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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Music General Discussion »

Permalink Punk band surf covers

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Some of my favorite 80s punk bands had recorded surf covers on their albums:
Agent Orange (Living in darkness): Pipeline and Miserlou
JFA (Valley of the Yakes): Walk don't run and Baja

What are some other memorable punk covers of surf tunes over the years?

Last edited: Feb 05, 2021 15:00:56

Ramones Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen. I only know their first 3 albums but they did quite a few other surf covers on later albums I think.

All I can think of is that Screeching Weasel original instro “Talk To Me Summer.” Sorry!

Daniel Deathtide

I remember Johnny Thunders doing "PIPELINE" - mostly I remember it as being rather slipshod and the performance not all that tight - just like Thunders. He and Dee Dee Ramone were a couple of NYC's favorite junkies back in the 80s.

J Mo'

TOY DOLLS- "Wipe Out"

https://youtu.be/zfEJmKYcGBI

Lavabreath wrote:

TOY DOLLS- "Wipe Out"

https://youtu.be/zfEJmKYcGBI

This cover is epic!

JohnnyMosrite wrote:

I remember Johnny Thunders doing "PIPELINE" - mostly I remember it as being rather slipshod and the performance not all that tight - just like Thunders. He and Dee Dee Ramone were a couple of NYC's favorite junkies back in the 80s.

J Mo'

I had forgotten about that cover! You're spot on about the recording not being all that tight, but Johnny Thunders left us with so many memorable guitar riffs/solos!

There is a cool documentary on Amazon about the New York Dolls getting back together for a few show. Mainly revolves around Arthur Kane getting back into the music scene. It wasn't until last year that I realized the singer of the New York Dolls is actor Buster Poindexter!

crumble wrote:

Ramones Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen. I only know their first 3 albums but they did quite a few other surf covers on later albums I think.

Good Call! Beyond surf instrumentals they did do surfy style punk songs that were similar to vocal Surfaris or early Beach Boys. Good weekend to go through their catalog and find some of those on later albums.

California Sun is a Ramones song I've heard a surf band play as an instrumental, can't recall who might played it at the moment.

DeathTide wrote:

All I can think of is that Screeching Weasel original instro “Talk To Me Summer.” Sorry!

Good one! Screeching Weasel didn't do many instrumental songs. Had not recalled this so it was great to listen to.

Though I don't think you could call The Cramps "punk" in the traditional sense, I'd argue they couldn't have existed without it and they did a spectacularly aggressive "Surfin' Bird." Depending on where you might feel Link Wray fits into the whole "surf" thing, then they also did a fantastic pairing of "Fatback" with some of the lyrics to "Sunglasses After Dark" for their own "Sunglasses After Dark." Lux was also a vocal fan of surf music, in particular The Deadly Ones.

Pixies did Cecilia Ann back in the 80s and Anthrax (not punk) did Pipeline I believe on their Attack of the Killer Bees album. The Descendents did Wendy by the Beach Boys along with a few surfish original instro numbers on their early albums....

Johnny Thunders' version of Pipeline was recorded for his first solo album SO ALONE in London with Steve Jones /Paul Cook from Sex Pistols on 2nd guitar and drums and Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy on bass

here's punk progenitors from NYC the Dictators paying homage on their fantastic 2001 comeback album DFFD

my old punk band used to cover this one from Australia's Radio Birdman

I got this album called What Surf back then, and it's got an odd mix of old and new groups on it, including Agent Orange (doing a couple other surf covers), Davie Allan and the Arrows, and The Pyramids. Not all punk by any means (The Halibuts were very ska), but overall a good compilation.

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edwardsand wrote:

I got this album called What Surf back then, and it's got an odd mix of old and new groups on it.....

Chris Ashford started Los Angeles based What Records? in 1977 with the release of the first Germs single, followed by other punk band singles. He also released two more What Surf compilations.

summerfun wrote:

Chris Ashford started Los Angeles based What Records? in 1977 with the release of the first Germs single, followed by other punk band singles. He also released two more What Surf compilations.

Thanks for the info! I had no idea there were a couple more of those compilations - this is the only one I ever came across. I bought it because I knew of Agent Orange and thought it worth giving a chance. Definitely worth the $3.50 I paid for it used.

Phil Dirt's review:

"The Damned - The Shadow of Love
Yup, even the Damned got into the surf act in the eighties. It came as the extra surprise disc in the gatefold version of the Damned's "The Shadow Of Love" single. The outer sleeve only lists "The Shadow Of Love" and "Nightshift," but the extra single includes "Let There Be Rats" and "Wipe Out.." Rat Scabies wrote the Surfaris inspired tune and the Sandy Nelson tribute."

Allright.... since I was a punk before I was a surfer (musically) and a (wind)surfer before I got into music. I should have come up with lot's of bands and so on. Problem is, I have them all on cassette-tape and it is somewhere in my basement. I actually recall I made a mix-tape for my now wife when we where dating with punk bands cover surf songs.

First off, most first wave punk bands revolved into a garage band and that was the true origine of punke (with the exception of Link Wray and mayby Dick Dale). One of the first punk bands from the USA was to induce a heavy doze of surf where the Dead Kennedy's and the guitar had a really big surf sound (Echoplex). No reverb, but mostly echo.

The other one was Black Flag, not a band that is really associated with surf music. But they put out some instrumental records / songs that modern bands, like mine (and maybe Mullet Monster Maffia, Arno de Cea, etc), see as a big influence.

I've played in several punk - garage - hardcore etc for about 35 years. Yep I'm that old, but I had my first band at 15 (sorry as a singer)!

And all of these band had one or more instrumentals! If you are a singer in a (hardcore) punk band, you know why! Your vocal chords are not like guitar strings. Once broken, you can't replace them!

Thrash metal was not really punk, but we played a lot with these kinds of bands. Many started with this one:

www.alohasluts.com
Aloha Sluts on BandCamp
www.arnyzona.com (my photography)
Aloha Fest on facebook

Oh and Davy Allan did a great album with the Phantom Surfers covering the Ramones in instrumentalversions. The band was called Ramonetures or something. They did a instrumental version of X's debut album too, but that wasn't that nice (well I'm not from California, so I didn't like X that much).

www.alohasluts.com
Aloha Sluts on BandCamp
www.arnyzona.com (my photography)
Aloha Fest on facebook

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