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12/05/2005: "RIP Link Wray, father of distortion and power chords"

In 1967's lysergic "Third Stone from the Sun," Jimi Hendrix whispered "you'll never hear surf music again," now you won't.

"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)

You can download an mp3 of 'Rumble' here - you'll recognise it immediately from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.