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Surf Goddess is an extended play by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in February 1995 by Lookout! Records. It marked the return of longtime drummer Hugh O'Neill to the band, after a forced leave of absence to deal with heroin addiction. Former Screeching Weasel member Dan Vapid, who had been a member of the Queers in 1994, played on the EP as a guest guitarist. Surf Goddess was the result of band leader Joe King and Lookout! head Larry Livermore being dissatisfied with the production techniques on the band's prior album, 1994's Beat Off, which producer Ben Weasel had insisted on keeping basic. King and Livermore wanted to incorporate overdubbing and other effects which Livermore felt were essential to the Queers' sound. In addition to the title track, which was co-written by Weasel, and the Queers original "Quit Talkin, the EP includes of Tommy James and the Shondells's "Mirage" and the Undertones' "Get Over You".
After the Queers rescinded their master recordings from Lookout! in 2006, the tracks from Surf Goddess were included on a reissue of their 1995 album Move Back Home, having been and by recording engineer Mass Giorgini.
Beat Off had been recorded in Chicago in April 1994, audio engineer by Mass Giorgini and record producer by Screeching Weasel frontman Ben Weasel.Livermore, pp. 191–196. Lookout! Records head Larry Livermore was present for the sessions, and was displeased with Weasel's insistence on a no-frills punk rock sound for the album, including eschewing the guitar and vocal overdubbing that Livermore felt were "fundamental to the Beach Boys-meet-the-Ramones style." Weasel also removed Vapid's tracks from the album's final mix without the guitarist's knowledge, causing Vapid not to receive any . Before leaving Chicago, Livermore and King made plans for another recording session later that summer with Giorgini at his Sonic Iguana Studios in Lafayette, Indiana, to work on songs with fuller arrangements.
Vapid was forced out of Screeching Weasel shortly after the Beat Off sessions, replaced by Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt for Screeching Weasel's subsequent album How to Make Enemies and Irritate People (1994), recorded two months later.Prested, pp. 87–88. Screeching Weasel broke up after recording the album, and Vapid joined Weasel and Panic in their new band, the Riverdales.
According to former Queers guitarist JJ Rassler, the EP's title track dated back to the mid-1980s, one of a number of songs he and King had written together in the lead-up to the Queers' first album, Grow Up (1990). As eventually recorded, the song was co-written by King and Weasel, one of several songs (also including "Fuck the World" and "Like a Parasite") that the two collaborated on and recorded versions of with their respective bands. Screeching Weasel recorded their version of "Surf Goddess" first, releasing it on How to Make Enemies and Irritate People. The two bands' versions have different musical structures and verses, with only the pre-chorus and chorus in common. The Queers' cover version of Tommy James and the Shondells' 1967 single "Mirage" was originally recorded and released on Beat Off, and was re-recorded for Surf Goddess. They also covered the Undertones' 1979 single "Get Over You" for the EP; this recording was also included on a 1996 Undertones tribute album titled Here Comes the Summer. The EP was rounded out with an original song, "Quit Talkin. Lookout!'s Chris Appelgren created the artwork for the release, which featured the "Queers cat", a mascot he had created for the band based on old Felix the Cat images.
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