Hello and a question re: "Surf" Music ??

[Michellis]

Hello all,

New member here.

Originally from Wolverhampton and now living in Witney, Oxfordshire.

I first heard The Shadows music as a 10 year old in 1962. We used to visit my "Auntie' Majorie in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton. Her two daughters were keen fans of Cliff & The Shadows (amongst many other acts). I used to spend the entire time during these visits sitting in the kitchen listening to all those singles. We eventually got a record player at home and I can still remember catching the bus into town and buying Wonderful Land, my first ever single. There then followed a lifetime of enthusiasm and love of music, The Beatles and all the great pop stars of the early sixties and then quickly the whole blues and progressive scene and onto a love of Neil Young and guitar music generally.

Now in my sixties my fondness for The Shadows has never diminished and like many others it seems I have recently taken the plunge and decided to try and actually learn to play some of those brilliant tunes myself. It's early days and I know I will find this site most helpful.

There is one aspect of The Shadows that I simply do not understand. And that is that it has been, and still is, occasionally referred to as 'Surf Music'. I really do not understand this term. To me The Shadows felt a wholly British act completely encapsulating the thrill of the early years of Rock 'n' Roll and pop. They had nothing to do with Surf Music as I later understood the term mean and used in relation to west coast American pop music.

So can anybody enlighten me as to why this term has been used for The Shadows. It seems entirely inappropriate... ??

Thanks in advance and I'm sure I will enjoy this forum.

Best Wishes,

Nic.

[Uncle Fiesta]

I believe it is only the Americans who use the term surf in connection with the Shads. Indeed there was an album released in the States called Surfing With The Shadows - tracks include FBI, Frightened City, Atlantis, Are They All Like You, 1861, Dance On, The Rumble, Kon-Tiki and others.

I must say that what I've heard of surf music sounds nothing like the Shadows, having said that there are an awful lot of surf instrumentals that if re-done in the Shadows style would sound fantastic.

[Alan Taylor]

It is quite common in America for any rock instrumental to be referred to as surf music.

[cockroach]

Having lived in Australia since 1963, we were lucky in that many players here not only loved The Shadows and bought their records and played their tunes, but we also got all the American instrumental stuff on the radio and records etc..

The OZ group The Atlantics played a lot of original material which was similar to US surf groups but also incorporated a lot of Shads influences...as did a number of other Oz guitar instrumental groups.

As the Shads never really broke into the USA market, many of the American fans and players of guitar instrumental music never really heard much of them...unlike the rest of the world which loved the Shads!

Bit of a 'blind spot' in the USA as regards the Shads generally (apart from any US Shads fans on this site of course- some of them dig the Shads!)...but then most US rock music fans believe that British music began with The Beatles on Ed Sullivan in February 1964 ...they had/have no real knowledge of British rock music of any kind before the Beatles..

Me? I love it all! I like regularly playing Shads stuff with my band...but we also feature American guitar instrumentals too..Ventures, Chantays, Duane Eddy etc..

[drakula63]

I have always been of the view that it was a marketing thing, in order to sell the Shadows music in the US by putting them in a pigeonhole that seemed to be the closest fit for their music. I have never truly equated the Shadows with surf music - and I suspect that no one else has either!

[Paul Childs]

Different sound for a start. With Surf music the lead guitarist used a spring reverb for effect while Hank used a tape echo and the surf rythm guitar was electric on recordings while Bruce played acoustic on most things in the studio.

[Clarry]

A nice Surf compilation of Shadows tunes.

There are some excellent covers on here, it's one of my favourites.

An Evening in Nivram

[Iain Purdon]

I agree. A new one on me and some great performances. I'm not sure I'd call some of them "surf" exactly, but the point is that to a great or lesser extent they've treated the tunes differently. That to me is the key. They've skimped a bit on some of the composer credits but that's a small detail. That's a compilation I'd be glad to have in the car.

[Paul Childs]

Some of you might find this interesting.
https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/bob-berryhill

[Fenderman]

For me, Dick Dale is surf music. He is an amazing guitarist. He still tours now at the age of 80!