Myths and Near Myths
Beach music will be 60 years old in 2005
by John Hook,
www.beachshag.com
Submitted by Cal Shaw, Tampa Bay Beach Boppers
with permission by John Hook
Chapter 3
THIRD WAVE: 1962 — 1970
The Baby Boomer Golden Years
This era began as the unmistakable sound of Motown began to dominate the piccolos and jukeboxes in 1962.
Around 1965 the term ‘Beach music’ found its way into the vocabulary of ‘fast’ and ‘basic' dancers’. Woody Windham counted down the Top 60 In Dixie, Monday through Friday in Columbia, SC. The ‘KIX Good Guys’ reigned in Eastern North Carolina on WKIX Raleigh.
Legendary nightclubs such as the Coachman & Four Club in Bennettsville, SC, the Embers Club in Raleigh, the Cellar in Charlotte, Cecil Corbett's Beach Club between O.D. and Myrtle Beach, the Barrell and the Bowery on the SC Grand Strand, the Castaways in Greensboro, George's in Statesville, the Polo Club in Winston Salem, etc. became focal points for Beach music and Shaggin’.
Ted Hall’s Hit Productions in Charlotte put on a long series of shows at the Park Center featuring national acts (Drifters, Impressions, Marvelettes et al) along with regional and local acts while servicing the frat circuit for decades. Jokers Three Productions did a similar job in Greensboro, while Paul T. Marshburn supported and nurtured many local acts in the Wilmington area.
Radio shows during the period included legendary Tiger Radio in Myrtle Beach, SC with Billy Smith, Hot Scott Hubbs and Jerry Gray, the HaJo Show on WSIC Statesville with Harold Johnson (now sportscaster with WSOC-TV Channel 9), 1966 — 1968. WBAG Burlington DJ, Jim Conklin was the first to break 39-21-46 by the Showmen, establishing an early classic for General Johnson. Jim also broke the Monza's Hey I Know You.
The Third Wave was cut short by Vietnam. Until this period the Rhythm ’n Beach scene in the Southeast was insulated somewhat from the nation (after all, Beachdiggers were diggin’ in the mid and late-40s what became the national craze called Rock ’n Roll in the mid-50s). But Vietnam, and the draft, sucked everyone into a new historical whirlpool.
Third Wavers couldn't plan to go to the Beach after graduation, work during the summers, and then go to college or find a winter job back home. They had to get married, go to college full time or land in the military. The national mood, and music, shifted. By 1970, the Third Wavers were gone or going; Beach music slipped into the shadows of a few concerts and festivals.
FOURTH WAVE: 1970 — 1979:
This era marked a slowdown (and near-demise according to some) of Beach music. New songs in 1970 included the Chairmen, Tyrone Davis, Bill Deal & the Rhondels, the Dells, the Georgia Prophets, Intruders, Miracles, Freda Payne, the Spinners, Spiral Staircase, Jr. Walker and Jackie Wilson, Beach stars all, but for five years there weren`t nearly as many choices as there were in the Third Wave.
On the radio side, Woody Windham continued to spin the R&B he loved in Columbia, Sandy Beach rose to serve the Beachdiggers in Charlotte on Big Ways, and the Steve Hardy dynasty grew in East North Carolina.
The Catalinas recorded “Summertime's Calling Me” in 1975, but it was not a major hit that year or the next. In 1976 Disco began to make itself known nationally and regionally. That year Chris Beachley of the Wax Museum found a record he liked which hit the charts in late 1974 (Pop: #91, 4 weeks; Soul: #75, 6 weeks). He nearly twisted folks' arms to get them to listen to it. It took three years for Ms Grace to gain widespread popularity.
The Embers recorded “I Love Beach Music” in 1979.
In ’77 and ’78, the club scene revived with Shag contests throughout the region. Show clubs enjoyed a surge, too. There was something new in the air. Other regional bands began recording and in late 1978, Dr. Beachley began to contemplate It Will Stand magazine which bowed in 1979, a year filled with a greater number of new Beach tunes than any year in of the previous decade.
To be continued…
Editor’s note: This is a very long, but worthwhile, the rest of the article and will be printed as space permits coming in subsequent issues of the“ABA news”.
Reprinted through the kind permission of the Author John Hook, www.beachshag.com where you can also listen to the Best in Beach Music on the Endless Summer Network, 24/7 free of charge.
© 1995 John Hook. All rights reserved. This is an unpublished work of authorship protected by the copyright laws of the USA. It may not be reproduced, copied, published, or loaned to other parties without the express written consent of the author.