THE BEACH BOYS – Their Connections to the Rip Chords
Back in junior high, I was really enamored with Jan & Dean (not so much with the Beach Boys, but I liked them also), and the various other one-hit wonder surf rock bands of that time period. I loved the hot rod songs and the surfing songs and all the cool lingo about woodies, shooting the curl, shutting someone down, etc. I didn’t know about the harder edged surf rock that was out there – e.g., Dick Dale – and it might have held my interest better if I had. But in retrospect, the surf music that I knew then was nothing but fun, and I have a lot of fond memories of it all.
The Rip Chords had one of the biggest hits of the surf era in the early 1960’s with “Hey Little Cobra” – maybe THE biggest outside of those by Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys – when it reached #4 on the charts in early 1964 (back in the early days of Beatlemania).
After auditioning with Terry Melcher (Doris Day’s son), the band was signed to Columbia Records in 1962 – that’s just one year after the Beach Boys were founded, for those who think that the surf craze started with them. (For that matter, Jan & Dean didn’t form until 1958, so surf didn't completely start with them either).
On the next single by the Rip Chords, “Gone”, Bruce Johnston (who later became a member of the Beach Boys) was brought in as a secondary vocalist, though Ernie Bringas still sang lead. Terry Melcher’s role was strictly as producer on both of these records. This single was not widely promoted but performed well where they received airplay; for instance, in the week of August 1, 1963, “Gone” made it to #2 in San Antonio, TX.
After one more charting single, “One-Piece Topless Bathing Suit” (which appears on neither album), Terry Melcher ceased working with the Rip Chords and in the process turned down what would have been their next single, a Brian Wilson composition called “Help Me, Rhonda”. It was recorded instead by the Beach Boys and became their second Number One song. (Musicians in the surf era were quite generous and often shared songwriters and producers with their strongest competitors).
I purchased the band’s first album. Hey Little Cobra and Other Hot Rod Hits a long time ago, but I came across the second album by the Rip Chords just recently, and I have really been enjoying it. Unlike the first album, Three Window Coupe doesn’t recycle a lot of the same old surf songs; instead, the songs are all unfamiliar to me – except the title song, “Three Window Coupe” which I definitely remember – and that makes it a lot more special. That “California Sound” a la Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys is there in force, and it was fun to refamiliarize myself with all those good times.
(July 2011)
