Link Wray & His Ray Men

(Sometimes spelled Link Wray and His Wraymen) Link Wray's 1958 hit Rumble was a staggering advancement in the development of rock instrumental music. The power chord was born and the record's dirty sound and threatening atmosphere were miles away from anything which had gone before. Despite it reaching #16 in the charts it was too controversial (yes, really) for Cadence label boss Archie Bleyer and he passed on a follow-up. Raw-Hide thus emerged on Epic Records and also made the Top 30, but Epic too insisted on watering Link down for his only 1950s album release. Link created his own Rumble Records and released the mighty Jack The Ripper in 1961. Its stinging chords are allied to some nifty damped picking, searing solos and a pounding beat that helped define the more aggressive side of surf music. Check out the The Surfaris "Play" album for evidence. The Swan label later picked up on Jack The Ripper and it eventually spent a full eight weeks in the Top 100 during the summer of '63. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.