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> I recently took a look at Dick Dales myspace bio.
>
> I was surprised to read that Dick Dale "invented surf music in the
> 1950's."
While Dick certainly practiced his unique guitar style in the 50s, the term
"surf music" wasn't connected to his playing until 1961. There was a
specific time and place, and set of conditions that allowed that to happen.
> I'm also quite confused by the claim that Dick Dale's Surfer's Choice
> was the first surf album ever released, but perhaps that's debateable
> in how you interpret the sentence...but I am pretty sure that it was
> not released in the 50s...
Don't be confused. "Surfer's Choice" wasn't released in the 50s. It was
released in 1962. First surf album? Debatable. Most likely, that claim
goes to the Challengers' "Surfbeat." Even the Mar-Kets' "Surfer's Stomp"
album was released before "Surfer's Choice."
> "Dale had already been titled 'King of the Surf Guitar' by his surfer
> friends before his creation of the Fender Reverb, Dale's first album
> called 'Surfer's Choice' was the first Surfing album to be
> commercially sold with a picture of Dale surfing by the pier in San
> Clemente, Ca. with a surfing title on it. This album alone sold over
> eighty-eight thousand albums in the late 50's and today in the 90's it
> would be like 4 million."
The above paragraph was poorly written, inaccurate, and misleading. It's
true that "Surfer's Choice" sold like hotcakes, primarily in Southern
California. I don't know how accurate the 88,000 figure is, but the number
was certainly quite large and in the many thousands. It just wasn't
released in the late 50s.
john blair
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