I would say it died sometime back in the early 90s...maybe even late 80s. I listen to everything from Bill Haley & the Comets to AC/DC and Van Halen and all others in between, with the Surfer genre both vocals and also instrumentals only being my favorite. Beach Boys all time favorite group for me followed closely by Jan & Dean. Speaking of which, anyone remember the evening a few summers ago Dean Torrence called the Michael Savage show one summer Friday evening?
For excellent surf (instrumental) music, may I recommend a Pittsburgh band called The Turbosonics. You can find their page on facebook and they have just released their first CD. They are influenced by Dick Dale and Link Wray. If I can find the site where you can hear clips of their music, I’ll reply again. Right now they all are at work at their day time jobs.