"Pipeline" is a surf rock song by The Chantays. It was also recorded by Johnny Thunders, Hanoi Rocks recorded a live version, it opens their "All Those Wasted Years" live album, Hank Marvin, Agent Orange, The Ventures, The Challengers, Anthrax, German thrash metal band Assassin, and Dick Dale with the help of Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was also covered by Hot Butter on their 1973 album, More Hot Butter, and erstwhile-Beach Boy Bruce Johnston cut a disco version in 1977.
The original release was on Downey 104-B, and was picked up for nationwide distribution by Dot Records, which released it as Dot 16440-B. (The ostensible A-side, "Move It", never went anyplace, making this an example of a "flipped disc".) For some reason, all 45-rpm releases showed the band name as "Chantay's", with the so-called greengrocer's apostrophe.
The song, originally called "Liberty's Whip," was renamed after the band members saw the Bruce Brown film entitled "Endless Summer", a groundbreaking documentary film of two California natives circling the globe in search of the perfect wave. The term "pipeline" refers to a phenomenon in surfing in which the crest of the wave on which a surfer is riding goes completely over his head and lands in front of him, leaving him in the center of what, from his viewpoint, looks like a pipe made of water. The song, fitting in with the popular surfing craze of the time, swiftly rose up the Billboard Pop charts, reaching #4, and becoming a classic hit of its time.
Although they had a myriad of surf tunes, "Pipeline" was the Chantays' only hit single, and is considered one of the landmarks of the surf genre. The track's distinctive sound was in large part due to the mix being "upside down", in that the bass and rhythm guitars were at the forefront, while the lead guitar, electric piano and drums were buried. Although the 45 was released only in monaural, the track was recorded in wide stereo, with the rhythm guitar hard left, the bass and drums hard right, and the electric piano and lead guitar centered. Modern reissues, beginning with the 1984 MCA Records 7" single, are stereophonic.
In November, 1997, the Chantays recorded a new acoustic version of the song, titled "Pipeline Unplugged", which was released on their album "Waiting For The Tide".
The song was previously used as background music for BBC Match of the Day "Goal of the Month" competition.
A live cover version of "Pipeline", performed by Johnny Thunders, plays over the closing credits to TV-series The Sopranos episode 74, entitled "The Ride".
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