RIPPLE
First, there was the poseur, and his name was ELVIS. In 1961's Blue Hawaii, the King dodges a corporate job, dons vacuum-sealed trunks, and fronts like a brosef while singing "Beach Boy Blues" and "surfing" in a studio.

PEAK
1962 and '63 see the brilliant BEACH BOYS, heartthrobs Jan & Dean, and "Wipe Out" champs the Surfaris roll up the charts with huge vocal hits, while Dick Dale and his Stratocaster bring reverb to the masses. California beaches are awash in bikini'd, baby-oiled blondes on ten-foot Hobie longboards.

CRASH
The endless summer ends (bittersweetly) with the British Invasion of 1964. Lads like THE WHO don't surf, baby.

TROUGH
The low-water mark: In 1987, the Beach Boys, desperate for a hit, team up with morbidly obese novelty-rappers THE FAT BOYS for a cover of "Wipe Out." Some say it's a sign of the apocalypse.

SECOND WAVE
In the nineties, SoCal explodes with post-mod, surfer-fronted bands like JANE'S ADDICTION and Sublime; the Red Hot Chili Peppers' drugs-heavy Blood Sugar Sex Magik reveals the surf scene's gnarly underbelly; and Dick Dale's 1962 cover of "Misirlou" gets big play in Pulp Fiction.

SHARK!
Egged on by those pesky Germans, blow-dried crooner DAVID HASSELHOFF (Knight Rider, Baywatch, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie) covers the Beach Boys' "California Girls" in 2004.

NEW PEAK
These days, it's surfing, singing, songwriting heavies like JOHNSON, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, and Donavon Frankenreiter who lay claim to the break.