RIFF SUMMER CHALLENGE

Mr. Moto

Surf, Flamenco and the infidelity of genre

Image by Elisabet Samitier from Pixabay

Mr. Moto was recorded simultaneously with Dick Dale’s “Let’s Go Trippin’”, and both are considered the first surf rock songs. Both were responsible for defining the genre that would then attract the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. In fact, the Beach Boys asked Bel-Airs’ guitarist Paul Johnson, who wrote the song in high…