Wipe Out (instrumental)

"Wipe Out"
Single by The Surfaris
from the album Play
A-side	"Surfer Joe"
Released	January 1963
Recorded	1962
Studio	Pal Recording Studio, Cucamonga, California
Genre	Surf rock instrumental rock
Length	2:40
Label	DFS, Princess, Dot
Songwriter(s)	Bob Berryhill, Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller, Ron Wilson
The Surfaris singles chronology
"Wipe Out" (1963) "Point Panic" (1963)
Audio sample
"Wipeout" file help

"Wipe Out" is a surf music instrumental composed by Bob Berryhill, Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller and Ron Wilson. Composed in the form of twelve-bar blues,^[1] the tune was first performed and recorded by the Surfaris, who became famous with the single in 1963.

The single was first issued on the independent labels DFS (#11/12) in January 1963 and Princess (#50) in February and finally picked up for national distribution on Dot as 45–16479 in April. Dot reissued the single in April 1965 as 45–144. A second version by the Surfaris (with a different B side) was released in 1966 as Decca 32003 and again in 1973 as MCA 60055.

The song—both the Surfaris' version as well as cover versions—has been featured in over 20 films and television series since 1964, appearing at least once a decade.^{[2][better source needed]}

The title of the song is a colloquial surfing term of Southern California. Specifically, a "wipe out" is a fall from a surfboard, especially one that looks painful.

In 2020, the version of the song by The Surfaris was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[3]