(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post)
Jan & Dean - "Surf City"
Hit Number 1: July 20, 1963
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
The 1960s were full of cultural changes. When we entered the decade, there wasn't much of a difference between the rock and roll and doo-wop sound of the 1950s and the sound of 1960 and 1961. Things shifted a little bit in 1962, but they didn't change a whole lot. Instead, songs became quieter with strings thrown in to them, and that sound carried over into 1963, with the early part of this year being one of the dullest and unexciting moments for music in my opinion. But around the middle of 1963, the first big cultural change was striking America: Surf rock.
Of course, the group most associated with surf rock was the Beach Boys, who will have their moments in this blog for sure. The highest they ever got to this point was #3 with the iconic surf rock anthem and ultimate jam "Surfin' U.S.A". (It's a 10) But a duo by the name of Jan & Dean were responsible for the first surf rock #1 hit, "Surf City". However, Beach Boys front man Brian Wilson was the main songwriter for "Surf City", which isn't too surprising, considering it sounds like a Beach Boys song. The duo, along with Wilson, were at a party when Wilson played "Surfin' U.S.A." for them on the piano. The duo thought they could have the song as a single for themselves, but Wilson refused that since that song was intended for the Beach Boys only. He did suggest that they take "Surf City", and he demoed the song to them. He had lost interest in the song, and thought it would be better if someone else could take it. Jan & Dean agreed to do so, and they contributed more writing to the song.
Funny enough, Wilson's father was angry about the song because he thought Brian had wasted an opportunity for the Beach Boys to score their first #1 hit. Wilson would later recall that "I was proud of the fact that another group had had a number 1 track with a song I had written, but dad would hear none of it. He called Jan a 'record pirate'". Of course, you could understand why Wilson's dad was so upset, since the Beach Boys still hadn't scored a #1 hit, but also because "Surf City" is a complete banger of a song. In the back of Wilson's mind, he has to think of this song as the "one that got away".
As I said earlier, it's very easy to listen to this song and think of it as a Beach Boys song. Though Jan & Dean became figures of the surf rock era, the only group that people can think of off the top of their head when it comes to surf rock is the Beach Boys. Some people (like Wilson's dad) probably see Jan & Dean as a ripoff to the Beach Boys, but I see past that. Instead, I see two guys getting a golden opportunity to get a major hit and running with it. And there aren't a lot of better songs to get your first big break with. "Surf City" is about a fictional place where there are "two girls for every boy". The narrator describes his journey there in his '34 wagon, which isn't the greatest car around, but it "gets him where he wants to go". Throughout the entire song, the narrator is never actually in this "surf city", he just describes it to us and how he plans on getting there. He's even made plans on to what he'll do if his car breaks down. "Strap your board to your back and hitch a ride in your wet suit" of course!
Anyway, "Surf City" is an awesome song. It's fun and exciting, and it does a great job to make "surf city" sound like paradise. That line "two girls for every boy" between each verse is still notable today. There's that all too familiar bluesy pattern in the chorus as well, which is a little tip of the hat to 50s rock and roll. Another thing that a song has to do a good job of, is paint some sort of a picture in your head. "Surf City" gives me an image of a place where the sun shines brighter than anywhere else, the girls are extremely hot, and there's never a dull moment. Not a bad image if you ask me.
Several years later in 1991, Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean convinced Huntington Beach, California to adopt the nickname "Surf City, USA", giving the song a forever lasting legacy. Though I doubt that all you have to do to get two girls by your side is "wink your eye" in Huntington Beach, it's still pretty cool to know that there is a place now known as "Surf city" in the U.S. We won't here from Jan & Dean again, but we will here plenty from the pioneers of surf rock, the Beach Boys, in the future.
GRADE: 9/10
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