Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966 (Images of America)

John Blair is thee surf music historian and a true fount of knowledge about this highly underground genre. In this book he gives us a treasure-trove of photos and posters - the result of a lifetime of collecting all this stuff. Surf music fans – and I count myself in that group - are truly fortunate to finally have access to all this material in one highly-professional book. And for those that don’t know much about surf music, this book is simply the perfect introduction. The most important fact about this book is that Blair captures in it the *romance* of surf music, which I suspect is the biggest part of what drew most fans to it in the first place. Through photos and short-but-highly-effective descriptions, band histories, chapter introductions, etc., he really captures the feel of that era. There was just that short four-year period where the music and the lifestyle came together in one of the most perfect settings imaginable. To be a teenager in SoCal of that time, to drive your hotrod or hearse or woodie to the beach and surf during the day and then go to a surf music show at night (at least in the summer and the weekends), does it get better than that? I think not. That's the romance of this genre, what hooks most of us.And then we start listening to the music - and we realize, wow, this stuff was GOOD! Contrary to silly and badly uninformed stereotypes, ‘60s surf music was incredibly creative and individual. While there was a unifying approach, many of the bands still managed to create their own signature sounds within the constraints of the genre. Bands were constantly pushing the envelope, trying to do something different, something *more* – which they generally did. And they did it despite all basically using the same tools and mostly looking the same! The uniformity of the instruments and band images was certainly not translated into uniformity of sounds. ‘60s surf bands truly unleashed their imagination and creativity, with the only restrictions being these fairly limited tools and what they were able to do with them. Turns out that these restrictions were not really very restrictive. And that is absolutely remarkable.Reading this book brought back all these aspects of why I fell in love with surf music in the first place. Thank you, Mr. Blair, for rekindling those feelings inside me. This book is really the perfect document of the first wave of surf music. It's a true gift!!PS My favorite quote came from Murray Wilson, the father of the Wilson brothers from the Beach Boys as well as the manager of the band, describing the sound of surf music on page 61: "The basis of surfing music is rock and roll bass beat figuration, coupled with a raunchy-type weird-sounding lead guitar... Surfing music has to sound untrained with a certain rough flavor to appeal to the teenagers."(!!!)

John Blair's "Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966" is an excellent book for the casual fan of surf music and the Early Sixties Southern California scene to read about the phenomenon and also a wonderful adjunct for the fan who already has some of the more in-depth books on the subject. It is part of Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series of books, an amazing series of over 7300 volumes. The series began by seemingly covering every small town and suburb in America and has now expanded to include cities, ethnic groups, and cultural phenomena like the surf music scene.The books are primarily collections of photos as "Images" would suggest, accompanied by enough explanatory text to let even someone who knows nothing about the subject understand it. Still, the photos are the real subject and like the other volumes, "Southern California surf Music" is filled with rare photos from many sources creating a truly unique and valuable collection. No matter how much you may like surf music or have read about it, the pictures here fill in the look of the people and places involved in a way that imagination can't. Included are the key places like Balboa and the Rendezvous Ballroom, the original posters advertising surf music shows, trade ads, album covers and its real glory, a large number of the surf bands themselves from the famous (Surfaris, Chantays, Dick Dale), less known (Lively Ones, Pyramids, Challengers), and little known (Blazers, Expressos, Squirts).If like me you were a fan of surf music in the Early Sixties but geographically far away, or a younger fan born after the era, the photos will help you connect with the music and the scene that created it in a way that nothing else can. If you were there at the time I an't think of a better scrapbook of an incredible time.

The first paragraph to the "Introduction" starts:"Unlike other forms of American roots music, such as bluegrass, country western, Cajun, or gospel, surf music had its beginning at a very specific geographic location: the beach communities of Southern California. It was here, between the summer of 1960 and the winter of 1961, that a new sound of rock 'n' roll emerge and culturally fused with the the mythology of surfing."See also:"Surf Beat- Rock 'n' Roll's Forgotten Revolution," (2011), Kent Crowley and"Surfin' Guitars- Instrumental Surf Bands of the Sixties," (1988), Robert J. Dalley.

Great photos and history. Well written with amazing photos.

Great and needed history of a very important and influential musical era. Written in an engaging and interesting way.Great music, great book- Thanks!

There are missing elements in this book. Not because of anything John Blair did but because of the era of which he wrote of. So much was not preserved for posterity. His book fills in blanks and leaves blanks such as the disrespect of surf music on rock radio. It's treated as an anachronism rather than a viable and contemporary genre of rock music. Loaded with fotos, and Mr. Blair plays surf music himself. His insights and images are a great window into a recent past in years though it seems further in memory.

A black and white easy reading picture, photo book chronologically telling a story about the surf music uprising at its peak. Loads of memorabilia showing: Ballrooms, venues, posters, newspaper articles, clippings , promotional ads, 45 records, album covers, fender guitars, amps, dances, "Gidget", regional stars, groups and female surf artists. John Blair's detailed information sticks to the facts. His writing style is positive not missing a beat. John is the man when talking surf history. A great book covering over 127 pages, divided into six chapters.

I know John Blair personally and as always he wrote an amazing piece of history for all to enjoy. The historic pictures are the icing on the cake. I would recommend his book to everyone I know or meet in the future.

Being From Southern California ( Santa Monica ) I Wasn't Really Into " Surf " Music...Then There Was Dick Dale !In The Early Days, Dick Was Playing Local Venues, The Crowds Became Larger Each Week-End, And Finally The " Surfers " Became Identified With That " Sound " *( They Did The Same Thing With The Pre-Surf Ventures And New Mexico's Fireballs )Dick Gained A Strong Following In Southern California ( Selling A Staggering 75,000 Copies Of His First LP Before Anybody In Neighboring Arizona Even Knew Who He Was ! )His Father ( James Monsour ) Owned The DELTONE Label Which Later Re-Located To A Suite In The RCA Building On Sunset ( Which Was A Bit Odd, Because CAPITOL Pressed And Distributed DELTONE ) *(* Early On, Singles On DELTONE Were Distributed By RENDEZVOUS Records )Dick Would Sign With CAPITOL, And When The Tide Went Out, He Turned To " Hot Rod Music "( Was Not To Be The Next " Fad " Despite A Hit For The Beach Boys ( " 409 " ) And Others )None-The-Less, Those Two Powerful Years ( 1961-1963 ) Will Forever Be Remembered By Me -Catching His Performances At P.O.P. ( Pacific Ocean Park ) And Amazed At His Speed On That Guitar.And Yes, It Was The Draft That Put An End To That Great Band ( The Deltones )Great Thing About This Book Is The Other Short " Bios " Of Other " Surf " Bands ( Before And After Dick ) There Are Also Photos, And Great Shots Of Some Other Los Angeles-Based Labels Who Also Tried To Cash-In On The " Surf Music " Craze ( Some Actually Succeeded Like DEL-FI Records )Sadly, Most All Of The Larger Venues Are Gone, Many Of Them Bull-Dozed Into Oblivion...Much Recommended Reading, Whether You Were There Or Not.... Let's Stomp !R.I.P. Dick Dale And Ron Wilson Of The Surfaris.... And Carl And Dennis Wilson )

This is a short book packed with info and photos.Not surprising really since the Surf boom only burned bright for a couple of years before being dulled by the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam and the Beatles.Lots of band photos (great guitars !), posters and flyers giving a good feel for the times.All the band's looked and sounded the same and it's ironic that the only surf band that achieved lasting success were not REALLY a surf band at all, The Beach boys.This book is the Surf Music Bible ....look no further.

To me a brilliant read i just like surf music .

A must for surf music fans!!

The ideal companion to Surf Beat: Rock 'n; Roll's Forgotten Revolution. It's photos and vignettes bring even more surf music history to light. It made me wish so much that it was possible to go back for just one Dick Dale show at the Rendezvous Ballroom. Cucamunga!