Rumble

Currently I'm in the mood for some rockabilly. While browsing in my records and my hard drive I always noticed the name of Link Wray. His style of guitar playing has influenced so many musicians from different stylistic direction significantly.

Building on the overdriven, distorted electric guitar sound of early electric blues records, his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble" by Link Wray and his Ray Men introduced "the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists, making possible punk and heavy rock. The stalking, menacing sound of "Rumble" (and its title) led to a ban on several radio stations, on the grounds that it glorified juvenile delinquency. Nevertheless it became a huge hit, not only in the United States, but also the United Kingdom, where it has been cited as an influence on The Kinks, The Who, and Jimmy Page among others.

The reason, why he's in instrumentals is, that Wray served in the US Army during the Korean War, and contracted tuberculosis, which laid him up in a hospital for a year. His stay concluded with the removal of a lung, which doctors predicted would mean he would never be able to sing again.

This video is a good example for his attitude to Rock 'n' Roll

Link Wray - Rumble

End of the 70s he collaborated with the Retro-Rockabilly singer Robert Gordon for some records.

Robert Gordon & Link Wray - Woman