RRHOF eats its own

[Dave W]

Harrumph.  Any R&R hall which doesn't include Dick Dale can't be trusted.  Harrumph, harrumph.

[Pilgrim]

EXACTLY. Thank you!!   

[uwe]

Maybe the RRHoF jury members  are like me and get headaches from instrumental surf music real quick? 

[Pilgrim]

Maybe the RRHoF jury members  are like me and get headaches from instrumental surf music real quick? 

That would be a very sad medical condition, perhaps called Surfersurfeititis. Certainly classified as a mental disability. 

[slinkp]

Surf is the original metal. We know the RRHoF can't deal with metal either!

I'm kind of joking, but seriously, this sounds a lot like surf guitar.

[uwe]

I think I'm afflicted! I know it's uncool to say and that I should really like it, but I find that surf sound incredibly gimmicky and tiring. Small doses are ok, is this intro here "surfy", I always liked that?



I'm no expert!

That undistorted metal guitar certainly sounds surfish, but then I was never a fan of THAT type of metal either, I never 'got' Pantera for instance and almost all Nu Metal left me cold, I really don't like the sound of shred that much. A lot of Metallica is already too brutal for me, I like even heavy music to retain some swing. A pick hitting a string at a 100 miles an hour sounds mechanical to me, Alvin Lee's Goin' Home intro at Woodstock is about as fast as I can take it!

[Dave W]

Neil LeVang's treatment of Ghost Riders was allegedly the first surf music song.

Lawrence Welk was always a trendsetter. 

[morrow]

Love that!

[Pilgrim]

Neil LeVang's treatment of Ghost Riders was allegedly the first surf music song.

Lawrence Welk was always a trendsetter. 

I'm surprised that Welk had that tune on his show in 1961.  I imagine the country/western theme was what got it on the show. Dick Dale had surf hits a bit before that...he had more than one hit in 1960, the year he became visible nationally.

But it's nice to see that Welk hosted that performance!!  There was life in the old boy after all.

[uwe]

That's what I would call "Ennio Morricone Western guitar", but I hear the parallels to Surf. Surf to me is 'more notes per minute' though, but maybe that is just a Dick Dale specialty? That is what gets to me after a while, that relentless note-after-note.

[morrow]

That's Western , as in the old Country and Western ... Duane Eddie had Rabble Rouser around 58 or so.

Many of the early Western acts were Hollywood cowboys.

[Dave W]

I'm surprised that Welk had that tune on his show in 1961.  I imagine the country/western theme was what got it on the show. Dick Dale had surf hits a bit before that...he had more than one hit in 1960, the year he became visible nationally.

But it's nice to see that Welk hosted that performance!!  There was life in the old boy after all.

All due respect to Dick Dale's influence, but he never had a hit, ever. He only had two singles that cracked the top 100. One of those was Let's Go Trippin' (1961), which his Wikipedia page calls "one of the first surf rock songs." It was on a small label and not played nationally. It certainly didn't get any radio play in Houston. His few earlier records aren't recognized as surf rock, whatever that really means.

Did it predate Neil LeVang's treatment of Ghost Riders? No idea. Take your pick, and I won't argue with you. But millions watched Lawrence Welk every week while Dick was relatively unknown.

Vintage Guitar mag had a good story on LeVang, I was glad to find it online now.
Neil LeVang - Six Strings Behind — and Beyond — Champagne Music

[Pilgrim]

All due respect to Dick Dale's influence, but he never had a hit, ever. He only had two singles that cracked the top 100. One of those was Let's Go Trippin' (1961), which his Wikipedia page calls "one of the first surf rock songs." It was on a small label and not played nationally. It certainly didn't get any radio play in Houston. His few earlier records aren't recognized as surf rock, whatever that really means.

Did it predate Neil LeVang's treatment of Ghost Riders? No idea. Take your pick, and I won't argue with you. But millions watched Lawrence Welk every week while Dick was relatively unknown.

Vintage Guitar mag had a good story on LeVang, I was glad to find it online now.
Neil LeVang - Six Strings Behind — and Beyond — Champagne Music

No argument, that's all fair. In the long run, it's clear who was remembered, who kept touring, and who influenced hundreds or thousands of other bands. I was glad that Dale was re-discovered by Tarantino and others in the 90s, and his music lives on. I think Dale, the Ventures and the Chantays (and a few others) created and influenced a whole genre of surf music which continues today. Without them, it wouldn't be popular today.

[doombass]

Speaking of age, Buddy is 86:

[uwe]

That was nice. Real nice.