BIRD DANCE BEAT
Minnesota is not often mentioned in the garage rock world either, but Minneapolis produced one of the finest examples from the genre, the Trashmen, whose legendary 1963 hit “Surfin’ Bird” transmogrified two hit songs by a doo-wop group called the Rivingtons, “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s the Word” and showed America just what surf rock music was capable of producing. They continued to produce several minor hit singles – I bought “Bird Dance Beat” myself when it came out – and made enough music that a box set was released of Trashmen recordings (by Rhino Records if memory serves – actually it was Sundazed Records). All this by a band that hailed from a state that is as far from an ocean as it is possible to be and still be in the United States.
(September 2010)
* * *
I have never gotten a copy of the 1963 hit 45 “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen (or their first album Surfin’ Bird either for that matter), but I did purchase a copy of the Trashmen’s second single “Bird Dance Beat” at the time (it reached #30 on the singles charts); the flip side was a car song, “A-Bone” (the only thing surf bands love as much as surfing is cars). It is amazing enough to think of there being a surf band from Minnesota – which is about as far as it is possible to be from an ocean and still be in the United States – never mind one that is so uniformly excellent.
(May 2012)
