RIP Link Wray, father of distortion and power chords

What a life! "Link Wray, the electric guitar innovator who is often credited as the father of the power chord, died earlier this month at his home in Copenhagen, apparently of natural causes. He was seventy-six.
"He may have died quietly, but Wray's life was notable for its enthusiastic devotion to volume. "Rumble," the guitarist's 1958 signature song, had the unique distinction of being widely banned by radio stations across America despite the fact that it had no words.
"Link Wray was born Frederick Lincoln Wray Jr. in Dunn, North Carolina, on May 2, 1929. He claimed to have learned to play guitar at the age of eight from a traveling circus performer named Hambone. After serving in the Army and contracting tuberculosis, which led to the loss of a lung, Wray played in a succession of groups with names such as the Lazy Pine Wranglers and Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands, often with his brothers Vern and Doug and a cousin, Shorty Horton."
(From Rolling Stone)
Also: Fantastic pictures of him gigging aged 75 here, and you can download an mp3 of 'Rumble' here - you'll recognise it immediately from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
UPDATE: Peter Never writes: "Link lived in a nice place. He lived on an island off the coast of Denmark where Hans Christian Anderson once lived. He wasn't suffering in poverty. He was far better off than how he started out, and thats something. Here is a petition to get Link in the Rock & Roll hall of fame."


Comments:
He was touring as recently as like July 2005. I think he rocked harder the older he got.

But yeah, this is kinda heartbreaking. There's currently a petition to get him in the rock and roll hall of fame. He has thus far been denied entry.
 
I went deeply sad when I found out Link Wray was gone. I don't care much about seing people live anymore. I've missed so many important gigs before, I don't even care.

However, Wray, together with a very small bunch of performers, was in the list of people I simply *had* to meet someday. To simply fall down on my knees and bow and say "master, master" - but seriously, because it's people who "invented" everything that I like and simply never recieved the fame and fortune that they deserved.

When I see people like 50 Cent with millions of dollars and all those imported cars and bling bling and shit and I think of people like Link Wray and Bo Diddley living in small houses... I get really really mad with this "industry".

I started playing guitar because of people like Jimi Hendrix and Pete Towshend, but when I first heard Link Wray I felt like I was following Jesus but had never heard of God. Then I went again to check the interviews and History books and found out that all those rockers I started listening to started playing because of him.

When people like Wray die, and no one knows who he was, it's like History have been re-written, in a very sick 1984ish orwellian way.
 
I saw him in concert about 8 years ago in Chicago, and he was amazing. Even though he was old enough to be my grandfather, he still had some of the rawest attitude I've ever seen. He did an Elvis Presley tribute mini-set, including the sweet and tender ballad "Young & Beautiful" - although he added a twist I've never forgotten. The chorus of the song invokes the title, earnestly talking about an innocent sweet young girl, and Link sang it as nicely as he could. But then he growled out a personal post-script. It went something like this: "You're so young and beautiful... and I'M SO FUCKING OLD!!!" The crowd exploded, he hit a power chord, and then the band jumped back into one of his raucous instrumentals. Fantastic.
-Chris
 
Hey Danelectro, maybe you'll be pleased bya couple of things anyhow:

Link lived in a nice place. He lived on an island off the coast of Denmark where Hans Christian Anderson once lived. He wasn't suffering in poverty. He was far better off then how he started out, and thats something. Anyhow, not everyone has to live like an oriental potentate. :)

The other thing you might appreciate was this:
http://www.fatdawg.com/danelectro.gif

It's a cartoon of Link playing a Danelectro.

"Guitars of the stars" indeed.

Here's a link to sign a petition to get Link in the Rock & Roll hall of fame.
http://www.wraysshack3tracks.com/rockhall.html
 
That album that's pictured in this item was fantastic. Recorded on a 3-track machine in a chicken hextended jams, quite different from his often dramatic approach.
 
Sorry, that got mangled....that album was recorded in a chickenhouse on a 3-track machine, and is high-voltage extended rockin' jams, quite different from his often dramatic approach.
 
Thanks, Pete!
 
I couldn't find the track Rumble in Pulp Fiction's soundtrack
 
It's not on the soundtrack CD, but it's playing in the Jackrabbit Slim's scene, particularly during the 'Awkward Silence' bit.
 
You can find pictures and video of Link's final gig - including him playing Rumble - on my site at www.WraysShack3Tracks.com
 
I was lucky enough to see him perform twice, the last being just a few months ago. He rocked on a level that I'd never seen a musician achieve before. It was breathtaking.

Rumble was the first song I learned to play.

He deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more than many who are there now.
 
I was lucky enough to see him perform twice, the last being just a few months ago. He rocked on a level that I'd never seen a musician achieve before. It was breathtaking.

Rumble was the first song I learned to play.

He deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more than many who are there now.
 
I'm just a stupid 28 year old and had never heard of Link Wray (but of course I've heard some of his music before). Since seeing this article, I've listened to a lot more and . . . oh my god. How can this cat NOT be in the hall of fame? How innovative. How creative. How just absolutely badass this guy clearly was. And in 1958 at that.

You think you've heard good music. You think you know a lot of the greats . . . then you're completely humbled by someone so amazing. Incredible. It's heartbreaking that Link Wray isn't a household name.
 
Never heard of him before this post, but the MP3s at that link are cool and he's clearly a groundbreaker... if Michael Jackson gets into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and this guy doesn't it's just another nail in the coffin of western civization.
 
can anybody please tell me where i can buy the cd or the vinil with this title page?

i'm from spain and i can't find it!!

krispages@hotmail.com

thanks
 
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