December 1963: A Minnesota Garage Band's Novelty Record Nearly Tops the Charts

Fifty-six years ago this month, a Minnesota garage rock band’s novelty record with a pulsating beat was racing up both the local and national charts. The Trashmen’s Surfin’ Bird was released in the fall of 1963 and became an immediate regional hit by capitalizing on the California surfing scene that was popularized by groups like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. By December of 1963, the song was in heavy rotation on Top 40 stations throughout the country and came close to scoring the top spot on the Billboard record chart. In this episode, we explore the bands, recording studios, record labels and radio DJs who defined the Minnesota music scene in the early and mid-1960s. Our guest is Rick Schefchik, the author of Everybody’s Heard About the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock And Roll in Minnesota, published by the University of Minnesota Press.