The Trashmen's "Surfing Bird" and its story

Minnesota group The Trashmen inadvertently created “Surfin’ Bird” when, live onstage, they combined two popular R&B/doo-wop tracks—“The Bird is the Word” and “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow”—by West Coast band The Rivingtons. 

Bill Diehl, a local radio DJ, was at the performance and persuaded the band to record the track as a single. The two songs, reduced to little more than their respective titles, are repeated in a deranged vocal style that gives “Surfin’ Bird” its frenzied, energetic tone. Also influential was the double-time urgency of premier surf band The Ventures’ “Pipeline” and The Castaways’ surf hit “Liar, Liar.”

The recording found them winners of a regional Battle of the Bands contest in Chicago that brought them to the attention of Garrett Records. The label released the track to immediate success, with a No. 4 placing in the Billboard Hot 100. Over two decades later, “Surfin’ Bird” featured in the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, where it evoked the adrenaline-rush and violent chaos of combat in the Vietnam War.

To capitalize on the success of “Surfin’ Bird,” The Trashmen recorded a follow-up in “Bird Dance Beat,” following the trend for related dance tracks, but this failed to emulate the impact of their debut. The band, though, have influenced scores of groups, such as The Cramps, Ramones, and The Jesus and Mary Chain.