And The Bands Played On

As defined by Wikipedia, beach music—also known as Carolina beach musi and, to a lesser extent, beach pop—is a regional genre that developed from various musical styles of the forties, fifties, and sixties. These styles ranged frombig-band swing instrumentals to the more raucous sounds of blues/ jump blues, jazz, doo-wop, boogie, rhythm and blues, reggae, rockabilly, and old-time roc k and roll. Beach music is closely associated with the style of the swing dance known as the shag or the Carolina shag, which is also the official state dance of both North Carolina and South Carolina. Recordings with a 4/4 blues shuffle rhythmic structure and moderate-to-fast tempo are the most popular music for the shag, and the vast majority of the music in this genre fit that description.