by John Hook

Beach Music? Many define it by its geography and the kinds of songs it includes while describing ‘friendship’ and ‘good times’ as the glue which binds it.

If you’re like me you’ve thrilled to square dancing in bright costumes, two-stepping in country bars, bumping and hustling in discos, and line dancing in modern clubs. They’re all filled with friendship and good times; making those insufficient illustrations of what makes Beach Music what it is.

1. Beach Music in the East and the West are similar, but not the same.
Both coastal communities celebrate individuality and self-expression. At the center of West Coast beach culture is the surfer community encouraging private quests marked by athletic achievement while the East Coast dance culture inspires a new form of social success.

2. East Coast Beach Music nurtures new ideals of social equality, romance, and improvisational self-expression.
Fifteen years before Rock and Roll, white teenagers in the Southeast embraced Black music as their own. At the same time they developed a new dance to express themselves. From that mixture the Shag evolved.

3.  Many found the secret rites of Shag and Beach Music at the Beach.
Like the “soul surfers” of the West Coast, the “soul dancers” set new standards for the ‘good life.’ At the beach, personal and hometown histories stayed home while they assumed nicknames and developed new personalities.