But his fame grew when his signature song, RUMBLE, became the first and only instrumental to be banned in the first fearful furor over rock & roll’s effect on teenagers. Authorities in Boston and NYC banned the raunchy sounding 1958 record because they feared it would incite teenage gang violence! The record went on to sell 4 million copies.
A peer of Elvis Presley’s, Link recorded for major labels Epic and Swan before he tired of the music business and retreated to record his music with his brothers in a three-track recording studio, in a converted chicken shack, on the family farm.
Before The Stray Cats made retro-rockabilly popular, Robert Gordon was recording rockabilly songs from the 50’s with Link Wray. The difference was that Robert couldn’t write songs like Brian Setzer, so it wasn’t sustainable. But for a couple of albums and a couple of tours Robert paired with Link Wray and producer Richard Gottehrer.
In 2002 Cain Bureau wrote: Wray claims that because he was too slow to be a whiz on guitar, he had to invent sounds. "I was looking for something that Chet Atkins wasn't doing, that all the jazz kings wasn't doing, that all the country pickers wasn't doing. I was looking for my own sound," he said. He was one of the first guitarists to take a major chord and run it up and down the fret board, creating the thundering sound known as the power chord—a favorite among today's hard-rock players.
Wray toured right up until his death in Copenhagen at the age of 76.
“If it hadn’t been for Link Wray and RUMBLE, I would have never picked up a guitar.” - Pete Townshend
"I used to have this thing about Link Wray/ I used to play him every Saturday/ God bless Saturday" - The Fall, "Neighbourhood of Infinity"
Hey! Hey! It's The Best Of Link Wray!
ReplyDeleteStinky compiled the songs, wrote the post, AND took the cover photo!
LINK: https://tinyurl.com/LinkWrayLink
Thank you both.
ReplyDeleteDestroyer85
Thank you very much, Jonder and Stinky!
ReplyDeleteI loves me some Link Wray. Although I have a lot of Link I just had to grab this.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Vaguely I remember him playing at a festival in Eindhoven's PhilipsStadium. And if I am not mistaken, The Comsat Angels and Kevin Coyne played the same day. I cannot find evidence for that date. Anyway, he was a hero. From the moment I heard Red Hot as a kid.
ReplyDeleteBest of Link Wray, I beg to differ. Where are the Batman theme, Ace of Spades/Fatback. Cross Ties, Jack the Ripper, I'm Branded, The Shdow knows, Run Chicken Run, Black Widow, Scatter, Turnpike USA, Mr Guitar,The Fuzz. Much of the early Link stuff really. Still great initiative from you guys. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteSend us your own Link Wray faves, and we'll share your comp here! I know that Stinky is a major Robert Gordon fan, and we all dig Bill Kirchen (of Commander Cody fame), so there's more of the later Link Wray here.
DeleteAbsolutely killer compilation, rightly titled! Thanks very much, Jonder and Stinky!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rockandre! Haven't seen you in awhile -- hope you're well.
DeleteGreat compilation, still remember Link & Robert on Dutch TV doing Red Hot, awesome! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ9daNqhJn8
DeleteThis is one of my (many) favourite Link songs, even still have that single! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCvFApOpqNU
Thanks to all the commenters especially Destroyer85 & Crab Devil. A 50+ year career is hard to cover on a single CD, & my choices were admittedly heavy on the later years, Anonymous, but thank you for commenting! Welcome back Rockandre! - Stinky
ReplyDeleteKoen: That's a great clip from Dutch TV. Link Wray looks as virile as young Elvis in that clip--despite being a lot older than young Elvis when it was filmed! I'm So Glad, I'm So Proud is great, too! - Stinky
ReplyDelete