Listening to JP's Fibreglass Jungle on LuxuriaMusic, thinking about 2nd wave which began, as he says, with the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction inspiring an other generation to play surf music. far as I can tell Jon & the Nightriders pretty much were the 1st wave of revival (info needed here). So when did the 3rd wave begin? What was the length of time between the 2nd & 3rd revivals? Are we still in the 3rd wave or into the 4th now?

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I love Jon Paul. A great great guy and a great pal. But I want to cast a vote to stop breaking up surf music into "waves"

First, I think it sounds unintentionally silly and also, most important of all, it's unnecessary and can't be that tightly defined.

Second, there were bands playing surf between 1980 and 1994 when Pulp Fiction was released. Most notably The Phantom Surfers and The Untamed Youth.

Third, not every band after '94 started because of Pulp Fiction either.

That's my 2 cents.

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Last edited: Oct 18, 2014 18:05:33

Apologies...yes, that was a HUGE slip o' the tongue! Of course, I meant to say 3rd wave!!! I had 2nd wave on the brain! The studio was a clusterF today and had me all frazzled.

Great thing that the 'Surf police' are always listening--it really makes you conscious of what you're saying at all times!!

From a musicological perspective, breaking things apart into 'periods,' if you will, is a natural human academic inclination which facilitates specific discussions and documenting history in a logical, categorical way. If you delve into reading just about any kind of music history--Jazz, Classical, Ethno, even Rock now, this is an extremely common method that historians use to tell the tale. How do you think scholars came up with the divisions of Medieval, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc. music?

There are many, many facts and figures that back up and warrant separating the Surf music revival into periods, commonly referred to as 'waves.' Like it or not, it works, makes sense and provides a good context and perspective for studying the genre as a whole. Not everyone is ever going to agree with this, but that's just how life works. I'm not saying anyone has to agree, but for me, that's how I choose to present things. And that's what I'm sticking with while working on my book on the Surf music revival, which is in full swing.

The whole thing with the division is the determination of a very clear 'ground zero' where things changed on a major level that was widespread. We're talking a significant turning point culturally within the genre that had a very substantial impact. It's not about the fact that just a handful of bands existed. Factors like record distribution, both in numbers and geographically and dissemination have to be considered very carefully. The release of Pulp Fiction is undeniable as ushering in a whole new movement of bands. Much, much, much more significantly than anything that happened since John Blair released the discography and formed Jon & The Nightriders.

Insect Surfers
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What? Jonpaul is writing a book? NICE! Good luck!

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Brian wrote:

What? Jonpaul is writing a book? NICE! Good luck!

Agreed - a great bit of surprise news! Won't our bookshelves (for those who still use real books :) Carol, my wife is a 31 year Powell's Books vet...) shine with a Blair, Dalley, Balak trifecta.

Rick

Rick

Last edited: Oct 19, 2014 10:17:16

well having lived and played surf music through all the different waves of surf the thing that has alway stoood out in my mind was more how the audience precived what I was doing or playing, in the begining it was more about a song you were playing that had some kinda surfing reference like pipeline or surfer joe or even the beach boys,later when Jon and a few other stared to play the new wave of surf music which was much more defind as all instrumental music more akin to the ventures with no vocals that was a major turning point in what people saw or understood as to what is surfmusic,then when plup fiction hit that is when people started to get it.really the so called 3rd wave and in my opinion that is where we are to day no 4th wave as long as people keep thinging plup fiction music then that what our audince know as surf music so 1st wave 5 year 2rd wave 15 years and 3rd 20 and counting ....,

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Last edited: Oct 19, 2014 11:10:52

Jon n the nightriders toured Europe a few times in the 80s I believe.
Im sure that was inspiration for some of the 3rd wave guys to start bands.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Where would you guys fit in the importance of Dick Dale's Tribal Thunder cd?
It came out before Pulp Fiction and got a good bit of college radio airplay ,completely changed Dick's stage show and tour bookings, and no doubt helped Rhino sell quite a few Dick Dale's Greatest Hits albums . I'd say that helped raise awareness of surf music a few notches.

Paul is the Godfather of surf.
playing in all of the waves.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

JONPAUL wrote:

I think the Second Wave had much more of a global impact than folks think. An extremely important factor in this is distribution. For instance, Surfbeat '80 had separate releases in Finland, Netherlands and Germany and the UK. Likewise with the second full-length release Live At The Whiskey, there were releases in Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Finland. This is huge!

Yes!! thanks for posting that. I knew that but was brain farting and not pulling that out of the dusty files in my mind.

Jeff(bigtikidude)