California Sound

proper noun

A popular music aesthetic engendered by 1960s pop and rock recording artists from the California area, associated with optimistic youth culture.

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Meanings

California Sound1

proper nounthe California Sound

alternative California sound

  1. entertainmentA popular music aesthetic engendered by 1960s pop and rock recording artists from the California area, associated with optimistic youth culture.

    The Beach Boys struck gold with swoony choral harmonies, twangy surf-music guitars and beats cresting like waves on an eternally sunny Pacific shoreline: the “California sound”, as it was dubbed.

    2025 June 14, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, “Obituary: Visionary who grew from Surfin’ to audacious experimenter”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10

California sound2

proper nounthe California sound
  1. Alternative letter-case form of California Sound.
Cite this entry
APA

California Sound. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/California%20Sound

MLA

“California Sound.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/California%20Sound. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “California Sound,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/California%20Sound.

Source: California Sound on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.