In the autumn of ‘61, five teenage friends from Pacoima, California, formed a band called the Surf Buddies, capitalizing on the wave of beach blanket movies that glorified the swinging CA seaside lifestyle, no matter that the town on the far eastern edge of the San Fernando Valley is about as far away from Malibu, culturally and as the seagull flies, as are ebb and high tides.140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTdUNCmx4W
The lead singer and songwriter, seeking inspiration, got belt-whipped by his stepfather for filling his garage floor with three inches of sand, but it was worth the beating—Waves Up!, their first release, became the nation’s #1 pop song the next summer, along with three other chart toppers that year: Jenny Lou, Sand Angel, and their Christmas smash, Santa’s Hot Rod Holiday.140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYkZ9amULA
Their biggest hit, Fine Modulations, sold ten million copies in 1966. More hits followed: Sun, Sun, Sun, The Scrawny Little Surfer from West Covina, Assist Me Susan, and Surfin’ Santa Barbara.140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOCze8X8Px
Then their innocence wore off. 140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QFLZj9rbw
By ‘67, the buffed-bikini-and-tanned-bodies vibe had given way to pale mop-topped Englishmen and druggie rockers. Beach songs were dead, considered a relic of a bygone era, as old-fashioned as Ike. The Surf Buddies faded away like a California sunset. 140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXua45Cjsy
Until March 4th, 1974, when the lead singer, desperate for the fame and adulation he once received, put the Surf Buddies back together again, repackaged the band as a nostalgia act, and booked a show at the Winslow (Alabama) County Fair—which sold out. 140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunEqQzKyk6
Other small-time gigs opened up, with enthusiastic crowds singing along, full-throated and cheery, to their old beach tunes. Maybe it was the assassinations of the Kennedys and King, the killing of college students at Kent State by the Ohio National Guard, or just the general chaos of the times, but it seemed fans relished the throwback to when America was pure and innocent. The Surf Buddies became iconic. American. Harking back to the good old days of whiteness, segregation, and hair spray.140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPTOA8JDLg
Their comeback was complete when they headlined the nationally-televised 4th of July Celebration on the National Mall - 200 Years of Freedom, in 1976. They toured the country, are still touring, and will forever tour because the lead singer, an atheist until free-falling 3000 feet, beseeched any generic god in general back on March 4th, 1974, to let them play forever as the band’s chartered plane was going down during a Butte, Montana, snowstorm.140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIonr6dDfJB
In reality, all were killed on impact; but because generic god answered his prayer, they all walked away from the crash, unharmed, in a mystical kind of way. Today, the Surf Buddies are as popular as ever. “It’s the music that keeps us young,” gushed the lead singer, knowing full well it was some kind of weird religious miracle from some anonymous supreme being who apparently dug their pop songs embracing sand and sun.140Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4924pOtKqR
The flesh-and-blood ghost band’s show at the old Las Vegas Sphere on August 10, 2059 will mark the millionth time the Surf Buddies will perform Wave Up! and their other ancient hits. They will perform it several million more times in the coming centuries.
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