Rich here to follow up on a question I raised on 9-25-25 when I asked the question of what particular songs might be said to define an entire genre. At that time I stated that Dick Dale's "Miserlou" (1962) defined the sound of what would be called "Surf Guitar" and that every instrumental surf-rock band thereafter would in some way attempt to imitate Dick's reverb-drenched double-picked guitar playing.
But it wasn't only instrumental groups that were influenced by the new surf craze. Attending many of the parties featuring Dick Dale and his band was a young surfer, Dennis Wilson, whose older brother Brian was putting together a vocal group called The Pendletones that was comprised of himself, his brothers, a cousin, and a next-door neighbor. Brian, still a teenager himself, was casting about for subject matter for the nascent songs he was writing for the group, and Dennis told Brian and the band that Surfing was the latest and biggest craze in Southern California.
Shortly thereafter, The Pendletones -- now renamed The Beach Boys -- recorded a couple of songs that addressed the surfing craze, a doo-wop-oriented song called "Surfin'" (1961) and the more rockabilly-influenced "Surfin' Safari" (1962). Both records were minor-though-only-local hit records in L.A. But in 1963 -- once they incorporated Dick Dale-styled guitar sounds and rewrote Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" -- The Beach Boys burst into the national teenage consciousness with their Number 3-charting "Surfin' USA."
And thus it was that "Surfin' USA," with its combination of The Beach Boys' lyrics and close harmonies, along with their Dick Dale-inspired instrumentation, brought the Surf Craze to Teenage America.
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