The Smiley Smile Message Board

considering Dennis was the only surfer in the group, is it possible that the beach boys were seen as ho-dads (which  means poser surfer)? The stereotype of surfers as a bunch of clean cut all american types that you get from stuff like "Beach Blanket Bingo" isn't true. A more accurate depiction of surfers would be from something like "Lords of Dogtown."

I've always been under the impression that they don't like them, they tend to lean more towards Dick Dale and the instrumental stuff.

I'm assuming that a lot of them liked it. When the Beach Boys blew up, it made them that much cooler, and relevant.

This subject is discussed at length in the Beach Boys FAQ book (chapter 4 - The Truth About the Beach Boys and Surfing). The thrust of that chapter is that initially (61-63) the Beach Boys were much hated and resented by the hardcore local surfing community of Southern California and thought of as sell-outs and an annoying extension of the Gidget, Beach movie commercialization of the once pure surfing cult. The Beach Boys experienced threats and violence at some of those early gigs, and the derision lasted for some time. On the other hand Dennis was accepted on a local level by some of the surfing community because they knew him as a local prior to the Beach Boys fame, and Dennis was friends on a personal level with some of So Cals surfing icons such as Miki Dora and Corky Carroll. Due to this the Beach Boys had a modest amount of legitimacy just due to the social aspect of friends being friends. As time went by the hatred of the Beach Boys by surfers subsided greatly as the Beach Boys became a beautiful, and  at times surreal extension of the mojo and bliss of the beach experience. Many later generation surfers were motivated and attracted to the sport by the Beach Boys enduring promotion of the lifestyle through song. Few today would compare the artful, deep and lasting Beach Boys to something as disposable and lightweight as the Frankie and Annette beach movie genre, but in the earliest days of the Beach Boys that perception was rampant in So Cal. Dave Marks' mom told me about having to step in between an angry mob of surfers trying to beat-up the Beach Boys and the band at one gig in '62, but then again, if you read king Malibu surfer Miki Dora's biography, he verifies his friendship with Dennis. I modern times Bruce always makes a point to support Surfrider foundation which is all about keeping beaches clean and the ocean surf-able.

I don't have the video handy, but wasn't there something in either the BW A&E doc or maybe American Band where an old time surfer mentions how Capitol used to drop by their hangout with Beach Boys vinyl? He went on to say that they threw the stuff in the trash as soon as the Capitol rep left the room. Talkin' early days though, when the publicity machine was just revving up.

I bet the surfers listened to Dick Dale and the Liverly ones. Not Beach boys!

I had heard that the REAL surfers didn't actually care for surf music but they listened to jazz...

Perfect post.

depends when they heard SIP

Part of the BW A&E bio where this topic is dicussed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNpvPmH0VJ0&feature=relmfu (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNpvPmH0VJ0&feature=relmfu) @ 5:23