musicians, so the results are pretty close to the non-hot rod studio bands of that era.

edit: Found it - http://surfguitar101.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4172

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

So would that make The Surfites a Hot Rod/Surf Band with songs like "Thou Shalt Drag" ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBMM1oOfR30

"Maybe there aren't any surf bands; there's only surf music?" Tuck

UmaFloresta

revhank
I saw a copy of the Revells the Go Sounds of the Slots at my local record store. Anyone have it? Should I pick this one up?

Rev

I never would have imagined there would be two slot car-themed albums out there.

image

image

I always figured that Phantom Surfers album was an homage to the Revells one. They're pretty homage heavy

and by all means get that album or at least buy it and send it to me

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio

CaptainSpringfield
I know there's been a thread about this before, but instro hot rod stuff is just surf with hot rod related titles and sound samples. Most of the groups playing hot rod-themed instros were studio bands comprised of session musicians, so the results are pretty close to the non-hot rod studio bands of that era.

edit: Found it - http://surfguitar101.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4172

In my book surf with loud engine noises > normal surf

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio

Yikes, triple posting:

I think it's not really a matter of "whether x band is a hot rod band" it's more like "well, their album art is covered with cars and they don't say anything about surfing, just cars, so I guess they're not a SURF band".

Anyway, some hot rod music off the top of my head

Assorted Dick Dale albums (Wild Hot Rod Wails has engine noise all over the place)
The Winners
The Zipcodes
The Hot Rodders
The Darts
The De-Fenders
The Deuce Coupes
The Hondells
The Kickstands
The Super Stocks
The Customs
The Rip Chords
(half of these bands might have the same members. And far from instro-only)

In general it's usually a much more dry sound with a lot more saxamaphone.

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio

ElMonstroPorFavor

CaptainSpringfield
I know there's been a thread about this before, but instro hot rod stuff is just surf with hot rod related titles and sound samples. Most of the groups playing hot rod-themed instros were studio bands comprised of session musicians, so the results are pretty close to the non-hot rod studio bands of that era.

edit: Found it - http://surfguitar101.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4172

In my book surf with loud engine noises > normal surf

I remember picking up The Astronauts "Competition Coupe" album in 1964. There was a line in the liner notes to the effect of, "You thought the Astronauts were a Surf band (I did!)..................
Someone with a copy please let me know what the quote is.

Okay, I feel the need to chime in on this thread even though I said I wouldn’t because of The Beach Boys slag. For the most part there’s not a huge difference between hot rod and surf music, but there definitely IS a difference. It's not just surf music with a car title and sound effects. The vibe and guitar tone tend to be quite different in most (but perhaps not all) cases. Think of them as the same animal but with different stripes. There were hot rod tunes in the 50's like “Hot Rod Race” (1951) and “Hot Rod Lincoln” (1955) but they were very hillbilly sounding and not what came to be known as “Hot Rod Music”.

What truly started the Hot Rod Music trend was the release of the Gary Usher/Brian Wilson penned “409” released on June 4, 1962. It was the flipside of "Surfin' Safari". It was a huge hit spawning many imitations both vocal and instro. Gary Usher went on to write countless Hot Rod tunes for well known surf acts like Dick Dale, The Surfaris and The Pyramids, plus writing and singing for his own projects like The Four Speeds, The Superstocks and so on. The idea was, if the rest of the country (which was land-locked) didn’t get surf music, they would certainly get Hot Rod Music. Remember, surf music was mostly a west coast craze as far as instros go with the exception primarily of Pipeline, Penetration and Wipe Out. What brought the trend to the rest of the country was the popularity of The Beach Boys whether some refuse to believe it or not.

BOSS FINK "R.P.M." available now from DOUBLE CROWN RECORDS!
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revhank
I saw a copy of the Revells the Go Sounds of the Slots at my local record store. Anyone have it? Should I pick this one up?

Original pressings of this record are very valued items. I would buy it without thinking it a second if the price is good! It is a great deal if you like this type of Gary Usher´s recordings. It is very similar to the Hondells´ two previous LPs, with Chuck Girard on lead vocals and Richie (Allen) Podolor on guitar.

shivers13
Okay, I feel the need to chime in on this thread even though I said I wouldn’t because of The Beach Boys slag. For the most part there’s not a huge difference between hot rod and surf music, but there definitely IS a difference. It's not just surf music with a car title and sound effects. The vibe and guitar tone tend to be quite different in most (but perhaps not all) cases. Think of them as the same animal but with different stripes. There were hot rod tunes in the 50's like “Hot Rod Race” (1951) and “Hot Rod Lincoln” (1955) but they were very hillbilly sounding and not what came to be known as “Hot Rod Music”.

What truly started the Hot Rod Music trend was the release of the Gary Usher/Brian Wilson penned “409” released on June 4, 1962. It was the flipside of "Surfin' Safari". It was a huge hit spawning many imitations both vocal and instro. Gary Usher went on to write countless Hot Rod tunes for well known surf acts like Dick Dale, The Surfaris and The Pyramids, plus writing and singing for his own projects like The Four Speeds, The Superstocks and so on. The idea was, if the rest of the country (which was land-locked) didn’t get surf music, they would certainly get Hot Rod Music. Remember, surf music was mostly a west coast craze as far as instros go with the exception primarily of Pipeline, Penetration and Wipe Out. What brought the trend to the rest of the country was the popularity of The Beach Boys whether some refuse to believe it or not.

From my point of view, lots of Hot Rod tunes even have a touch of rhythm and blues, even r'n'r, and do not tend to over-use the typical "surf-beat" and/or guitar reverb, adding instead more saxophone, electric piano, even fuzz, and of course, loud engine sounds. I definetly can see differences between, let's say, Big Surf by the Sentinals and Drag Beat by the De-Fenders (yeah, we all know they weren't even a band, but they must have had some sort of direction from the producers!). In those De-Fenders, Darts and Deuce-Coupes albums, you even have some latin rhythms thrown in, other more "jazzy" tunes, and other rockers without any glympse of surf to be found.

Again, my opinion, and not that I'm an expert at all!

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BeachBumScott
So would that make The Surfites a Hot Rod/Surf Band with songs like "Thou Shalt Drag" ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBMM1oOfR30

Yes, we are a surf/hot rod band. We are also a surf band but not a hot rod band.

T H E ✠ S U R F I T E S

Daniel/Klas, both of you bring up excellent points.

Many Hot Rod tunes tend to not use a surf beat and in many cases the guitar tone is dryer and twangier. But they can have reverb, and sometimes lots of it. Some good examples are Gene "The Draggin' King" Moles tune "Burning Rubber" and The New Dimensions "Chicky Run" both do not use the surfbeat but have plenty of reverb and have a bit of chase feel to the playing which makes it feel more Hot Rod. A dryer sound is "Boss Machine" by Jan Davis who also displays the twangyness that hot rod tunes tend to have.

Also as Klas pointed out, Surf/Hot Rod Music is what The Daytonas are and what most surf bands in the 60's were. Yes, there are some that only play surf and some the only play hot rod but "real" bands like Dick Dale, The New Dimensions, The Surfaris, The Pyramids played surf/hot rod music although it's easier to just call it surf. Also, as you can see hot rod music wasn't limited to "studio" groups like The Darts, The Competitors, etc. The real bands played it too, whether in was vocal stuff like Ronny and The Daytonas or instro stuff like The New Dimensions.

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shivers13
Some good examples are Gene "The Draggin' King" Moles tune "Burning Rubber" and The New Dimensions "Chicky Run"

Excellent examples. Both are among my all time favorite instro tunes, any genre.

Here's "Burnin' Rubber": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyP1A2jwx4E

T H E ✠ S U R F I T E S

Totally diggin' this thread. This is SG101 at its best, IMO.

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I remember picking up The Astronauts "Competition Coupe" album in 1964. There was a line in the liner notes to the effect of, "You thought the Astronauts were a Surf band (I did!)..................
Someone with a copy please let me know what the quote is.

The text reads: "Okay. So you say how come the Astronauts are all of a sudden playing hot rod music when their last album was surfing music. So something must be phony, you say.
Okay. So something's phony, and you know what? The guys who invent names for things, that's the phony bit. The Astronauts were playing their music for a couple of years up in Boulder, Colorado and didn't have or even want a name for it. Then along came the surfing craze, and first thing you know what they were playing was being called surfing music. Which was a laugh because Boulder is like 5.000 feet above sea level and the Astronauts didn't know hang ten from cowabunga.
Passage of time. Surfing music begins to go out with the tide. So what's new? Hot rod music. Hot rod music? Yeah, and why not? Makes just as much sense as surfing music. Different titles, different sound effects, different lyrics - but the same driving beat, the same solid sound, the same irresistable stuff the Astronauts were playing in their pre-surfing, pre-hot-rod days."

Thanks for looking it up! Very Happy

To add to what Norman said, I often find the "hot rod" tunes are less melodic and more riff oriented. Mr. Usher himself tended to name the more melodic tunes with surfing themes and the less melodic ones with car themes (talking instrumentals here). Of course, when lyrics were involved, then the subject would dictate the title and the hot rod song could be quite melodic-"Custom Caravan", for example.
Gary Usher Rules!

http://www.satanspilgrims.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Satans-Pilgrims/8210228553
https://satanspilgrims.bandcamp.com/
http://www.surfyindustries.com

OK,just to clarify,I wasn't slagging the Beach Boys,they do surf AND hot rod songs,but they have lyrics so it's easy to tell which is which.
a lot of the original instrumental songs I do seem to be riff-based,so maybe there is a difference stylistically.
all I need now is some drag race sound effects...

BTW watching "Tales of the Rat Fink" (the story of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth) on Hulu right now.

moondevil
Man, I miss Zak.

+1 Thumbs Up

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