I don’t exactly remember when it was that Jimi Hendrix boldly decreed, “You’ll never hear surf music again.”  I am guessing it was the late 1960s, but in any case, the dude was wrong.

It’s alive and well and rockin’ Surf City every Sunday afternoon, thanks to the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum’s Surfin’ Sundays concert series.

Let me regress a bit.  A little history here on what exactly is “surf music” and when it all began, as heard from my very own ears.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, I was listening mostly to the AM radio stations that played “pop” songs. There was some R&B tossed in, and a lot of goofy stuff like “Purple People Eater,” “Little Blue Man” and “Charley Brown.”  There were also some instrumentals that were very cool. And these were often used in the soundtracks to the surf movies.

“Forty Miles of Bad Road,” “Let There be Drums,” and the instrumental version of Ray Charles’ “What I’d Say,”  this was the bedrock foundation of an evolving musical style.

Soon more bands emerged that played this style of music and they started having dances that were called “Surfer Stomps.”  Dick Dale was at the forefront of the surf music evolution, playing at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa every Friday and Saturday night.  I used to like to go see Tim Morgan, a great folk singer, at the Prison of Socrates on Friday night and hit the Rendezvous for Dale on Saturday night.

It was really Dale who developed that super loud, treble-heavy electric guitar sound that became the trademark of surf music.  He worked with Leo Fender to come up with a guitar amp that would handle huge volume that had not been attempted before.  Hendrix really should have been thanking Dale and Fender for making it possible for him to be achieving that monster feedback tone that put him on the musical map.

When the big surf craze hit in the early-to-mid ’60s, the Beach Boys came along, as well as Jan and Dean, to bring us “vocal” surf music.  At first I thought this was very corny and didn’t dig it.  I was more into R&B, folk and blues at the time.  But it was catchy and before long I found myself digging it.  I mean, who couldn’t tap along with “Tell the Teacher We’re Surfin.”  (Chuck Berry had a lot to do with that).

In the 1970s, I had my own run with a version of what I liked to think of as “alternative surf music.” It started with the Funk Dog Surf Band, which morphed into The Tropics and finally The Coolwater Casuals. Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks had a couple of great girl backup singers called the “Lickettes.”  I had three and they were the “Corkettes.”

We did more or less off-the-wall, comedy-type rock with surf theme lyrics.  This led to a couple of singles and albums.  The most successful would have been “Tan Punks on Boards,” produced by Mike Nesmith, which was off the “Surfer for President” album.

Through all these years, there has been devout followers of the instrumental style of surf music.  When they used Dale’s “Misirlou” for the movie “Pulp Fiction,” it really kicked off a resurgence in both bands playing that style, as well as venues where it is performed.

One of these, which is now celebrating its 25th year, is the ISM Surfin’ Sundays.  The concerts are held either in the parking lot of the museum or at the amphitheater on the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

You can check with the museum to see who is playing and which location.  It’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

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