What Is Surf and Hot Rod Music?

Definition: Surf Music -- a distinct style of instrumental rock, not to be confused with songs about surfing, such as the early Beach Boys hits -- was developed at the same time and in the same location as the surfer craze of the early Sixties, specifically, the beach clubs of Southern California, where a young guitarist named Dick Dale took his cue from instrumental-rock pioneers like Duane Eddy and Link Wray. Upping the ante on their heavily reverbed style with a "wet" sounding echo and pumping the songs up to a breakneck speed, Dale helped create surf. (Its cousin, Hot Rod or Drag Music, is essentially the same style of music aimed at the classic-car enthusiasts popping up around the same scene.)

The typical surf/hot rod song features very fast, tribal drums, heavily distorted and echoed guitar, and is carried along by manic rhythm guitar riffs. Occasionally, piano and saxophone take solos, but the primary instrument of surf is the guitar. As instrumental rock, surf draws largely from melodies of other popular forms of music; as such, it carries with it a strong leftover streak of the "exotica" craze of the late Fifties, which sometimes results in slower, more intriguing melodies borrowed from Middle Eastern and Asian cultures.

Though it was viewed at the time as a novelty genre with few national hits, surf and hot rod music actually exerted a profound influence on what would become known a decade later as "punk" music -- and, still later, its trademark frenetic soloing helped inspire a generation of metal guitarists. In the late Eighties and early Nineties, surf benefited from a mainstream revival, due in no small part to several classics being included in the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction. As with rockabilly, surf never really wenta way again, and it gains a small but devoted fanbase with each new generation.

Also Known As: Surf Rock, Instrumental Rock, Drag Music