Awesome Surf Rock

Cloudchord likes to imagine what rock music might have sounded like if it had emerged during the surf rock era of the early 1960s. He’s got a bunch of surf rock arrangements on YouTube, including this reimagining of the Muse track Hysteria that had us dreaming of California’s beaches. His surf rock Judas Priest and Motorhead are great, too.

The surf rock sound of the 1960s relied heavily on instrumental electric guitar and lots of reverb. Musician Mathieu Terrade performed this enchanting cover version of Surf Rider by The Lively Ones on a different kind of electric string instrument called a Harpejji. Mathieu’s YouTube channel is packed with more great Harpejji covers.

Musician Leo Moracchioli takes a detour from the beach with this scream-filled cover version of the Dick Dale and the Del-Tones surf rock classic Misirlou. The song that Pulp Fiction made famous (for the second time) sounds especially great when played with anger as Leo does.

The Dick Dale track Misirlou is known for its genre-defining surf rock sound. Musician Bloxsy transformed the track into something you might hear walking through a crowded market in India. He used the simplistic Ostritch tuning used by Lou Reed during his time with The Velvet Underground to create the mystical sound.

Playing Dick Dale’s track Misirlou already requires some fast fingers. But guitarist Alexandr Misko amped things up to 11 as he performed the track using a fingerstyle technique. He somehow managed to retain the vibrato surf rock sound, despite his dramatically different playing style.

The original Sonic the Hedgehog has one of the most catchy and memorable soundtracks in the history of gaming, thanks to composer Masato Nakamura. Now listen as 130Grit Sound Studio performs a trio of familiar tunes from the game, done wonderfully in Dick Dale/surf rock style.

We can say with certainty that we’ve never heard Blue Öyster Cult’s (Don’t Fear) The Reaper like this before. But we’re impressed with the surf rock treatment that musician Bruce Lindquist gave to the 1976 smash prog rock hit, even if it could use more cowbell.