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Which hit songs were written out of desperation?
The Surfaris charted their 1963 hit song, Wipe Out, after some scrambling in the studio to quickly create a song on the spot. Wipe Out was never intended to be more than a throwaway B-side song but it became a smash hit reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
L-R Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller, Ron Wilson, Bob Berryhill
The Surfaris were made up of teenagers, Pat Connolly (15), Jim Fuller (15), Ron Wilson (17), and Bob Berryhill (15) from Glendora, California. The band had achieved local success playing teen dances and talent shows and were brought into a studio in Cucamonga, California, to record the only song the band had ever written titled, Surfer Joe.
After completing the recording for Surfer Joe, the teenage band was then told they needed to provide a song for the B-side of the record, something they weren’t prepared for at all. Out of dire need, Ron Wilson the drummer, began pounding a beat that he had learned during his time in the high school marching band, and the rest of the group improvised around it. Bob Berryhill’s dad, added the broken surf board effect at the introduction of the song, and the band manager, Dale Smallin, voiced the Wipe Out spoken line and maniacal laugh which follows it, and Wipe Out was born.
Saxophonist, Jim Pash, was added to the band after the initial recording.
As for the A-side song, Surfer Joe, became a nominal hit after the success of Wipe Out, peaking at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Bob Berryhill stated,
“We met at a place in the California desert called Cucamonga, and recorded Surfer Joe. In those days 45’s required a B side so Dale (Smallin) asked us to play another song. We had not written a song before Surfer Joe so I suggested a drum solo type of song with simple guitar breaks. Ronnie started playing the famous Wipe Out solo and in about 10 minutes we had the song together. We needed a gimmick introduction so my Dad broke a plaster soaked board close to the mic and Dale Smallin let out a laugh and screamed wipe out. We gave Dale the master tape and he took it to Hollywood, and by July 1963 it was #2 on the Billboard top 100.”
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