Uploaded October 2013 | Updated September 2026, 35 minutes ago

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I bet you weren't expecting something like this from a surf rock group, but I bet you weren't expecting a surf rock group to come from Colorado, either.

The Astronauts were formed in the late 50s in Boulder Colorado and eventually gelled into an excellent live rock & roll act. In the early 60s they were roped into the west coast surf rock scene by RCA Victor, who needed a band to stand behind their surf rock template to compete with The Beach Boys. They didn't even know what surf rock was at the time but they stepped up to the challenge and had a big hit with the reverb-drenched instrumental "Baja" in 1963 resulting in over 1 million copies of their debut album sold. They would go on to tour Japan and record 8 albums for RCA fueled by the success of their live shows. After the surf rock craze died down in 1964 and Beatlemania took hold, they were allowed to revert back to their natural rock & roll and rhythm & blues where they really shined. Around this time they also started writing more and more of their own material. By late 1965 their popularity and was waning and they hooked up with songwriters Tom Boyce and Bobby Hart whose songwriting contributions began to take them in a very poppish direction. After multiple personnel and style changes (and a name change) they fizzled out by 1967 after releasing one last unspectacular album and a single under the name SunshineWard. Guitarist Rich Fifield and latter day drummer Robert McLerian would later form Hardwater, which released a very underrated psych rock album in 1968 before fading away.

This song is a band original, written by all the members and recorded in late 1965 and stunningly... not released at the time. Ugh. It would have been their best song.

（アストロノウツ）