I actually had a song that went to number one. Number one on the beach music charts. Beach music is a popular subculture in the Southeast, from Maryland to Florida. It grew from the need for music to dance the 'shag' to. Now, in England, shag means fuck, but in the U.S. it's a dance. A sped up version of the jitterbug and other popular dances from the nineteen forties. Originally danced to black r&b records, white bands recognized the potential and started doing records, usual remakes of the originals.

Realizing they could make more money with originals, they began writing their own material, usually a more sanitized version of...