5 Surf Pop Songs That Whisk Boomers Back To The Perfect Beach Day

Set the scene for yourself: warm summer air, wet sand between your toes, the crash of waves against the shoreline, the smell of burgers and hot dogs sizzling on the grill. Whether it's a day trip or a weeklong getaway, nothing beats a vacation in the summer — and you'd be a fool to miss the opportunity to put on some classic summer tracks when the weather heats up.

As rock music started to impact pop culture in the '50s and '60s, it eventually gave way to some of the perfect tunes for a seaside soundtrack: surf music. Combining the reverb and amplification of the electric guitar with stylistic flourishes and arrangements inspired by Middle Eastern, Mexican and even Hawaiian music, surf rock has a surprising amount of history behind its sound. While the genre may have gone in and out of trend like the tide, these tunes are guaranteed to make a big splash on your summer playlist — no matter what decade you're living in.

If surf rock — and indeed, all of rock 'n' roll — involves bucking some rules, The Ventures were certainly on message. They originated neither the genre (credit goes to guitarist Dick Dale) nor the song "Walk, Don't Run" (written by jazz player Johnny Smith, and a particular favorite of guitar picker Chet Atkins), and, hailing from Tacoma, Washington, were based far from America's surf epicenter of southern California.

However, the group did make an impact with their version of the song. Originally released in the spring of 1960 after other versions had flopped, the Ventures' "Walk, Don't Run" didn't follow its own advice, soaring up the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and settling in at No. 2. (Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never" kept the tune out of the top spot.) The song is also one of a handful to become a hit song twice: the group re-recorded it in 1964 — after surf rock became an accepted trend in pop music — and that version reached No. 8 on the Hot 100.

Incredibly, despite their universal association with the sound of surf, the only Beach Boys member with much interest in the pastime was Dennis Wilson, who cofounded the group with his brothers Brian and Carl. But that influence was palpable from the start: "Surfin' Safari" was the group's second single, following a 1961 release called (you guessed it) "Surfin'."

Though the Beach Boys had plenty more to sing about the joys of riding the waves, from the uptempo "Surfin' U.S.A." to the dreamy ballad "Little Surfer Girl," "Surfin' Safari" really is the song that started it all for the group. In 1962, it became their first single to peak in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 — an achievement that another two dozen of their songs would reach throughout their decades-long career. It also introduced a key feature of the Beach Boys' sound that would sometimes figure into surf pop songs: the band's natural vocal harmonies, aided by songwriter Brian Wilson's incredible skill for vocal arranging. It was a skill that would power the most perfect of The Beach Boys' future recordings.

Instrumental groups like the Ventures may have laid down the basics of what surf music sounded like, and the Beach Boys may have given it some extra style with their vocal harmonies, but it was the duo Jan & Dean who gave the subgenre its biggest boost in 1963. And they did it with a little help from a famous friend.

Singers Jan Berry and Dean Torrence had been singing feel-good pop tunes as a duo since the late '50s, scoring Top 10 hits with 1958's "Jennie Lee" and 1959's "Baby Talk." But the song that put them over came after attending a party where they met the Beach Boys' own Brian Wilson. He happened to be banging away at a song idea on the piano, which the pair fell in love with. With another surf song in his notebook, the smash hit "Surfin' U.S.A.," Wilson let Berry finish it how they wanted; the duo imitated those Beach Boys harmonies on their new "Surf City," a dreamy number about a beach party that boasts "two girls for every boy." "Surf City" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the first surf song to do so — and Jan & Dean would collaborate on several more hits with Wilson as the years rolled on.

With surf music becoming such a viable trend in the early '60s, anyone with the right guitar tone and a catchy enough name could turn sand to gold on the pop charts. One of the most notable one-hit wonders of the era was the Surfaris, another California group that scored an unexpected hit with "Wipe Out," a song they cobbled together to fill space on a single.

Hailing from Glendora, California, the Surfaris were all set to release their debut single "Surfer Joe" in 1963 — but when it came time to pick a B-side, the band got creative, improvising a bluesy instrumental with not only that classic surf rock guitar melody, but a pounding drum solo that followed courtesy of drummer/singer Ron Wilson. They named the song after the slang term for a surfer taking a painful tumble off their board, and had manager Dale Smallin utter the title after a high-pitched laugh (the song's only lyrics). "Wipe Out" outcharted "Surfer Joe" considerably, climbing the Billboard Hot 100 to No. 2 in the summer of '63 and inspiring a host of covers by surf rock pioneers like the Ventures, the Beach Boys (with special guest vocals from rappers the Fat Boys), and even Animal, the furry drummer from the Muppets. But there's no beating that original, which still sounds so cool.

While this instrumental may have predated the surf trend, there's something to be said for Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk" as a fitting precursor for the subgenre. Written by Santo and Johnny Farina, two brothers from Brooklyn with a knack for melodies on the steel guitar, "Sleep Walk" was fittingly written late at night after a gig, and recorded on an early home tape machine to interest prospective labels.

The rich, harmonic melody — achieved on a triple-necked Fender Stringmaster — became a No. 1 hit in 1959, well before surf rock was canonized on the pop charts. But that ringing tune does conjure up hazy images of the end of a warm summer day, waves lazily lapping the shoreline as you pack up the car and head home after spending some fun in the sun. It was fittingly covered by plenty of acts afterward, from the Ventures and the Shadows to Joe Satriani and Deftones, ensuring its status as a guitar standard for the ages. "It's so special to me, because 'Sleep Walk" became my life,'" Johnny Farina told Guitar World in a 2019 interview, "and to know it was never an oldie, or doo-wop, and can connect with any time. It's real."