Link Wray

Birth name: Fred Lincoln Wray, Jr.
Born: May 2, 1929; Dunn, North Carolina, U.S.
Died: November 5, 2005 (aged 76); Copenhagen, Denmark
Website: www.linkwray.com

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray, Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was a Shawnee rock and roll guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s.

Building on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records, his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble" by Link Wray & His Ray Men popularized "the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists," facilitating the emergence of "punk and heavy rock". Rolling Stone placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 and 2017 he was a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though he began in country music, his musical style went on to consist primarily of rock and roll, rockabilly, and instrumental rock.

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Career

Building on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records, Wray's first hit was the 1958 instrumental "Rumble". It popularized "the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists," facilitating the emergence of "punk and heavy rock". The record was first released on Cadence Records (catalog number 1347) as by "Link Wray & His Ray Men". "Rumble" was banned in New York and Boston for fear it would incite teenage gang violence.

Starting in 2018, the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame announced the creation of a new award category -- single records that shaped rock n roll.

One of the recipients of this new category was Link Wray's "Rumble"

Wray, whose music was popular in the late 50s, is known as the inventor of the "power chord", influenced many later artists, including Jimmy Page and Neil Young.

According to Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitartists" ....

When Link Wray released the thrilling, ominous "Rumble" in 1958, it became one of the only instrumentals ever to be banned from radio play – for fear that it might incite gang violence. By stabbing his amplifier's speaker cone with a pencil, Wray created the distorted, overdriven sound that would reverberate through metal, punk and grunge. Wray, who proudly claimed Shawnee Indian ancestry and lost a lung to tuberculosis, was the archetypal leather-clad badass, and his song titles alone – "Slinky," "The Black Widow" – convey the force and menace of his playing. "He was fucking insane," said the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. "I would listen to 'Some Kinda Nut,' over and over. It sounded like he was strangling the guitar – like it was screaming for help." When Wray died in 2005, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen both performed "Rumble" onstage in tribute. "If it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,'" said Pete Townshend, "I would have never picked up a guitar."

Are you ready to Rumble???



And....

Here's Jimmy Page listening to "Rumble"-- priceless!