Surfers are back in Town: Part One.

After a long hiatus and a bruising, rancorous month of posting on BeijingCream before being “holidayed”, time to return to my natural habitat.

New Year. New vistas. And definitely time to update our Japanese surfer girl file. However, before doing so, a quick peruse of a list of the 100 greatest surf songs is in order. While this is a musical genre (along with hotrod tunes) not exactly noted for originality or sonic excellence, it does celebrate a recreational activity to die for. Hot bodies, the right type of drugs and the capacity to ingest large quantities of sea water.

The list is linked HERE, and the closest I could get to a Japanese surfing theme was Mr Moto by the Belairs (1961).****

And, as all are aware, Mr Moto was the Japanese counterpart to Charlie Chan who was located across from the Senkaku Islands during the 1930s, both creatures drawn from the golden age of the pulps.

**** Get serious KT. That’s hogswash.

Fact. Japanese youth culture was first exposed to surf music in 1965 when The Ventures toured Japan, and like every innovative culture, this event spawned numerous local surf bands. For a taste of contemporary Jap surf sound try the first video in this LINK. Daikaiju (Green Monster in English). Crank up the volume and imagine Dick Dale if he was born in the Orient.

And, this reverb/fuzz thing isn’t just the preserve of the boys.

Try the 5 6 7 8s who definitely role modelled The Ronettes.

These grrls spell danger.

And, a dab hand at cribbing The Cramps: I Walk Like Jane Mansfield

That’s enough for today. (200 plus mls of rain in the last six hours.) The surfer girls on the current ASP 2013 table tomorrow.

Tags: Japanese surf music. The Ventures