The No. 1 Song On July 18, 1963 Sounds Even Better On A Beach Vacation Today

The first surfing-themed song to become a No. 1 single in the U.S. was Jan and Dean's beach-party jam "Surf City," which on July 18, 1963, was spending its first week on top of the Hot 100. While many of the songs that captured what '60s surf rock was all about evoked the feel and sound of surfing, other popular surf rock tunes of the era depicted the subculture, tropes, and rituals of the Southern California surfing scene. 

"Surf City" fits into the latter category, being more of a car song than about surfing, as the bulk of the running time of "Surf City" is concerned with describing the automobile used to get to a fabled surfing spot. The subjects seem to really enjoy the ride as they look forward to the sand, surf, and parties, which will have a favorable ratio of "two girls for every boy." Here's how Jan and Dean provided one of the summer of 1963's most beach-ready and definitive tunes, "Surf City."

"Surf City" by Jan and Dean could easily be mistaken for a Beach Boys song, a logical conclusion as the stories of those acts are intertwined. Jan Berry and Dean Torrence started a band in high school in the late 1950s and one of their first singles, "Baby Talk," would spark the idea for the Beach Boys' debut single, "Surfin.'" After that, Jan and Dean adopted a sound similar to that of the Beach Boys, with whom they became friendly playing the same circuit in Southern California during the early '60s. "Surf City" happens to be one of several songs Brian Wilson wrote for other famous musicians — Jan and Dean asked the Beach Boys' audio architect to help them out with their first explicitly surf-based material. Berry got a co-write on the song, helping Wilson flesh out what he'd initially presented as little more than a chorus and a verse.

While Wilson would go on to have a hand in numerous No. 1 hits for the Beach Boys, "Surf City" was Jan and Dean's biggest smash. Those musicians landed 14 songs on the Top 40, but that half a month spent at No. 1 by "Surf City" was their most significant commercial triumph.