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This present conversation vis-a-vie the Fender and its
history has almost incidentaly shown how the Surf
genre was spawned. Country/Rockabilly groups were
easily one of the three or four major influences...
I'd probably put them third on the list, with Hawaiian
Chant/Flamenco/World being fourth. First and second:
Rock 'n' Roll instrumentals (Wray, Eddy, Champs,
Hurricanes, Ventures) were #1 and R&B instrumentals
(Bill Doggett, Famous Flames, Ike Turner, King Curtis)
were #2.
The thing about R&B instrumentals is that they feature
a very different beat and much more saxaphone, which
is an instrument which really didn't make its way back
into most of the second wave Surf instrumentals. The
reason it didn't is because a lot of the second wave
groups don't/didn't really like sax Surf cuts all that
much.
The guitar generation, which had Led Zepplin and Jimi
Hendrix shoved down their throats, rebelled againts
the the Pop media's conception of good music (even
when it went from Bon Jovi to grunge-alternative,
Surf/Lounge/Rockabilly revivalists were MORE Punk and
MORE alternative than, say, Nirvana were, in the
'90s). However, the guitar generation (of which I am
a part of) still is not without its own prejudices.
I know many Surf fans who don't even like to listen to
sax Surf tracks, totally missing the raunchy aspect
inherent. I was one of those people who for a long
time would skip any song that featured prominent sax.
I didn't get it. It just sounded screetchy to me. In
a lot of ways, I still don't get it, but in trying to
connect it to its past, I'm beginning to understand
why it was so attractive to the young teens making
Surf in SoCal, circa 1963.
It makes for an interesting conversation, because it
also shows that the second wave of Surf instrumental
groups/artists were influenced by a different pop/Rock
'n' Roll setting than the first wave, and this by
virtue of what the media pitched or the underground
embraced.
The second wave of Surf artists were influenced BY
Surf instrumentals (which didn't exist for the first
wave), rather than by R&B, Rockabilly, Rock
instrumental, Jazz and Hawaiian uke and bongo and
Flamenco (as the first wave were). Thrown into the
mix for the second wave was an accute appreciation for
Punk music -- in attitude and in playing style. I'm
sure there is much more to be said on this
conversation, but I've already gone way off topic
here. I apologize. I know I had something to add
about the history of the Fender, but it has slipped my
memory at the moment.
Hang 10!
Brian Chidester
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