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Jan & Dean

Jan & Dean

22 articles

Audio interviews

Dean Torrence (1973)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 12 November 1973

From high school in the late '50s to Kittyhawk Graphics in the '70s, Dean Torrence looks back at his partnership with Jan Berry: early hits such as 'Baby Talk'; being managed by Lou Adler, with Herb Alpert; the L.A. indie labels Dore and Challenge; the evolution of surf music, and collaborations with the Beach Boys from 'Surf City' to 'Barbara Ann'; surf boards, cars and fashions; Jan's accident, and going back to school to become a graphic designer; recording Brian Wilson's 'Vegetables', and the Legendary Masked Surfers album with Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston.

File format: mp3; file size: 81mb, interview length: 1h 24' 22" sound quality: ****

List of articles in the library

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Jan Says He'll Quit Song To Become A Doc

Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 2 October 1965

A FEW SHORT weeks ago, a young man named Jan Berry spent a few days in the hospital with a broken leg, the result of ...

Jan & Dean: Wipeout!

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, MOJO, April 2005

Mean, lean and handsome, '60s surf pop duo Jan & Dean could have been gibber than The Beach Boys but kidnappings, car-crashes and cocaine soon ...

California Eden: Sun, Surf, Sex, and Some Great Music

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 22 March 2021

THE OLD ADAGE goes that high school is the place to experience "the best years of your life." And while that's hardly a universal feeling, ...

Jan & Dean Ride The Wild Surf

Retrospective by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 2 November 1974

ABOUT ONE year ago this week Dick Clark, in his infinite wisdom, decided to host a ten year anniversary edition of his TV rock show ...

Lou Adler: A Music Giant

Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972

LOU ADLER is a music giant behind the scenes. He started his career writing songs with Herb Alpert, but the partnership split up because Alpert ...

Jan Berry

Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 2 April 2004

Teen dream and surf-pop star ...

Riding The Wild Surf: Jan Berry and the Birth of West Coast Rock

Retrospective by Gary Pig Gold, earcandymag.com, April 2017

THERE'S BRIAN and his Beach Boys, most obviously. Then there were Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young, the Eagles, and my own personal favourite Turtles, ...

A Walk on the Wet Side: Gary Pig Gold In Conversation With Mark A. Moore

Interview by Gary Pig Gold, Vulcher, January 2017

ONE THING THAT'S always bugged me – besides the price of Ramones t-shirts at the Newark Airport CBGB, that is: Why the name Jan Berry ...

Surfin' USA

Retrospective by Gene Sculatti, Let It Rock, August 1973

THOUGH it’s hard to believe, there actually was a time when youth simply signified non-adult status. Adults and youth each held to their own preferences, ...

Jan & Dean

Report by Gene Sculatti, Phonograph Record, September 1974

"You know they're either out surfin' or they've got a party goin'..." ...

Hits in a Garage — By Jan and Dean!

Profile by June Harris, Disc, 7 September 1963

JAN AND DEAN, those two all-American boys with the clean-cut college look — both are over six feet tall, boasting blue eyes and blond hair, ...

Dean Torrence

Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1975

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Third year in a row Phonograph's run a surf revival story, as if it were a current event. Looks pretty suspicious ...

Jan & Dean: Legendary Masters Series

Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 30 March 1972

JAN AND DEAN were real clowns. I saw 'em on the TAMI Show back in 1965 and they were the only downer part in the ...

Jan and Dean: You Don't Come Back from Dead Man's Curve

Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975

Mick Farren talks to Dean Torrence ...

Jan & Dean & the Rise of L.A. Pop

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2016

AS MUCH AS anyone else, including the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean helped establish the mythology of Los Angeles. When the city was still in ...

Lou Adler: Producer in the Groove at Picking Hit Records

Profile and Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 19 April 1967

LOU ADLER, one of the best known and most respected record producers, is a defier of stereotypes: ...

Now Jan & Dean on the Banned Wagon

Profile by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 2 May 1964

THEY SOLD over a million copies of 'Linda' and 'Surf City' in the first six months of 1963. And they produce all their disc sessions ...

Let's Go Surfin'...

Report by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 20 July 1963

Peter Jones takes a close look at the latest U.S. craze to hit the scene ...

The T.A.M.I. Show: Rock's Greatest Concert Movie Ever?

Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, Record Collector, May 2010

Richie Unterberger celebrates a legendary who's who of rock and soul royalty caught live in their prime, and now finally available on DVD. ...

Jan and Dean: Starwood Club, Los Angeles

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 October 1978

THEY'VE RENAMED LA's Starwood club the Surfwood for the night. ...

The Beach Boys: Four Girls For Every Boy

Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 June 1978

IMPORTANT DATES in the history of surfing music: ...

see also Mike Love & Dean Torrence

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