Surf Soundtracks: the Musical Negotiation of Deviance and Difference in Surf-Culture

The production of ‘surf-music’ not only mirrors the status of surfing subcultures but it has also been an important script through which the appropriation and negotiation of what constitutes surf-culture has taken place. In this paper we discuss how various musical genres have been appropriated by groups involved in this process of negotiation. In the first instance we consider the seductive, subversive use of music as a governmental means to dilute, reconstruct and productively harness a subculture that was perceived as a threat to working, moral and familial life. Following this, we reflect on attempts made by sub-cultural surfers to resist and reverse this trend with music designed to subvert, shock and rally deviant surfers around hard-core ethics. Music in this sense is a symbol upon which social movements depend for cohesion, group charisma and the power to control cultural resources and determine social action.

Citation:

Robin Canniford and Joan Ormrod (2007) ,"Surf Soundtracks: the Musical Negotiation of Deviance and Difference in Surf-Culture", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 431-435.