Jukebox Joints

Ritchie Deran

Finding information about this one is like getting blood from a stone. The record came out in 1960 and is featured on many a hot rod / surf compilation with good reason.

John Peel once said when he heard Teenage Kicks it summed everything he felt about being a kid. This is my version of that record.

Growing up watching films like American Graffiti, California looked to be an amazing place to be in the early 60s, unless of course you had no car or girl, like the poor chap in this tune.

'Graduation's almost through,
don't know what I'm gonna do,
my dad said to me one day
sonny what's wrong with you?
I want a girl and a hot rod...'

With the classic surf guitar sound and the repetitive staccato piano lines, it's a killer.

Richie Deran - A Girl And A Hot Rod

The Trashmen

The Trashmen became pretty well know for their huge hit Surfin' Bird as featured in Full Metal Jacket.

This is the B-Side, King Of The Surf. Most of their records were instrumentals and I think that's a tragedy as they could do some killer vocals as demonstrated here.

The chorus is just greeeat. There are some amazing surf records out there if you just manage to root underneath the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean sludge.

The Trashmen - King Of The Surf