Dean Torrence on Beach Boys, football with Elvis and more

[RockabillyNBlues]

Exclusive interview with Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean fame.  Topics include early doo-wop, football with Elvis, his design company, Beach Boys collaborations, living in Surf City USA and much more...http://rockabillynblues.blogspot.com/2011/12/dean-torrence-garage-doo-wop-with-jan.html

[myonlysunshine]

The surf music collecting crowd is crazy about anything rare or unreleased from artists like you, The Beach Boys, Dick Dale and others.

Yeah, but those are the nut-jobs.  That’s what Rhino was shooting for.  They only made 2,500-3,500…5,000 at most.  The only difference is a Brian Wilson throwaway is better than most peoples’ 100 percent of energies put into something.  Jan’s was made for the hardcore Jan fans that would buy just about anything he would do and/or those nut-jobs that absolutely love something that’s unreleased.  Quite honestly , the reason why most things aren’t released is because it ain’t very good.  They don’t see it that way.

Haha! That's us alright.

It's always interesting to hear different people's takes on being in the music industry. I always wonder why Jan and Dean continually get snubbed for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Guess Dean doesn't even know.

[RockabillyNBlues]

Yeah, I'm a bit on the "nutjob" side myself.  Definitely a collector mindset many times.  I do wonder why they are overlooked.  Sometimes maybe it's just the humor in the lyrics that some don't take as seriously or something.  While they certainly had fun, they also helped create some great music.  They certainly knew how to create a brand!

[endofposts]

I get the impression he doesn't think too much of "Smile," either, when he talks about Brian's throwaways, even if he does consider it higher quality than most people's best.  I don't think I agree that Jan and Dean have been snubbed by the RRHF due to their pursuing higher education.  It's just Jann Wenner's personal biases. Wenner falls into the old hippie/baby boomer trap of considering anything Top 40 AM from the '60s to be light weight, while favoring FM radio and hippie acts (who haven't held up as well over time, IMO).