Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

Rare & Scratchy Rock 'N Roll Podcast


"Rare & Scratchy Rock 'N Roll" is a "rockumentary" series telling the greatest rock and roll stories on record. Some of our episodes spotlight specific artists, and others cover various specific subjects. All of them rock as we cover stories and myths about songs you can sing along with.

Jun 11, 2016

Surf's Up!

On this episode, we’ll dive into the complete hit singles history surf music. It made its biggest splash on the rock music scene in the early 1960s, and there’s a strong undercurrent of it still around in the ocean of rock music we enjoy today.

Thousands of surf music releases rode the waves, but surprisingly, most wiped out in terms of sales. According to the Rare & Scratchy Rock ‘N Roll Research Department, only 48 ever floated on the Billboard rock and pop singles charts.

We’ll sample all of them for you, including a disco surfing hit from the 1970s and a rap surfing hit from the 1980s. Then there’s the first surfing single ever. No, it wasn’t by Jan and Dean or the Beach Boys, but it might have been by a future member of the Beach Boys or maybe a group inspired by the ghost of Buddy Holly.

So grab your surfboard, and catch a wave with Rare & Scratchy Rock 'N Roll host Radio Dave.


SJC in Detroit
almost eight years ago

Catch a wave with Radio Dave! More great tunes. And while there's very little surfing on the Rouge River, there is a Tom Shannon mention -- but, surprisingly to this Tigers fan, no mention of the Bird is the Word version from 1976 by, I think, The Fowls (which, I'm sure charted nowhere outside Detroit.)