Remembering The Late Great Link Wray

The Native American guitar pioneer who struck gold with the angriest instrumental of all time, died in Copenhagen, where he had been living for the past 20 years. His guitar sound and style, his use of power chords and distortion formed the bedrock of rock and roll and infiltrated everything loud and angry from hard rock to metal and punk.

There's a sequence in the rock movie It Might Get Loud when Jimmy Page pulls out some records form his youth and spins Link Wray's "Rumble." It had a profound influence on him, he says and then grins and smiles and plays air guitar on the growling instrumental. Pete Townshend said, "He is the King; if it hadn't been for 'Rumble,' I would have never picked up a guitar." - more on this story

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