Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughn - "Pipeline" (1987)

Two grand myths of surf music cross paths with blue-eyes blues.

Dick Dale was a ground-breaking innovator on guitar, largely forgotten today due to surf music's lowly image. He was actually an avid surfer and he tried to make his music depict the physical sensatons of riding the waves. That physicality, combined with the electronic and studio possibilities of the instrument that he explored are his unique contributions. And honorable mention is due his use of exotic, eastern motifs, which might make him the first world musician, cf. "Misirlou" (the instrumental track from the opening credits of Pulp Fiction), which borrows the melody from a Lebanese song.

Stevie Ray Vaughn is more famous but he really never intersected with my interests so you'll just have to look him up yourself.

"Pipeline", originally a hit for the Chantays in 1962, is one of the classic surf instrumentals, which doesn't so much convey the act of mastering the board as much as being pulled down by an undertow, with the eerie threat of the melody carried on guitars played and mixed almost like a bass guitar, all bottom. Dale and Vaughn's version, on the other hand, sounds like a tidal wave, with Dale supplying the muscle and effects and taking off for the stratosphere while Vaughn plays the bluesy licks that bring it down to earth again.