The Rock Prophet Link Wray

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Transcript

00:01:00There was a Native American who was a rock star and made this beautiful, powerful sound.

00:01:08I think Link was an influence on punk, grunge and metal, and of course, as I've said on

00:01:16the Britpop sounds of the early 60s.

00:01:20Rumble by Link Ray sounded like the soundtrack to a knife fight.

00:01:27I just remembered listening to it and thinking, it's simple.

00:01:33I could do that.

00:01:35I always liked the primitive rock and roll.

00:01:37I mean, Link Ray, I don't know if you know who he is.

00:01:40He's a great guitar player.

00:01:42He developed his own sound, his own style.

00:01:44Very, very simple.

00:01:45Very earthy, if we're being straight cut.

00:01:48Very erotic.

00:01:49But the first time I heard the rumble, it was like, that was something that has so much

00:01:54profound attitude to it.

00:01:56Yeah, it really does.

00:01:57It really does.

00:01:58This was lowbrow, tough, dumb, instrumental music.

00:02:04And it was mainly just a beat.

00:02:07That was wild.

00:02:09You know?

00:02:10And very expressive and very emotional.

00:02:12You know what I mean?

00:02:12It's like, you got all this pent-up energy.

00:02:15That violent tremolo, raw, pure, and angry, gave you a soundtrack to your life.

00:02:22Every decade has been influenced by Link.

00:02:26Anyone who's ever played the guitar tried to get a sound that's a little dirty.

00:02:32Link Wray invented a sound that most American and global rock stars adore and feel that

00:02:41it's critical to their sound.

00:02:44And we still don't know his name.

00:02:46Unfortunately, I think it's very much a part of an American tradition to erase indigenous

00:02:52people.

00:02:53I don't know if there's going to be enough of Link's material continuing on that he will

00:02:59go forward or maybe he'll be a forgotten man in history.

00:03:02Just when we had out of town a long time ago.

00:03:04Link Wray.

00:03:05Mr. Link Wray.

00:03:06Link Wray.

00:03:08Link Wray.

00:03:16Link Wray.

00:03:18Link Wray.

00:03:24Link Wray.

00:03:27Link Wray.

00:03:28Link Wray.

00:03:30Link Wray.

00:03:37Well, I was born in Dunn, North Carolina in 1929, and I'm half Shawnee Indian.

00:03:43I was raised and born to a Shawnee mommy.

00:03:46She went out into the fields and was preaching to the blacks and to the Cherokee Indians

00:03:51and to the poor whites, saying, you know, keep your morals high, believe in God.

00:03:55Me and my brothers, we were singing gospel songs behind my mom, you know, when she was

00:04:00out there preaching.

00:04:16Well, have you ever been to Dunn, North Carolina?

00:04:20He grew up in a house that had a dirt floor.

00:04:22We can't even really think about that in America nowadays, like living in a house with a dirt

00:04:27floor.

00:04:28That's basically the sort of place that slaves lived in, in the 1800s.

00:04:32And if you don't think that doesn't translate into the music, you're crazy.

00:04:37It's everything.

00:04:38That's how the music, you know, gave birth to itself.

00:04:44Link's very sensitive to pain.

00:04:46Listen to his music.

00:04:47You gather that easily.

00:04:48I remember asking him if some song was about a woman at one point, and he got kind of upset

00:04:54with me.

00:04:55I won't use the invective he hurled.

00:04:57He said, I would never write a song about some woman.

00:05:03I was thinking of the pain of my mother when we didn't have food to put on the table.

00:05:09Frequently, he talked about his mother.

00:05:11She was a big influence on his life.

00:05:12I think that's where he got his honesty and his humbleness and work ethic from.

00:05:18She was paralyzed from 11 years old until she was 16 years old because a girl put her knee

00:05:24in her back and broke her back the whole way home from school, and she had to quit school

00:05:28after that.

00:05:29The Cherokee Indians, you know, made her a homemade brace out of Deerhide, and then she wrote to

00:05:34President Franklin D. Roosevelt and asked, would he give her a brace?

00:05:37He was crippling, you know, and folia, and his personal driver came down to our little hut

00:05:43in North Carolina and got herself a brace.

00:05:47Being Indian was almost akin to being half black.

00:05:51It was not something that you would just automatically bring up in public.

00:05:55American Indians have experienced racism for the last 500 years in this country.

00:06:00Link Wray grew up in a time where that was very much accepted behavior.

00:06:05He grew up in the segregated South, where the Klan were a very fearful group of people

00:06:11who could come to your home at any time.

00:06:14I'm sure it was very challenging as a Shawnee woman to be married to a Caucasian man, and

00:06:20the racism his parents must have experienced being in a mixed-race marriage.

00:06:26Link Wray's admiration and devotion to his mom also recognized the strength that it took

00:06:35to survive and to go through what she went through growing up in the South when she did.

00:06:41He talked about how the Klan would come and his mother would put curtains up in the windows,

00:06:47and they'd all have to hide under the bed, and how scared his mother was, and how this affected him.

00:06:59Violence is a favored Klan method, floggings, castration, and lynch law in the name of white civilization,

00:07:05led by men with such unlikely titles as Imperial Wizard, Eternal Cyclops, and Grand Dragon.

00:07:11As a mixed-race person, if there were instances that his family could pass of what people call

00:07:18white passing, and if that's what they needed to do to survive, he did that.

00:07:23But when he could stand on his own and he felt safe, he very much would honor his mother's ancestry

00:07:31and his Shawnee roots.

00:07:58Well, you started playing at a very young age.

00:08:00I started when I was eight years old.

00:08:01My father bought an old Maybel guitar for my brother if he passes grade.

00:08:07He'd rather play football and baseball than play the guitar, so I just took it up and started playing it.

00:08:11I was taught by a black man called Hambone, who was raised up in the circus.

00:08:16And I lived across the street from the circus ground.

00:08:19And he came over and tuned up my guitar, took his bottleneck out and started playing it, right?

00:08:25And that didn't bog me into music.

00:08:28He taught me how to play the blues.

00:08:30I started off from there, and then I started paying bands.

00:08:33You could let me sit in with them so I could get better, you know?

00:08:35And I was listening to black music because the white pop music turned me off.

00:08:40You know, it was so deep pop.

00:08:41So I didn't dig it at all, you know?

00:08:49My daddy moved us away from Dunn, North Carolina, into Portsmouth, Virginia, where he went to work in the Navy

00:08:55Yard.

00:08:55That's all I want from you.

00:08:58We had a dude ranch, you know, where people came and rented horses and took them out through the woods

00:09:02on the horses.

00:09:09And in 1947, 48, me and my brothers got together a band where my oldest brother, Vernon Ray, he called

00:09:16himself Lucky Ray, was a lead singer in our band.

00:09:20This was like a Western swing sort of thing?

00:09:22Yeah, like a, yeah, like Bob Wills type thing, you know?

00:09:25And before rock and roll was born.

00:09:28Rock and roll just came through like a road drill.

00:09:31It just smashed everything in its heart.

00:09:34The late 50s and early 60s was the era of the instrumental.

00:09:39If you went to your high school dance, it was an instrumental group, usually.

00:09:43You know, there was no such thing really as four or five guys playing and singing at the same time.

00:09:47I mean, there were countless artists and bands who were having huge instrumental hits.

00:09:53The Ventures, Johnny and the Hurricanes, Due and Eddie.

00:09:58I mean, honestly, there were so many.

00:10:01We were all tuned to instrumentals at the time.

00:10:06I'm Milt Grant, the producer and emcee of the Milt Grant Show and Record Hop here in Washington.

00:10:14This jockey named Milt Grant, he had a local TV show, like a dance show, you know, where the kids

00:10:19would dance in Washington, D.C.

00:10:22And the stars would come and play on his show.

00:10:24About 5,000 kids out there, you know, because, I mean, rock and roll at that time was huge.

00:10:29Everywhere you went, I mean, the kids were just like a storm, you know.

00:10:32That night, he had the Diamonds on his show, which had the number one song in Billboard called Strolling.

00:10:38Or he brought them to the record hop that night, jumped up on the stage, said, Link, play me a

00:10:41stroll.

00:10:42I said, I don't know a stroll.

00:10:44Doug said, I know the beat behind one.

00:10:55He said, my Jesus God, zapped rumble into my head, Jimmy.

00:11:01Bam, I went.

00:11:06You know, and my brother Ray, he grabs the microphone, right, because the only mic they had back in those

00:11:12days was just for the singers.

00:11:13They didn't mic the amps or anything, so he just took the mic, stick it down here like this, right?

00:11:18So I just turned the tremolo on.

00:11:20And I was playing.

00:11:24You couldn't even hear Shorty.

00:11:25And Doug was playing so loud because he was playing with the butt ends of his stick.

00:11:29So all I could really hear was just me and Doug.

00:11:31You know, I was doing.

00:11:34And the kids started screaming, coming up to the stage, hollering, we wanted a song, and they were screaming over

00:11:39me.

00:11:40And they didn't care about the diamonds anymore.

00:11:42They was really going wild over the song I was doing, you know, wild instrumental I was doing.

00:11:50And I played it about four times for them for a lift.

00:11:53And so Milk Grant, he smelled a dollar.

00:11:55You know, he could smell there was money there.

00:11:56You know, so him and my brother Ray got me into a studio.

00:12:02Now, Milk Grant actually got his name on Rumble.

00:12:05He certainly didn't write any of it, but that was par for the course in the music industry back then.

00:12:10They tried to record it on one track.

00:12:13And Link's saying, it's not dirty enough.

00:12:16It's not gritty enough.

00:12:19I couldn't get that sound I did in Fredericksburg at the show that night.

00:12:23So I took a pencil and I started punching holes in the speakers, you know.

00:12:27That was the first time that Distortion was born.

00:12:30Well, the interesting thing is that, you know, there was distortion on records earlier than that.

00:12:36Distorted guitar.

00:12:38Going back to the early 1950s, you know, Rocket 88 by Jackie Brinson has this totally blown out distorted guitar.

00:12:44You women have heard of Jalop, if you've heard the noise they make.

00:12:47But let me reintroduce my new Rocket 88.

00:12:51Yes, it's great, just one way.

00:12:54But those records were really only heard by African-American people.

00:12:58And they sold in very low quantities, mostly in the South.

00:13:03They only got played on black radio.

00:13:05On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, March 25th and 26th at 8.15 at OCU's Fine Arts Auditorium.

00:13:10Tickets are on sale.

00:13:13I put it out, not knowing the recording business at all, you know, because I came from a Christian Southern

00:13:18upbringing, you know.

00:13:19So, I mean, I've been playing at churches and I was playing at carnivals and I was playing anything, you

00:13:23know.

00:13:24So, they try to sell it to people.

00:13:27And it ends up with Archie Blyer at Cadence Records.

00:13:30Cadence Records have these very, very white groups on them, you know, like the Cordettes, Mr. Sandman.

00:13:37These sort of like almost easy listening pop records.

00:13:41Archie Blyer had no idea when he started considering Link Wray.

00:13:46I'd never seen him.

00:13:46He didn't know he was sort of from Indian descent and looked different, acted rather differently, produced this incredibly distorted

00:13:56sound.

00:13:56He got this record, put it on the shelf and sort of forgot about it.

00:14:02Even he thinks, think Ola.

00:14:04And he gives it to his daughter, who for some reason plays it at a party with her girlfriends.

00:14:11I mean, it's science fiction, this whole tale.

00:14:14And the daughter is fond of it and tells Dad to release it.

00:14:17He said, Dad, watch this.

00:14:18He said, it's just a piece of crap I picked up in D.C.

00:14:21He thought it was crap too, you know.

00:14:22And she said, well, I think this crap is going to be a hit, you know.

00:14:25So, he put it out, rumble, scramble, who cares, as long as it hits.

00:14:28It was a big record for me.

00:14:29It sold a million copies when that was unheard of in 1958.

00:14:33I didn't know what the recording business was, you know.

00:14:35And all of a sudden, everybody said, how is it going to have a hit?

00:14:38I said, I don't know.

00:14:39I never, I don't know what a hit is.

00:14:45At North Bethesda Junior High in Bethesda, Maryland, Middle America, sixth grade,

00:14:51they had these things like little, like, music after hours, like once a month.

00:14:56And somebody said, oh, after school today, there's a couple free bands playing for half an hour.

00:15:00We've got the Bedford Brothers, or some local band that had a minor hit that was really kind of cool,

00:15:05and Link Ray.

00:15:06I didn't even really kind of get it, but it was a little disturbing, you know.

00:15:19A couple tones, strings out of tune, but there's electric amp in the freaking cafeteria.

00:15:25And I was, like, kind of disturbed by it.

00:15:28Didn't matter it was two chords.

00:15:30Didn't matter Link wasn't going to write 50 more beautiful songs with great guitar ricks.

00:15:34At that moment, it was a possession, and it was a lifetime possession.

00:15:39It's like the molecular structure of your cells changed.

00:15:42Like, when a heavy drinker's cells go, ah, into an alcoholic, you're an alcoholic for life, man.

00:15:49You never have one drink again.

00:15:51You drink the bottle, and you go looking for another bottle.

00:15:54Okay, here he is.

00:15:55Let's welcome Link Ray.

00:16:02He was the inventor of the power chord.

00:16:06Yeah.

00:16:07Because if you listen to Rumble by Link Ray, it might be rudimentary, it might be primitive, but that's a

00:16:14power chord.

00:16:15You know, the power of that power chord would very much influence the kinks and the who,

00:16:20and there was certainly a magical chord change that came from nowhere.

00:16:25The understanding is what it took Beethoven four notes to accomplish, Link accomplished in three.

00:16:31Once you hear that sound, you can never go back.

00:16:36It's so menacing.

00:16:38Yeah, it really is.

00:16:38And it's so simple, and yet I've heard other people play Rumble, and it's never as good.

00:16:44Somebody could pick it up, and they could play it through the same amplifier, and they could even play the

00:16:48same song,

00:16:49and it would sound one way.

00:16:50Hand it back to Link, and play it, Link, totally different.

00:16:53I think the sound actually came from Link's soul.

00:16:55People say about equipment, and Link did certain things, the way he set his guitar up and his amplifiers and

00:17:01all.

00:17:01It's just what he did, but actually, it came out of his soul.

00:17:06African beats are on the one and the three.

00:17:09Super goofy, hard to dance to, but that backbeat was Native American,

00:17:14and, like, Link's music had that heavy with the floor toms.

00:17:18I mean, it was in his blood.

00:17:19You can tell.

00:17:20And it's crucial.

00:17:21It's vital to what we do now.

00:17:23There's mystery in the music.

00:17:25There's, like, seduction.

00:17:26It's sexy.

00:17:27It's raucous.

00:17:29And it's mind-blowing, really.

00:17:31You know when John Lennon would scream into the microphone, bloody murder?

00:17:35It's the same thing.

00:17:36It's just, like, guttural, raw emotion.

00:17:39And he's pulling that out.

00:17:41All his frustrations, all his everything.

00:17:44And you can hear it.

00:17:45You can feel it in his music.

00:17:46No one had really seen a rocker come out and just be that nasty, guttural, and primitive with the electric

00:17:53guitar.

00:17:54You have a guy with this distorted, crazy guitar instrumental record that's on this pop record label getting played on

00:18:04white radio.

00:18:05It crossed a line.

00:18:07And it seems funny to think about, but America in 1957 and 1958, it was still very, very segregated.

00:18:15So for this sort of thing to get played on a pop AM radio station, of course, parents are going

00:18:20to freak out.

00:18:21They're like, this is going to ruin our children.

00:18:23They're going to start fighting in the streets.

00:18:25It was regarded as representing danger in some way, this unfettered sound.

00:18:32But also in local neighborhoods, you know, in the big cities, New York, Washington.

00:18:37A rumble was a gang fight.

00:18:40And I think that there was a feeling among major radio programmers that by playing this record, they were in

00:18:50some way encouraging that sort of behavior.

00:18:52When Rumble came out, it was 1957.

00:18:54Rumble was representing the gang fights, you know.

00:18:57Yeah.

00:18:58And radio stations banned it.

00:19:00It was like a James Dean with a guitar, you know.

00:19:03I think it was just kind of the natural face of juvenile delinquency.

00:19:09J.D. films, we used to call them, they made those movies that were based on kids going wrong and

00:19:15getting into trouble.

00:19:16Even Dick Clark, when Dick Clark played it on his show in 1958, he says, I couldn't even say the

00:19:21title of the song, Link.

00:19:23He says, here's a slow song, a slow stroll type of song from Link Ray.

00:19:27And then Rumble would play.

00:19:28That is so great that an instrumental could get banned.

00:19:32That is really beyond punk rock.

00:19:35That's the kind of shit that we love talking about.

00:19:37You know what I mean?

00:19:38If they had just announced him, we'd never be talking about it.

00:19:41I mean, it's like part of the lore, the folklore of Link Ray.

00:19:45He was making this instrumental music that was like scaring, scaring parents.

00:19:51And we love that.

00:19:54And that whole cliche of you listen to the radio under the bedclothes later and I say your parents didn't

00:20:00know you were still up.

00:20:01It was true.

00:20:02I did that.

00:20:03Rumble, if it came out in 58, I was 12.

00:20:06So that's the perfect, that's when you're the horniest, when puberty just hits, rock and roll was hated by all

00:20:11parents and all the talk of juvenile delinquency.

00:20:15Perfect timing for me to hear Rumble.

00:20:18And I remember how exciting it was.

00:20:20To me, it was the sound of juvenile delinquency in my bedroom, something that I was throbbing in excitement.

00:20:26People were masturbating to Rumble.

00:20:31Not that many people were masturbating to Lawrence Welk, I don't think.

00:20:35You know, so no matter what your politics or what your sexuality was, it was a sex sound, too.

00:20:41It was violent and sexual.

00:20:43I think Gene Vincent was the closest of the singers that would reflect that kind of drape, juvenile delinquency, frightening

00:20:51kind of sound.

00:20:53When he would mumble and moan and all that.

00:21:00That was kind of in the Link-Rae school, but Link-Rae did it without any vocals.

00:21:07Juvenile delinquency was a big issue for the adult generation.

00:21:13Young people have no respect for authority.

00:21:16Juvenile delinquency is increasing daily.

00:21:19They were worried about their wayward kids who had grown up in this affluent post-war environment and were looking

00:21:26for fun and action in destructive ways.

00:21:30West Side Story immortalized this.

00:21:33The choreographed Rumble is depicted in that play.

00:21:36People were always worried, oh, the kids are going to get together after school and they're going to rumble.

00:21:40Kids have always fought.

00:21:42Fighting is like a high school sport.

00:21:45I bet it did incite some riots.

00:21:48I have no doubt it did.

00:21:50It makes me want to, you know, get my knuckles out, but I don't know why.

00:21:56He was an indigenous rebel in his heart and his soul, and that's what was coming through.

00:22:01As opposed to, I have a choice.

00:22:02I can be like Bobby Rydell, or I can be like Marlon Brando.

00:22:07I want to be like Brando.

00:22:08I'm more like that guy.

00:22:10That's why I think in a Link show, the guys would say, I relate to Brando because that's who I

00:22:15am, and that's who goes to see those movies and goes to see those concerts.

00:22:18I think Link had more of a visceral, powerful effect with Rumble and that approach, that guttural thing, instead of

00:22:25being a virtuoso.

00:22:26So, you know, it was like an experiment that touched everybody and, you know, the lowest blues street common denominator

00:22:35of electric guitar and just reveling in it.

00:22:38You know, one of the first people, I mean, people play guitar forever to all of a sudden, you know,

00:22:43be wanting to poke holes in speakers and turn it up so it's distorted.

00:22:46That's why the song was so raucous sounding, even though it had no lyrics, that combined with the title made

00:22:55it seem like a social threat to the powers that be.

00:23:00They wanted to keep the kids calm.

00:23:01That's why all those Bobby singers were so popular, because that was what they were trying to do.

00:23:07Link Wray and Early Elvis, Gene Vincent, all those cats.

00:23:11It was definitely a rebellious sort of music, and then eventually it got tamed down because they saw that they

00:23:16could make more money commercially.

00:23:18The first generation of rockers was gone.

00:23:24The brothers were very close.

00:23:27That's all through time, you know, until they passed away.

00:23:31You had his brother Ray playing some guitar and piano, and you had Shorty on bass,

00:23:37and it was just like a whole very tribal thing.

00:23:42That band was so powerful.

00:23:44Doug Ray.

00:23:46Oh, man.

00:23:47What a drummer.

00:23:48This guy was just, he was as unique as Link, and Link would tell you that.

00:23:54I mean, in the time I spent with Link, he just raved about Doug's drum.

00:24:00He was a real loud drummer.

00:24:02Frankie Avalon's manager said,

00:24:04that's the best drummer and loudest drummer I've ever heard in my life.

00:24:12You have been a great idol for dozens and dozens of guitar players,

00:24:16but have you had yourself any idols?

00:24:19Sure.

00:24:19I mean, Hank Williams, Les Paul, Barney Kessel, Chet Atkins.

00:24:24They were country artists, you know, because back in the 40s,

00:24:28there was no rock and roll until Elvis came.

00:24:29I mean, how does a man like Chet Atkins influence a person that goes on to become a rock and

00:24:33roll legend?

00:24:37Well, I never could play as good as Chet Atkins.

00:24:39I tried to play clean like he did.

00:24:41I said, I knew back in the old days, I never could be a really good, clean jazzer,

00:24:45a good, even clean country picker.

00:24:48I don't consider myself a great musician.

00:24:50I just consider myself an average guitar player who looks for sound.

00:24:57I did rumble and went up the charts and left.

00:24:59Then Milk Grant wanted to put me on a bigger label.

00:25:02So he took me away from Cadence, put me on Epic Records,

00:25:05and I made Rawhide, which was my second here.

00:25:08Came out, Dick Clark was playing it every day, even read it on his show.

00:25:12And at 98 with a bullet in the charts.

00:25:15This is a guitar that he supposedly recorded Rawhide and a lot of the stuff that was on Epic around

00:25:211958, 1959.

00:25:23These were sort of budget guitars back in the day.

00:25:27It's been thrashed.

00:25:28You can see the neck's been broken off and re-glued,

00:25:31and it just kind of barely plays now.

00:25:34If the guitar turned up and it was mint,

00:25:37and somebody said, this was Link Rigg's guitar,

00:25:39you'd say, bullshit.

00:25:40You can't play a biker bar and still have a mint guitar.

00:25:46When you play those songs, you can just kind of hear that same tone,

00:25:50the fret buzz, the whole thing.

00:25:52So, yeah, this is the Denelectro that Link's holding in that iconic photo.

00:26:02I did no thoughts on being a musician when I was growing up.

00:26:05Total, last thing in my mind.

00:26:07Had no talent for any kind of music.

00:26:09Heard Link.

00:26:10One night, bam, I gotta be a guitar player.

00:26:13You know, went and bought a guitar the next day,

00:26:14tried to find somebody to show me how to play guitar a little bit.

00:26:21Actually, it's kind of a funny story how I started playing with Link.

00:26:24I was good friends with him, and I went to see him play.

00:26:27And the bass player just didn't show up.

00:26:30Somebody came in with a message.

00:26:31The guy had a loop, got married.

00:26:32Boom, no goodbye or nothing.

00:26:34So they don't have a bass player,

00:26:36and they need to get paid for four pieces.

00:26:38So Doug says, well, nobody else is in the club.

00:26:41Stick Elwood up on stage.

00:26:42And I played guitar, but I didn't play bass.

00:26:44So, of course, I'm nervous.

00:26:46Never been on stage before in my life.

00:26:48Got up on stage.

00:26:49Link's just staying there, you know,

00:26:50and set the volume on the amplifier and everything.

00:26:52I mean, I'm nervous and scared to death.

00:26:54I'm literally shaking in my boots.

00:26:55And so, anyway, at the end of the night,

00:26:57I guess I did something right,

00:26:58because Link says to Doug, he says,

00:27:00hey, why don't we just keep Elwood?

00:27:01I'll show him what I want him to do on bass.

00:27:03You know, because we were good friends.

00:27:05He said, well, he'll fit right in with us.

00:27:06So, boom, I was a member of the Rayman.

00:27:09A lot of people sat in with that band,

00:27:12sometimes for one set, sometimes one night,

00:27:15sometimes for two or three nights.

00:27:16So we had sax players coming in and out,

00:27:20harmonica, lots of singers.

00:27:22A lot of these people were in other walks of life.

00:27:25They weren't professional musicians,

00:27:27but they should have been.

00:27:32The funny thing about Link Wray and his music

00:27:35is that he definitely deserved to be playing

00:27:39at the Kennedy Center for the Arts

00:27:41or places of that stature.

00:27:43But his music also lent itself

00:27:46to just these gut-bucket dives.

00:27:50There's a famous story from the 1960s

00:27:53where they walked into a bar

00:27:55and each member of the band

00:27:57put a gun on top of their amp.

00:27:59Like, okay, we have this here.

00:28:01Don't mess with us.

00:28:02That was the sort of joints they played in.

00:28:05So, yeah, up until he was an old guy,

00:28:07I'm sure that he always had a knife

00:28:09or something on him for self-protection.

00:28:11Even though at that point he was Link Wray.

00:28:12I mean, who's, you know,

00:28:13who's going to mess with Link Wray?

00:28:22Link was so emotional in his music

00:28:26and his presentation,

00:28:27he brought the emotions out of the audience.

00:28:30Sometimes this took the track of being fistfights.

00:28:34Sometimes just a lot of people love dancing.

00:28:36Sometimes they just kind of stared in awe.

00:28:39I mean, he could come off

00:28:40and just mesmerize people.

00:28:43A lot of the clubs we played in,

00:28:44there would be a mixture of hoods and gangsters,

00:28:48motorcycle crowd, and maybe soldiers.

00:28:52Well, that's not a good mix in a crowd

00:28:54because you have people getting jealous

00:28:55of people dancing with the girls

00:28:57and this type of thing.

00:28:58So it wasn't unusual for some violence.

00:29:04Link carried a very large knife everywhere he went.

00:29:07He felt he needed that for personal protection.

00:29:10I'll never forget,

00:29:12I was doing a show at the Lone Star Cafe here in New York.

00:29:16We played there lots of times.

00:29:18Sid Vicious came up to the dressing room

00:29:20and he was mouthing off about something

00:29:22and Link pulled out a fucking knife

00:29:24and had him up against the wall.

00:29:26So Link was a bit of a redneck.

00:29:28No question about it.

00:29:29And if you mess with him,

00:29:30you know, you could be in trouble.

00:29:40A traffic altercation on the way to the gig, whatever.

00:29:44He'd take the knife out

00:29:45and start waving it at the other car.

00:29:47It was crazy, man,

00:29:49because he was such a quiet guy, so mellow.

00:29:52It fit in with that bad boy image he had

00:29:54of the black leather and the pompadour.

00:29:57I mean, he had that wild rumble-type look to him

00:30:01and I believe carrying a switchblade fit right in with that.

00:30:05We even did an instrumental called Switchblade.

00:30:07Every singer is an actor

00:30:09and every, in this case, performer is an actor.

00:30:14You're playing the role.

00:30:16Now, usually, the song is the script,

00:30:19but when it's an instrumental, the title is the script.

00:30:23Native Americans are often coined

00:30:26in either being a docile Native person,

00:30:29just one with nature, or a violent savage.

00:30:32Those are stereotypes.

00:30:35Although he made this sound that was banned

00:30:39just for the fear or threat that it may incite violence,

00:30:43was not known to be a violent person.

00:30:47Link, on and off stage, was two different people.

00:30:50He didn't drink, he didn't smoke,

00:30:52no drugs ever, totally against anything like that.

00:30:55I got down here Jesus first,

00:30:58and when you put Jesus first,

00:30:59you can never grow old, you know,

00:31:01in your spirit, in your body.

00:31:04Make music, make rock and roll,

00:31:06you know, get high with God, get high with Jesus.

00:31:08Coming from a family

00:31:10that very much had a long background

00:31:13in Judeo-Christian beliefs

00:31:15coupled with his Native ancestry,

00:31:18it would not be surprising to me

00:31:20that when he was playing his music

00:31:24and creating his sound

00:31:25that he was in some form of prayer.

00:31:30I believe in sex because I'm married.

00:31:32I don't believe in drugs because it's bad for your health.

00:31:35Don't eat to others as you will have them do unto you.

00:31:37This song is called Jesus of Nazareth.

00:31:44Image and reality are quite often, aren't they,

00:31:46two different things,

00:31:48and I think Link was probably an example of that gap.

00:31:53You know, Link Ray is one of those guys

00:31:55that he just can't help it.

00:31:57He looks cool.

00:31:58And when you look at those pictures of him in the 1950s,

00:32:01it was just like he just had this perfect swagger.

00:32:03When he walked in a room, he was a little guy.

00:32:06He was only like 5'7".

00:32:08He was just bigger than life.

00:32:10There was a drama to this guy,

00:32:11and he just had that vibe around him.

00:32:15Let's face it, Link Ray was a fashion plate.

00:32:18I mean, you look back on those photos,

00:32:20and he had two-tone outfits that matched his guitars.

00:32:24He had impeccable jet black hair

00:32:27that was cut just so, great shades.

00:32:30Link's eyesight was very, very bad,

00:32:32and he had the typical, you know, Coke bottle,

00:32:35very heavy glasses,

00:32:36and they would magnify light

00:32:38to the point where it would almost blind him,

00:32:40so that's why he wore the dark glasses even at night.

00:32:48His look and his sound

00:32:50was a part of his resistance

00:32:51to his very existence

00:32:53as being a mixed-race person,

00:32:55as being a Native American rock and roll musician,

00:32:58as being a Shawnee man growing up in the South.

00:33:02I think his look is endemic of the time

00:33:04and the feelings that he had

00:33:05towards the country that he's living in.

00:33:08You know, Link Ray is often referred to

00:33:11as the other man in black.

00:33:13But no better than...

00:33:19Elvis was dangerous, but he sang Teddy Bear.

00:33:21You know what I mean?

00:33:21Link Ray was not singing Teddy Bear, man.

00:33:24He was right coming in with a chainsaw.

00:33:27So...

00:33:27And that needs to be represented.

00:33:29You need that representation

00:33:30if you want a full, balanced understanding

00:33:33of what's going on in society.

00:33:40Doug said,

00:33:41I'm going to introduce you to this guy.

00:33:43He's going to knock your socks off.

00:33:44That's what Doug said.

00:33:45He's going to knock your socks off.

00:33:47I said, why, Doug?

00:33:48He said, you just wait until you see him.

00:33:50And when I went to see Elvis,

00:33:51I said, this is something brand new.

00:33:53Link, you showed us your T-shirt before.

00:33:55Can you just do that again for us?

00:33:57Oh, the Elvis T-shirt, yeah.

00:33:59Well, Link took his original look from Elvis.

00:34:02He was a big Elvis fan.

00:34:03Did a lot of Elvis.

00:34:05But he had his own thing, for sure.

00:34:08And he just, he had this great look about him.

00:34:11It was like the guy never took a bad picture.

00:34:13When he came out of the bathroom,

00:34:14came out of the bedroom,

00:34:15I mean, he was stage ready.

00:34:1624 hours a day, the hair was combed.

00:34:19I never saw him needing a shave.

00:34:21He was always fully dressed

00:34:22as though he could go on stage at any minute.

00:34:24That was just how he saw himself.

00:34:26That became the look of rock and roll,

00:34:28and Link was one of the pioneers

00:34:30of putting that on stage, you know.

00:34:31On the sun, I swear

00:34:46There was a period where he was kind of floating around,

00:34:49and he ended up on Swan,

00:34:50this kind of penny-ante label out of Philadelphia.

00:34:53Not the biggest, not the greatest,

00:34:55but they were happy to get Link records,

00:34:58and they just cranked out singles.

00:35:00He was just like a mad scientist.

00:35:02He was on the prowl for new sounds

00:35:05made with an electric guitar.

00:35:07And nobody really cared about these records.

00:35:10A few were hits,

00:35:11but mostly he was just churning this stuff out,

00:35:14and it's just utterly brilliant.

00:35:16Records like Jack the Ripper,

00:35:18Deuces Wild,

00:35:19You want to hear a hell of a record, pal?

00:35:21Put that on.

00:35:22That'll put your hair in curlers.

00:35:31He had enough money

00:35:33that they were getting by,

00:35:34and he had a label

00:35:36that put the records out

00:35:39and didn't seem to care

00:35:40if they were big hits.

00:35:42You know, they put out a single

00:35:43of the Batman theme,

00:35:44backed with Alone,

00:35:46which is a great example

00:35:47of the two sides of Link.

00:35:55The first night that Batman came on,

00:35:58he wasn't working at the time.

00:36:00He was kind of on strike,

00:36:02had a little disagreement

00:36:03with Ray about money.

00:36:05And he came up to the club,

00:36:07and he said,

00:36:08Hey, I'm just watching TV, man.

00:36:10I just heard this thing.

00:36:11We've got to go down to the studio and record.

00:36:12I think he said it took,

00:36:13oh, something like 78 takes or something.

00:36:16If you listen to that record,

00:36:18there's a lot of complicated gizmos

00:36:19and effects

00:36:20and a lot of strange sounds

00:36:22in that record

00:36:23that isn't just guitar playing.

00:36:24So you can kind of imagine

00:36:25it was an all-night session.

00:36:27Anyway, next day,

00:36:29Ray had, of course,

00:36:30the tape from the studio.

00:36:31Flew up to Swan,

00:36:32gave him the tape.

00:36:33They immediately pressed the record.

00:36:34The thing was probably

00:36:35in the DJ's hands

00:36:36within a week or two.

00:36:38Batman is a very popular TV show

00:36:40all of a sudden on TV,

00:36:41and here's Batman theme,

00:36:41Link Ray recorded.

00:36:42Radio stations are all

00:36:43playing Batman theme.

00:36:46You have to advertise

00:36:47in the music business.

00:36:49The disc jockeys,

00:36:50the suits,

00:36:51they believe what they read.

00:36:54Ray didn't,

00:36:55for whatever reason,

00:36:56take out any ads

00:36:57in Billboard

00:36:57or any of the dailies.

00:36:59Now you've got the marquees

00:37:00on a major label.

00:37:02Disc jockey says,

00:37:02oh, marquees,

00:37:03write-ups in this magazine,

00:37:05write-ups in that,

00:37:05you know,

00:37:06the dailies are saying

00:37:06to play.

00:37:07Link Ray goes in the trash,

00:37:09marquees Batman

00:37:10goes on the turntable,

00:37:11big hit for the marquees.

00:37:13Link, again,

00:37:14the poor forgotten soul,

00:37:15what's he get?

00:37:16Basically nothing.

00:37:18You know,

00:37:18record disappeared

00:37:19off the face of the earth.

00:37:21That would have been

00:37:22his next rumble.

00:37:25Being in the music business

00:37:26as long as you have,

00:37:27what do you see

00:37:27bands like Boston Blondie,

00:37:29the village people

00:37:30who have virtually

00:37:31no musical background at all

00:37:32come out and become

00:37:33overnight superstars?

00:37:34What does that do to you?

00:37:36No, it's just like,

00:37:36you know,

00:37:36they've got good managers

00:37:38and good,

00:37:39lots of money behind them,

00:37:40you know.

00:37:41You can be the best musician

00:37:43in the world

00:37:43if you don't have

00:37:43a good manager

00:37:44and if you don't have

00:37:46the right producer

00:37:49and the right manager

00:37:50and the right agency

00:37:51behind you,

00:37:52you can be the best musician

00:37:54in the world

00:37:54and not go anywhere.

00:38:02Link left

00:38:03and went to Tucson

00:38:04with Ray.

00:38:06There was a business deal

00:38:07out there

00:38:07and other things going on.

00:38:09Well, Doug,

00:38:10his brother at the time

00:38:11had a barber shop,

00:38:12fairly lucrative.

00:38:13I mean,

00:38:13he was settled in.

00:38:14I had a family

00:38:15and a daughter.

00:38:16I wasn't going anywhere.

00:38:18Ray Vernon was a character,

00:38:20okay?

00:38:20And you have to understand

00:38:22that Vernon wanted

00:38:23to be a solo artist

00:38:24and he didn't cut it.

00:38:26It never happened

00:38:27for Link's brother.

00:38:28And he became

00:38:29Link's kind of manager,

00:38:32producer.

00:38:33Link bowed his head

00:38:35in terms of the sound

00:38:36that Ray got

00:38:37on those records.

00:38:38That's a whole thing

00:38:39you can talk about.

00:38:40There's an analog glow

00:38:42to those records

00:38:43that's just wowsville.

00:38:46I mean,

00:38:46you can take a vacation,

00:38:50and then that sound

00:38:51these guys created

00:38:52and Ray's a big part

00:38:53of that.

00:38:54If you listen

00:38:54to the old original,

00:38:56I think it was called

00:38:57Pop and Popeye

00:38:58originally,

00:38:59and then it was Fatback.

00:39:01It later was renamed

00:39:02Days of Spades,

00:39:03but that early recording

00:39:04is probably the closest thing

00:39:06to a live sound

00:39:07of Link.

00:39:11Ray could almost nail it

00:39:13in the studio.

00:39:14What his secrets were,

00:39:14I don't know.

00:39:15I'm not an engineer.

00:39:16I don't know how

00:39:16they bowling dials

00:39:17and stuff worked,

00:39:18but Ray was a genius

00:39:19at that.

00:39:20It's a shame

00:39:20he didn't record

00:39:21other performers.

00:39:22He pretty much

00:39:23only recorded Link

00:39:24and a few local people, too.

00:39:26But where things

00:39:26went a little funky

00:39:29was when it came

00:39:30to money.

00:39:34Ray sort of

00:39:35played a little

00:39:36fast and loose.

00:39:38Vernon was always

00:39:38the business manager

00:39:39of the band,

00:39:40and he made sure

00:39:42that Link did not

00:39:43have control

00:39:44of the copyrights

00:39:45and the publishing

00:39:46and everything.

00:39:47He would tell Link,

00:39:48you're not responsible

00:39:49for your money,

00:39:51which Link wasn't.

00:39:52If you gave Link $100,

00:39:53he'd go out

00:39:53and give it to somebody else.

00:39:54I mean, he had no concept,

00:39:56really, of what money was

00:39:57as long as there was

00:39:58food on the table.

00:39:59So in one sense,

00:40:00somebody needed

00:40:01to kind of financially,

00:40:03you know, steer him right.

00:40:04In this case,

00:40:05it was supposed

00:40:06to be Brother Ray.

00:40:07Link was an ethereal,

00:40:09creature.

00:40:10He was like

00:40:11in outer space.

00:40:12I remember playing him

00:40:14Nirvana's Breed,

00:40:20which, of course,

00:40:22hijacks Run, Chicken, Run,

00:40:24and he'd never heard it.

00:40:30Was he pissed off?

00:40:31Did he say,

00:40:32I should get a piece of that?

00:40:33I'm the songwriter?

00:40:34No, he just said,

00:40:35wow, wow, Jimmy,

00:40:36that's Link Ray music.

00:40:38And he was kind of

00:40:39touched by it.

00:40:41So it filtered back

00:40:42through him,

00:40:43through these seven veils

00:40:44that was his life.

00:40:45There was so many things

00:40:46he wasn't aware of,

00:40:48or compilations,

00:40:50or the way people

00:40:51had covered his songs.

00:40:53He remained sort of

00:40:54blissfully unaware,

00:40:55or maybe willfully unaware,

00:40:57I'm not sure.

00:40:58So many artists

00:41:00of the late 50s,

00:41:01early 60s,

00:41:02pre-Beatles,

00:41:03you know,

00:41:03so much as pre-Beatles,

00:41:05were ripped off

00:41:06by loads of people

00:41:08around them at the time.

00:41:09A little bit would filter

00:41:10down to the artists,

00:41:11just enough to kind of

00:41:12keep them thinking,

00:41:14oh,

00:41:14I'm earning a little bit

00:41:15of money.

00:41:16But they weren't seeing

00:41:18the books,

00:41:19they weren't seeing

00:41:20the accounts,

00:41:21and they were getting

00:41:22ripped off.

00:41:23It was almost

00:41:24a standard practice.

00:41:25There's so many people

00:41:26that deserve, maybe,

00:41:27more notoriety,

00:41:29or more commercial success,

00:41:31as far as records sold,

00:41:32which is really just

00:41:33getting the sound

00:41:34to a large group of people.

00:41:37And the management

00:41:38and the record company

00:41:39aspect of that

00:41:41was never aligned

00:41:41to do that for Link.

00:41:43He's not unique

00:41:44in that respect.

00:41:46He's just unique

00:41:46in his playing

00:41:47and the sound

00:41:48he brought to us.

00:41:49Ray was telling him,

00:41:52I'll put the money away

00:41:53for you,

00:41:53I've invested it,

00:41:54and it'll all come

00:41:55to you in your old age.

00:41:56Well, as it came out,

00:41:57there was no money.

00:41:59Everybody else

00:42:00was asking Link,

00:42:01why does Ray have

00:42:01a new car every month?

00:42:02Why does he live

00:42:03on a big house

00:42:04on four acres of land?

00:42:06Why does he wear

00:42:07the best suits?

00:42:08You know,

00:42:09you have nothing.

00:42:10You don't have a shirt

00:42:11on your back hardly.

00:42:12You don't have razor blades

00:42:12to shave with.

00:42:14And Link says,

00:42:15well, he just would

00:42:16kind of pass it off

00:42:17and maybe didn't want

00:42:19to admit it to himself.

00:42:20I don't know.

00:42:27You stopped recording

00:42:28after several years.

00:42:30Why did you give it up?

00:42:32Jack Nietzsche

00:42:33recorded Rumble

00:42:34with this big band sound,

00:42:35the guy who had

00:42:35Lonely Suffer.

00:42:36And he had Rumble

00:42:37in the charts

00:42:38when President Kennedy

00:42:39got shot.

00:42:40My type of music,

00:42:41the Elvis music,

00:42:41and all that early music

00:42:43died with President Kennedy

00:42:44because they were

00:42:45mourning of the president.

00:42:47And then when the music

00:42:47started back up again,

00:42:48here come the Beatles

00:42:49from England

00:42:50doing I Want to Hold Your Hand.

00:42:52You know,

00:42:52and it was a different

00:42:53type of music.

00:43:00About 10 or 15 minutes ago,

00:43:01a tragic thing

00:43:02from all indications

00:43:03at this point

00:43:04has happened

00:43:04in the city of Dallas.

00:43:05Let me quote to you this.

00:43:07President Kennedy

00:43:08and Governor John Connolly

00:43:09have been cut down

00:43:10by assassins' bullets

00:43:11in downtown Dallas.

00:43:14The president,

00:43:15his limp body

00:43:15carried in the arms

00:43:16of his wife,

00:43:17Jacqueline,

00:43:17has rushed

00:43:17to Parkland Hospital.

00:43:21They were riding

00:43:22in an open automobile

00:43:23when the shots

00:43:24were fired.

00:43:47There was a five-year window

00:43:49that was available to him

00:43:52from sort of 58 to 63

00:43:54to get the best

00:43:55out of his career.

00:43:57And I don't think

00:43:58he was prepared

00:43:59to compromise,

00:44:00to achieve the fame

00:44:02to do that.

00:44:02Once the Beatles

00:44:03and the Stones

00:44:04and the British bands

00:44:05hit,

00:44:06they dominated the charts.

00:44:08Very few of those

00:44:09pre-Beatle

00:44:10American stars

00:44:11survived.

00:44:12Suddenly,

00:44:12all of these pioneers

00:44:14were put out to pasture

00:44:15in the prime

00:44:16of their lives.

00:44:17It's a great injustice

00:44:19of the entire rock history.

00:44:21Every single one

00:44:22of these acts

00:44:23that were huge

00:44:24in the 1970s,

00:44:26and especially

00:44:27the British rock acts,

00:44:29they grew up.

00:44:30You know,

00:44:31their ears got turned

00:44:32on to rock and roll

00:44:33with Link Wray's guitar.

00:44:38Along came Cream,

00:44:40The Kinks,

00:44:40and The Who,

00:44:41you know,

00:44:42literally sometimes

00:44:43smashing things up,

00:44:44but certainly shaking

00:44:45the foundations

00:44:46of the industry.

00:44:47With respect to Link,

00:44:49what we were doing

00:44:50was closing the circle

00:44:52on what he had done

00:44:53so many years before,

00:44:54you know,

00:44:55in the late 50s,

00:44:56with his sound,

00:44:57with his approach,

00:44:58and everything else.

00:44:59The British invasion

00:45:00influenced everybody,

00:45:02other than the

00:45:02hardcore blues guys

00:45:04who were just

00:45:04into the blues

00:45:05and that's it.

00:45:06Almost everybody else

00:45:08was influenced

00:45:09one way or the other,

00:45:10you know,

00:45:10except Link Wray.

00:45:12He was 100% American

00:45:14and maintained that.

00:45:17throughout.

00:45:17You know,

00:45:18the question is

00:45:19whether or not

00:45:20they could have

00:45:21gotten him

00:45:21in the spotlight

00:45:22and showcased him

00:45:24in a way

00:45:24that would have been

00:45:25palatable

00:45:26to 1970s rock audiences.

00:45:29That's a million-dollar question.

00:45:31I don't know.

00:45:32He was making great music then,

00:45:33but then it's always

00:45:34the question of

00:45:35where do they fit

00:45:36in that particular timeline.

00:45:38From the next generation on,

00:45:40the audience grew up

00:45:42with the bands.

00:45:44Who's the biggest artist

00:45:46right now?

00:45:47Rolling Stones

00:45:48and the Beatles.

00:45:49Right?

00:45:50Same thing

00:45:51as in 1964.

00:45:53I mean,

00:45:54that's a fact.

00:45:56One of the things

00:45:57about Whistle Test

00:45:58at that time

00:45:59was the program

00:46:00really championed

00:46:02new music.

00:46:03And in those days

00:46:04you really are

00:46:05talking about people

00:46:05like, you know,

00:46:06Elton John,

00:46:07Jackson Brown,

00:46:08Bonnie Rae.

00:46:08These were the bands

00:46:09that we were supporting

00:46:11that were appearing

00:46:12in front of

00:46:12a British television audience

00:46:14pretty much

00:46:14for the first time.

00:46:15So that was

00:46:16the main engine

00:46:18of the show.

00:46:19But the show

00:46:20also lived

00:46:21within a context

00:46:22where 60s music

00:46:24was still very important.

00:46:25So, you know,

00:46:26it was important

00:46:28for us to reflect back

00:46:29on bands like Cream

00:46:30or currently Led Zeppelin

00:46:33or, you know.

00:46:34And we also

00:46:35quite regularly

00:46:36used to dip back

00:46:38into rock and roll.

00:46:39But as far as

00:46:39tonight's concerned,

00:46:40we're closing the program

00:46:41with music from Link Rae.

00:46:44A number called

00:46:45Midnight Lover.

00:46:47In 72, I think,

00:46:48Link Rae

00:46:49appeared on the show

00:46:50on the basis

00:46:53of all of us

00:46:54loving Rumble.

00:46:56It was such

00:46:57an innovative recording

00:46:59that it was important

00:47:01when Link was recording again

00:47:03in the early 70s

00:47:04that we were able

00:47:05to get him in

00:47:06and reflect back

00:47:08also on that moment

00:47:10in 58

00:47:12when Rumble came out.

00:47:13He found fame

00:47:14as an instrumental guitarist,

00:47:16but then he also sang.

00:47:18And it's hard to

00:47:21verbalize this

00:47:21to people

00:47:22who are not actually

00:47:24rockers themselves.

00:47:26He embodied

00:47:28rock and roll.

00:47:30You know,

00:47:30he was the archetype.

00:47:31And part of that

00:47:32was overcoming the odds,

00:47:35being part Shawnee,

00:47:38you know,

00:47:39living with the Ku Klux Klan

00:47:40every day.

00:47:41I mean,

00:47:42he said they were

00:47:43literally everywhere.

00:47:45You know,

00:47:46the guy at the drugstore,

00:47:48the, you know,

00:47:49the cop on the beat.

00:47:51And then he's in

00:47:52the Korean fucking war, man.

00:47:55How many rock and rollers

00:47:58that were in any war,

00:47:59first of all?

00:48:01But Korea?

00:48:03Holy shit, you know?

00:48:19I was in the Korean war,

00:48:21you know.

00:48:21I lost a lung.

00:48:23They had me in the VA hospital.

00:48:24Every time I'd breathe,

00:48:26I'd hemorrhage blood out,

00:48:27you know.

00:48:27And the doctors would say,

00:48:28will he be there tomorrow,

00:48:29you know?

00:48:40So I've got to overcome

00:48:41that as well, right?

00:48:43Whatever trauma goes with that.

00:48:46And then gets tuberculosis

00:48:48and loses the lung.

00:48:51He was singing

00:48:52with one lung

00:48:53his entire career.

00:48:54And the guy was

00:48:55one of the loudest singers

00:48:56I ever heard.

00:48:57Phenomenal.

00:48:58His singing voice

00:48:59was equally as

00:49:00sort of rough

00:49:02hewn

00:49:03as his guitar playing.

00:49:04So for me,

00:49:05it's always interesting

00:49:06when you talk about

00:49:07a record like

00:49:08Ain't That Lovin' You Baby,

00:49:10you know,

00:49:10which was a cover

00:49:11of a Jimmy Reed song.

00:49:13Link Ray's the only guy

00:49:13I can think of

00:49:14that can actually cover

00:49:15a blues record like that

00:49:17and have it actually sound

00:49:19meaner and rougher

00:49:21and tougher

00:49:21than the original guy

00:49:23who performed it.

00:49:24I mean,

00:49:24it sounds like he's just

00:49:25ripping his guts

00:49:26out of his body

00:49:27when he sings it.

00:49:28You know,

00:49:28I've often heard

00:49:30about American Indians

00:49:32and American Indian musicians

00:49:34and their influence

00:49:35from the blues

00:49:37where people are

00:49:39talking about

00:49:40their experiences

00:49:41and growing up

00:49:43in a time

00:49:44or in a place

00:49:45that is hostile

00:49:47to their very existence.

00:49:49I think

00:49:50American Indian musicians

00:49:52and American Indian

00:49:54rock stars

00:49:54like Link Ray

00:49:55are expressing

00:49:57the blues

00:49:58in their sounds

00:49:59because for American Indians,

00:50:01our existence

00:50:02is our resistance.

00:50:03I love his voice.

00:50:05It has so much character.

00:50:07It's really cool.

00:50:36I'm still not really sure

00:50:37how he got signed

00:50:38to Polydor.

00:50:39This was a guy

00:50:40who was kind of

00:50:41a relic

00:50:41of the 1950s

00:50:43and aging

00:50:45and yet,

00:50:46you know,

00:50:46he got signed

00:50:47to this major label

00:50:48that was handling

00:50:49much younger bands.

00:50:51Apple Records

00:50:52was on the 42nd floor

00:50:53and Polydor

00:50:54was on the 38th floor

00:50:55and I'm getting

00:50:56in the elevator

00:50:57and John Mennon

00:50:58and Oh No,

00:50:58he jumps in the elevator

00:50:59and,

00:50:59aren't you like Ray?

00:51:00Aren't you like Ray?

00:51:01I said,

00:51:01yeah, aren't you?

00:51:02Aren't you, John Mennon?

00:51:05He said,

00:51:06Oh No, Oh No,

00:51:06Link Ray,

00:51:07rumble, rumble.

00:51:08It sounds like

00:51:09if Link had signed

00:51:10with Apple,

00:51:11and the Beatles,

00:51:12somebody like a John Lennon

00:51:14would have maybe

00:51:15gotten more great music

00:51:17out of him

00:51:18to share with the world

00:51:19than the way that he went.

00:51:21But that's the story

00:51:22of show business.

00:51:28I didn't hear that Polydor record

00:51:30until later on.

00:51:31When I was on tour,

00:51:32I found it in Minneapolis

00:51:33at a place called Hymi's.

00:51:35I mean,

00:51:35I just listened to it

00:51:36obsessively,

00:51:36that first Polydor record

00:51:38that he cut

00:51:39in the three-track shack.

00:51:41It's a beautiful record.

00:51:42I love that it was recorded

00:51:44behind his mom's house

00:51:45with his brother

00:51:46on that big three-track machine.

00:51:47It's just a beautiful sound.

00:51:49The three of them

00:51:50and the shack

00:51:50is a magic combination

00:51:52of vibration.

00:51:53It's super important.

00:51:55Definitely would never

00:51:56have been created

00:51:57by anybody else

00:51:58but those three guys.

00:51:59They needed each other

00:52:00to create that.

00:52:01You know,

00:52:03it's interesting to think

00:52:04that he had been developing

00:52:07songwriting techniques

00:52:08and singing techniques

00:52:10but not so much

00:52:11changing his guitar style.

00:52:14In my liner notes

00:52:15for the album

00:52:16he was producing

00:52:17at that particular time

00:52:18in 74,

00:52:19I praised Link's singing.

00:52:21I think his voice

00:52:22was really good.

00:52:25When he sings

00:52:26on that album,

00:52:28you know,

00:52:28he sounded somewhere

00:52:29between Nick Jagger

00:52:30and Van Morrison.

00:52:38I think I said

00:52:39in the notes,

00:52:40this powerful voice

00:52:41coming from a man

00:52:42with only one lung.

00:52:43The songs were very moving

00:52:44and very varied

00:52:45and powerful stuff.

00:52:47It was no longer

00:52:48songs about fighting

00:52:50or anything like that

00:52:51but it was still

00:52:52Link-Rae music

00:52:53and it was innovative

00:52:55in his own

00:52:56Link-Rae way

00:52:58of making music

00:52:59in that era

00:53:00which was definitely

00:53:01kind of the hippie

00:53:02Woodstock era.

00:53:03The whole hippie movement

00:53:05owed a large part

00:53:07of its philosophy

00:53:08to both Indians,

00:53:10you know,

00:53:11the Native Americans

00:53:12as well as the Far East

00:53:13in terms of Hindu philosophy

00:53:15or Buddhist philosophy,

00:53:17you know,

00:53:18combined with Native American

00:53:20philosophy

00:53:21of honoring the earth.

00:53:23It became cool

00:53:24to be a Native American.

00:53:26It was like this cool thing

00:53:27to be different

00:53:28and that was when

00:53:29you had a lot of

00:53:29musically integrated acts

00:53:32and there was a lot more

00:53:33acceptance of things

00:53:34that were outside

00:53:35of the mainstream

00:53:36and so guys like him

00:53:38that had a unique look

00:53:39and a unique flavor

00:53:40to what they did,

00:53:41all of a sudden

00:53:41that was cool.

00:53:42So I think from that point on,

00:53:44he was, you know,

00:53:45he was proud to say

00:53:46he was Native American.

00:53:48So many people have said

00:53:49that they've been influenced

00:53:50by Peter Townsend of the Who,

00:53:52Jeff Beck, the Kinks,

00:53:53even Bob Dylan.

00:53:54I mean, what does it feel like

00:53:55to have influenced

00:53:56people like that?

00:53:57Well, if I just had their money,

00:53:59it'd be all right.

00:54:00No, no, it's an honor, you know.

00:54:03It makes me feel good

00:54:04to know that they was listening

00:54:05to my music

00:54:05and then they were kids, you know.

00:54:07Even though they came up

00:54:09with giant stars, you know.

00:54:10Bob Dylan told me one time,

00:54:12he said, Link, he said,

00:54:13you're as big as I am.

00:54:14He said, all you need to do

00:54:14is get your sheep together, you know.

00:54:15Well, he got his sheep together.

00:54:17I'm still trying

00:54:17to get them on up, you know.

00:54:19Link was influencing

00:54:20lots of people,

00:54:21but I was too young.

00:54:22So I didn't really see him

00:54:25or hear him, I think,

00:54:27until he was with Robert Gordon.

00:54:30I was in a group

00:54:31called the Tough Starts.

00:54:32It was one of the main groups

00:54:35at the time.

00:54:36New Wave, I guess,

00:54:37would be better.

00:54:38And, you know,

00:54:39we all, all of us,

00:54:40Debbie Harry,

00:54:41the Talking Heads,

00:54:42television,

00:54:43all of us rehearsed

00:54:44in the same area.

00:54:45So in the same place, actually.

00:54:47And Richard Goddara,

00:54:49who suggested Link.

00:54:50And I said,

00:54:50whoa, that'd be cool, man.

00:54:52Because I remembered him

00:54:53from when I was a little kid.

00:54:55Link Ray was a known entity

00:54:57in the business.

00:54:58So, of course,

00:54:59to put his name on the album

00:55:00would give this new artist

00:55:02who was relatively unknown,

00:55:04Robert Gordon, credibility.

00:55:05And so it became known

00:55:06as a duo act.

00:55:08They were backed up

00:55:09by just bass and drums.

00:55:14Link is a true instrumentalist

00:55:17and Gordon is a true singer.

00:55:20So it's one of those things

00:55:22that I think they were

00:55:23very complimentary

00:55:24to each other.

00:55:26When I heard Robert sing,

00:55:27I said, yeah, yeah,

00:55:28that's gotta win.

00:55:31Springsteen had,

00:55:32at the time,

00:55:33more songs

00:55:34than he could release

00:55:36on his albums.

00:55:37But like any songwriter,

00:55:38he was trying to pitch his songs

00:55:39to other people.

00:55:40That's what songwriters do

00:55:41no matter how big they are.

00:55:43Bruce got in touch with us

00:55:44and said, hey,

00:55:45I got this song.

00:55:46And Bruce was already

00:55:47getting quite a reputation.

00:55:49We were doing

00:55:50a Robert Gordon,

00:55:51Link Ray album

00:55:52and Bruce showed up

00:55:53in the studio one day

00:55:54and he accompanied us

00:55:56on piano.

00:55:59Okay, we're gonna do a song

00:56:00that we just finished recording

00:56:03for our new record.

00:56:04It's gonna be out

00:56:05in February.

00:56:05This is a Bruce Springsteen song.

00:56:11Link would have

00:56:12his own solo section

00:56:14in the middle

00:56:14of the show.

00:56:16Robert Gordon would come out,

00:56:17he'd do a few tunes

00:56:18and then he'd take a break

00:56:19and say...

00:56:21I'd like to introduce

00:56:23the man that I'm really

00:56:24having a pleasure

00:56:24working with.

00:56:26Mr. Link Ray,

00:56:27ladies and gentlemen.

00:56:27Link Ray would do

00:56:29a bunch of tunes

00:56:29and they'd let me do a tune.

00:56:31Link would let me do a tune

00:56:33in the middle of his set.

00:56:34It was more of a variety

00:56:36show that way.

00:56:44So it was a match

00:56:45made in heaven,

00:56:46really.

00:56:47I mean,

00:56:47it was just pretty amazing.

00:56:49Link was great.

00:56:50On stage,

00:56:51he was terrific.

00:56:52Although,

00:56:53he only knew one way

00:56:54to play

00:56:55and that was

00:56:55on full volume,

00:56:57which was difficult

00:56:58for me

00:56:58as a singer.

00:56:59Even though Robert Gordon

00:57:00is a loud singer,

00:57:01he could not hear himself

00:57:03over Link Ray on stage.

00:57:07Any way to turn

00:57:07these things up

00:57:08a little louder?

00:57:09Because I can't hear

00:57:10what I'm doing up here.

00:57:11Link was used

00:57:12to doing it his way

00:57:15and whenever anybody

00:57:16would make a comment

00:57:17to him about

00:57:18turning it down,

00:57:19he would say,

00:57:19no, man,

00:57:20I can't feel it.

00:57:21He liked to feel

00:57:23the volume.

00:57:27And they were

00:57:28always at odds

00:57:29over this issue.

00:57:30So that's why

00:57:31it ultimately

00:57:32didn't work out

00:57:32with them.

00:57:33Volume.

00:57:41Link was just

00:57:42magnetic,

00:57:43electric energy.

00:57:45Many times

00:57:46there's a rivalry

00:57:47and envy

00:57:47between brothers.

00:57:48That's the nuts

00:57:49and bolts

00:57:49of it right there.

00:57:50Ray was just

00:57:51very envious

00:57:52of Link's success.

00:57:54You know,

00:57:54Ray knew

00:57:55that he didn't

00:57:56have that spark,

00:57:57that connection

00:57:57with a live audience.

00:57:59After him and Link

00:58:00kind of had

00:58:01the animosity

00:58:01come to the surface

00:58:02about them

00:58:03and he was no longer

00:58:04managing Link,

00:58:05Ray unfortunately

00:58:06got into drugs

00:58:07and drinking

00:58:08and he just went

00:58:09downhill like a bullet.

00:58:11We knew it was coming.

00:58:12It just was a matter

00:58:14of when

00:58:15you could just see

00:58:16this man was

00:58:17on a downhill path.

00:58:19Redemption

00:58:19would have been

00:58:20a miracle.

00:58:21It's sad.

00:58:23Wish it had been

00:58:24otherwise

00:58:24all the way around.

00:58:29One day I'm over

00:58:30visiting my mother

00:58:31and the phone rings

00:58:32and it's Link

00:58:32and she said,

00:58:33well hey,

00:58:33Elwood's here right now.

00:58:35He was calling

00:58:35to tell me

00:58:36that Ray

00:58:37had committed suicide.

00:58:39Link told me,

00:58:40he says,

00:58:40you know,

00:58:40my brother Ray

00:58:41just passed away,

00:58:42took his own life.

00:58:43I mean,

00:58:44he was totally

00:58:44in shock

00:58:45when I found out

00:58:45about it.

00:58:47Brother Ray

00:58:48admitted this

00:58:49before he died.

00:58:50He said,

00:58:51Link,

00:58:51you got the glory,

00:58:52I got the money.

00:58:58As a Native American

00:58:59person,

00:59:01what's really important

00:59:02to us

00:59:03is making sure

00:59:05the family,

00:59:06the tribe,

00:59:07the community

00:59:08is in harmony.

00:59:09And so we work

00:59:10really hard

00:59:11to stay in good relations

00:59:12with one another.

00:59:13And it's not to say

00:59:15that we're not

00:59:16without conflict,

00:59:18even where there are

00:59:19situations where

00:59:22perhaps siblings,

00:59:24sibling rivalry,

00:59:27a brother can do

00:59:29you wrong,

00:59:30a mismanagement

00:59:31of funds,

00:59:32or whatever

00:59:32those situations

00:59:34are,

00:59:35there's always

00:59:35this attempt

00:59:36to keep some sense

00:59:38of balance

00:59:38and harmony.

00:59:39And I think

00:59:40that very much

00:59:41goes to his

00:59:42Native American roots

00:59:43in that you only

00:59:44have one family,

00:59:46you only have

00:59:47one tribe,

00:59:47and we should

00:59:49do our best

00:59:50to be in good

00:59:50relations with one

00:59:51another,

00:59:52as difficult

00:59:52as that might be.

00:59:54I've gone through

00:59:55a lot of pain,

00:59:56you know,

00:59:57my two brothers

00:59:57I told you about,

00:59:58they just passed away,

00:59:59and I'm the only one

00:59:59left in my family,

01:00:00you know,

01:00:01but I've been very happy,

01:00:03you know,

01:00:03I've met people

01:00:05like you in the business,

01:00:06and I've met people

01:00:07that I didn't like

01:00:08in the business,

01:00:08but the music

01:00:09is the real.

01:00:10You know,

01:00:11everything else

01:00:11that surrounds me,

01:00:13you know,

01:00:13I can't,

01:00:15I take with a,

01:00:16you know,

01:00:17I take with a distance,

01:00:18but the only thing

01:00:19I don't take

01:00:19with a distance

01:00:20is my music,

01:00:21you know.

01:00:21And he got even

01:00:22more of a lone wolf.

01:00:24I mean,

01:00:25you listen to that

01:00:26song alone,

01:00:27that was Link,

01:00:28you know,

01:00:28he was just kind of

01:00:30out there.

01:00:31You've been married

01:00:32three times,

01:00:32had eight kids,

01:00:33what's in the future

01:00:34for Link Wright?

01:00:35Another wife,

01:00:35another kid maybe,

01:00:36and I hit,

01:00:37and hit album.

01:00:38You're gonna be able

01:00:38to rock and roll

01:00:39until you die?

01:00:40Yeah, man,

01:00:41that's it, man.

01:00:46After he finished

01:00:47working with Robert Gordon,

01:00:48he left America,

01:00:50and he didn't go back

01:00:51for over 20 years.

01:00:53You're married now,

01:00:54you and Oliver together,

01:00:55you have a baby

01:00:56instead of a year and a half?

01:00:57Yeah, I'm living

01:00:58in Copenhagen,

01:00:58Denmark.

01:00:59They didn't live

01:01:00an extravagant lifestyle.

01:01:02They were more or less

01:01:04subsisting on Link's

01:01:07small disability pension

01:01:08from the U.S. forces.

01:01:10I don't go to parties

01:01:11and stuff like that

01:01:11because I'm a home man,

01:01:12but I deal myself

01:01:13with good people

01:01:14and good musicians

01:01:15and try to live

01:01:16a happy life,

01:01:16you know?

01:01:17Olive took over

01:01:18the management

01:01:19and total control

01:01:20of Link.

01:01:21He had royalties

01:01:23common to him,

01:01:24and they didn't have

01:01:24any way to get in touch

01:01:25with him for a long time.

01:01:26The only thing

01:01:27that him and Olive

01:01:29had was a fax machine.

01:01:30No telephone,

01:01:32no nothing.

01:01:33After a while,

01:01:33the fax machine

01:01:34disappeared.

01:01:35I never spoke to Link

01:01:36after that.

01:01:37Olive completely

01:01:38cut him off.

01:01:40None of us

01:01:40ever heard from Link.

01:01:41He just disappeared

01:01:42off the face

01:01:43of the earth.

01:02:08I just got back

01:02:09off of a little

01:02:11Yurkian tour,

01:02:11you know?

01:02:12I'm getting ready

01:02:12to play a gig

01:02:14in London

01:02:15the 27th of December.

01:02:23Link did a version

01:02:24of It's All Over Now,

01:02:25Baby Blue,

01:02:26the Bob Dylan song.

01:02:27Bob told Link

01:02:29backstage

01:02:29at the Roundhouse

01:02:30gig in London

01:02:32that it was

01:02:34his favorite cover

01:02:35of a Bob Dylan song

01:02:36that he'd ever heard.

01:02:38And when you listen

01:02:39to that track,

01:02:40wow, he just kills it, man.

01:02:42It's like

01:02:43from another world.

01:02:50I think that he

01:02:51had the same effect

01:02:52on audiences

01:02:53wherever he went.

01:02:54It was just

01:02:55if Link was playing

01:02:56in Kansas City,

01:02:57he would have

01:02:58a devoted crowd

01:02:59of 100 to 200 people

01:03:02that were really into it.

01:03:04but, you know,

01:03:05if he played

01:03:05in Madrid, Spain,

01:03:07there was 1,000 people there,

01:03:091,500 people

01:03:10absolutely losing

01:03:11their minds.

01:03:12They cannot believe

01:03:13they're seeing

01:03:14Link Wray play.

01:03:15So I think

01:03:15the European audience

01:03:17was just more

01:03:18energetic

01:03:19and they definitely

01:03:20knew his music

01:03:21better than the American audience,

01:03:23which is weird.

01:03:26Ladies and gentlemen,

01:03:29we have a very special

01:03:30treat for you guys now.

01:03:33There's been a man

01:03:34who's one of the finest

01:03:36rock and roll

01:03:36guitar players

01:03:37ever to live

01:03:39and probably

01:03:41the most unrecognized

01:03:42and uncredited

01:03:44for making rock and roll

01:03:45what it is today.

01:03:46To the one,

01:03:48the only,

01:03:49Link Wray.

01:03:50Well,

01:03:53come on,

01:03:53everybody,

01:03:54let's tear this

01:03:55old place up.

01:03:57Come on,

01:03:58everybody,

01:03:59let's tear this

01:04:00old place up.

01:04:02Come on,

01:04:03you little baby,

01:04:04let's sing it,

01:04:05shake it.

01:04:08Tear it up.

01:04:10Tear it up.

01:04:12Tear it up.

01:04:15Tear it up.

01:04:18Come on,

01:04:18little baby,

01:04:19ladies and gentlemen,

01:04:20we pray.

01:04:20look for it,

01:04:21get up there.

01:04:46Keep going,

01:04:47Link,

01:04:47do another one,

01:04:48come on,

01:04:49boys,

01:04:49come on.

01:04:58baby,

01:05:00gentlemen,

01:05:01we pray.

01:05:02Hey.

01:05:06Hey.

01:05:09Hey.

01:05:14Hey.

01:05:16Hey.

01:05:17Hey.

01:05:18Hey.

01:05:20All sorts of people

01:05:21came out of the woodwork

01:05:22who were fans of his,

01:05:24you know,

01:05:24came to the gigs

01:05:25and things like that.

01:05:26He was held in much

01:05:28higher esteem

01:05:29than he had realized,

01:05:30you know.

01:05:36I was always interested in rock'n'roll and rock'n'roll and blues and soul and so on from

01:05:40a very early age.

01:05:41The idea of America was fantastic.

01:05:43So I went to America and there I discovered a small record shop.

01:05:48If you bought ten records for ten dollars, you've got an extra one free.

01:05:55I decided when I came back to England that I'd open a small second round record shop.

01:06:01We covered everything rock'n'roll, blues, soul, jazz, reggae.

01:06:07So I thought as soon as I had a little bit of capital, I'd approach somebody and try and license

01:06:13the single and put it out.

01:06:14The idea with Ace, which was called Chiswick at the time, was to reissue oldies, you know, rock'n'roll

01:06:22and stuff like that.

01:06:23And the first album we did was Hollywood rock'n'roll and the second album of old recordings was the

01:06:31Link Wray one.

01:06:31And I ended up going to Copenhagen and recording an album.

01:06:36It was done in a little rehearsal studio, put the album out, it was well received, sold well, and it's

01:06:43still in the catalogue, so it speaks for itself.

01:06:48Link only sporadically came back to America.

01:06:51And when he did, he was, I wouldn't say a dangerous outsider, but maybe a lonely outsider.

01:06:59There's something that Neil Young said about Roy Orbison to me.

01:07:04He described his music as sad but proud.

01:07:07And I always think of that when I think about Link, because there was a lot of sad but proud

01:07:13in Link.

01:07:15One of the reasons he didn't want to go back to America was he didn't want to encounter members

01:07:20of his family from the past.

01:07:23And if he heard they were going to be at a gig, he was upset.

01:07:26Some of his kids would show up to the shows and then it was like show over.

01:07:29They just canceled the show.

01:07:31They would leave.

01:07:32And then eventually a few of them actually got backstage, you know, to see their dad and, you know, OK,

01:07:40you got your picture.

01:07:41Now you have to leave.

01:07:42They veered away in the van like criminals.

01:07:44And his kid was left there, you know, an emotional wreck.

01:07:48This is something that happened with Link.

01:07:49There's no way to sugarcoat it.

01:07:51And I talked to his family members.

01:07:53I felt their pain and they didn't want to think their dad had, you know, turned his back.

01:08:01It seemed to me he had.

01:08:06You can certainly understand why he would be paranoid about anything involving the music business.

01:08:13You know, it was like a whole world that he was just not part of.

01:08:17Why do you think you could never follow up the magic of Rumble?

01:08:19Who knows, you know, I mean, it's just one of those things, you know, it takes a lot of bucks

01:08:24to make an artist.

01:08:25And I had only me.

01:08:27The thing that was really sad about that is that certain things that could really, really, really help his career

01:08:34and did help his career,

01:08:36he was violently opposed to because he was convinced that he was getting ripped off.

01:08:41A good case in point is this series that came out on Norton Records called The Missing Links.

01:08:47It's all these unreleased tracks, just amazing stuff.

01:08:50Link and Olive would refuse to sign any of those records.

01:08:54They would go on and on and on to fans about how Norton Records had ripped them off.

01:09:01Oh, Link, the Nortons are coming.

01:09:04I don't know what we're going to.

01:09:05We may have to cancel the show.

01:09:07Oh, I mean, the drama of these encounters was was thick in the air.

01:09:14You know, the people at Norton Records were the biggest fans of Link Ray imaginable.

01:09:18And they weren't ripping him off.

01:09:20They were licensing these tapes from the person who owned them.

01:09:25Wasn't Link or his wife.

01:09:26It was somebody else.

01:09:27Everything was legal and above board.

01:09:29We saw one of his last gigs and it was gruesome kind of watch because he was obviously ill.

01:09:34He'd get up on that stage and it didn't matter that it was just some Bozo the Clown nightclub

01:09:40in Waukegan.

01:09:42He was so frail and old and he walked slowly.

01:09:47They had to carry him up and on to the stage and I just remember he had no energy.

01:09:54It just wasn't Link.

01:09:55It was like a poor imitation and it was disturbing to see.

01:10:00Someone had to help him put his guitar over and help him take his ponytail up and put it over

01:10:06his strap.

01:10:06But, you know, Link said he wanted to go out playing the final chord of rumble.

01:10:17As soon as he started playing, it was like electricity.

01:10:21It was like a bomb went off in the club.

01:10:24You know what I mean?

01:10:24And he just didn't stop.

01:10:26And it was just like seared into my brain.

01:10:31Age defying.

01:10:32It was like that magical quality that someone has and they just have it forever.

01:10:38Musically, it just absolutely blew my mind.

01:10:41It was important for me to see that, to witness that power.

01:10:45There was something kind of oddly surreal about watching a 77-year-old guy on stage

01:10:53with his guitar shrieking feedback, wearing a leather jacket, you know, with his dark black hair pulled back.

01:11:00He played for 30 minutes, you know, he never came back.

01:11:04And that was it.

01:11:05You know, I think I learned the importance of sometimes not coming back for an encore

01:11:11and how that can even leave a bigger impression.

01:11:14But then I also saw him afterwards sitting in the front seat of the tour van.

01:11:18It was exciting to meet him.

01:11:20But in retrospect, it was also kind of depressing seeing him in this kind of like beater van,

01:11:25just like looking like he's ready to go.

01:11:32It was not good.

01:11:33It was not good.

01:11:34Highly disturbing.

01:11:35And then before you know it, you turn on the computer and Lincoln left the auditorium.

01:12:01You probably hear Link Wray in the background more now than you ever have at any time in his career.

01:12:07He had his career as a artist trying to sell singles and have hit records on the radio.

01:12:13And that was one thing.

01:12:14But then at some point, people who put music in commercials and movies figured out,

01:12:20that is perfect music for this.

01:12:22I'm confused.com.

01:12:24Face your confusion.

01:12:31We're Jack Daniels.

01:12:39You use Link Wray if you want to have people think that you are hip and cool and underground.

01:12:47He represented like a menace and a fury and goddammit, I'm going to let my freak flag fly

01:12:54and no one's going to stop me with this guitar in my hands.

01:12:58That sums up so many movies, whether it's the Dirty Harry, the Westerns, the Quentin Tarantino's.

01:13:04If you watch the film Road Racer, there's a scene where I think it's David Arquette,

01:13:08or whoever the star is, he says to the girl in the front seat,

01:13:11Link Wray's cool.

01:13:14Link Wray.

01:13:17And then she says,

01:13:19Is he popular?

01:13:20No.

01:13:21That's why it's cool.

01:13:22And that's when Link Wray became on my radar again, because that's when I just remember that song,

01:13:26and I go, there's that song. I forgot about that song.

01:13:32Then Pope Fiction comes out.

01:13:34Quentin Tarantino was a kid like them. I guess he liked Link Wray music.

01:13:38It goes up and he becomes a big movie producer. So I like Link Wray, so I put Rumble in

01:13:43my movie.

01:13:44They put it in the right scenes, I guess.

01:13:46I didn't see the movie.

01:13:47If you have real music that people have heard in a completely different context,

01:13:52it alters everything. It alters the music, how it's remembered, and it also alters the visual image.

01:13:58We hear music in a big hit film like Independence Day.

01:14:02Yeah.

01:14:02How does that feel so?

01:14:03I mean, it's shocking, you know, but I'm happily shocked.

01:14:07Yeah, I'm happy. I'm glad.

01:14:09I mean, you feel like you're in a fucking movie when Link's playing, and you're the star.

01:14:14He has this way of imparting a drama to you that is just utterly thrilling.

01:14:20It's made for the big screen.

01:14:27For a lot of artists who were hugely popular in the 1950s, sold millions and millions and millions

01:14:33and millions of records, but their style of music, it just didn't translate into the modern era.

01:14:39You know, it's like, no, modern audiences can't relate to it in any way at all.

01:14:45But Link Ray's music, it's weird, you know, it has this timeless quality where

01:14:50it doesn't matter if it's in a movie in the 1970s or the 1990s or something that came out today.

01:14:56It still has this same freshness quality to it.

01:15:00Link Ray's lack of notoriety and recognition, I have to say, is something that I'm not surprised.

01:15:06As a native woman, we have contributed to so many things that are a part of the tapestry of America

01:15:13in pop culture, in music, in art, in fashion, in film, yet it's always amazing to me to hear from

01:15:20people that they didn't know about the American Indian contribution. Link Ray's kind of shadow of

01:15:27his success is unfortunately part of that.

01:15:30The list is unbelievably long of the people they influenced. Jimmy Page said he would never

01:15:36have picked up a guitar if he hadn't heard rumble on the radio.

01:15:39He was a musician's musician, you know, he didn't have the pop hits.

01:16:01I would hope he found some peace knowing while he was still around how many great guitar players

01:16:07paid homage to him and let him know how much they influenced, like the Pete Townsends and

01:16:12spring scenes, to point out what an influenced Link was.

01:16:41Now, one of the good things about technology is that you can just

01:16:45go buy his music on your phone and hear it immediately and get inspired by it.

01:17:16So there's a whole new generation. There's a couple of them,

01:17:18that thanks to the notoriety from their heroes

01:17:21pointing out Link's legacy and what he meant to them

01:17:24are now going to discover him, hopefully.

01:17:26Yeah, I wish he had had big success along the way,

01:17:28but look, he was the one who came up with that sound

01:17:31and gave it to us, sold it to us,

01:17:35and kind of stuck it down his throats

01:17:37whenever he had his guitar on,

01:17:39and it affected millions of people.

01:17:52But the simple truth is,

01:17:54you know, he was the embodiment of the rock musician.

01:17:57You can analyze all of the different genres.

01:18:00Instrumental, surf, hard rock, metal, punk, rockabilly.

01:18:06He was all of those things.

01:18:07That's why everybody points to him as the influence.

01:18:11Jeff Beck, this is what he said to me.

01:18:13Me and Jimmy Page used to jump around at my mom's house

01:18:16when we were 17 playing air guitar

01:18:18to Link Ray.

01:18:19You know, for me, a guitar player grew up

01:18:21learning how to play guitar in San Diego,

01:18:23listening to Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page,

01:18:25and Clapton and Townsend, you know, the guys.

01:18:27Those were our guys.

01:18:28And realizing that Link Ray was their guy.

01:18:32James Brown wouldn't be here,

01:18:34Jimi Hendrix wouldn't be here,

01:18:35nobody would be here.

01:18:36Come on!

01:18:38Walk those up!

01:18:39Link Ray's sustainability

01:18:42and the resilient sound that he created

01:18:45that I think sits well with musicians

01:18:48and it's something that will live on forever.

01:18:51Whether you're born in the 70s, in the 2020s,

01:18:56this is the sound that you will turn on,

01:19:00turn up, and be influenced by.

01:19:03His lack of commercial success

01:19:05is really just the luck of the draw in show business.

01:19:08It's just a beauty contest

01:19:11and a popularity contest

01:19:13and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

01:19:15is evidence of that.

01:19:17Hey, he's in there to every guitar player

01:19:19who's ever heard him.

01:19:21You know, he's already there in their mind.

01:19:23Personally, I don't think Link would give a damn

01:19:25one way or the other.

01:19:26They threw him a little something

01:19:29when they inducted his song, Rumble,

01:19:32into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

01:19:34But in spite of the fact that Link has been nominated

01:19:37for several years

01:19:39and never made the cut,

01:19:41it just shows the shallowness

01:19:43of these so-called best-of lists.

01:19:59I can't help it

01:20:03if I'm still in love with you.

01:20:18There are some artists

01:20:19that are just fiercely individual.

01:20:22They just want to do what they do.

01:20:23He's never...

01:20:24He didn't chase fame,

01:20:26so he wasn't prepared to compromise

01:20:28to find it.

01:20:30He didn't feed off the audience.

01:20:31He wasn't doing it for the money.

01:20:33He just had to do it.

01:20:34You know, I think he would have exploded

01:20:36if he couldn't play guitar.

01:20:37He didn't know how to do anything else.

01:20:38He never worked a job in his life.

01:20:40He wouldn't have known how to go out

01:20:41and look for a job.

01:20:42He was a guitar player.

01:20:49Link Wray has made a sustainable,

01:20:52long-lasting impact

01:20:54on what we know as Rock and Roll.

01:20:56The sound that he created

01:20:57wasn't part of his native ancestry and identity.

01:21:00What you hear in his music

01:21:02is that blood memory

01:21:04of that sound of resistance.

01:21:18Link was an influence on punk,

01:21:21grunge and metal,

01:21:22and, of course,

01:21:23as all the Britpop sounds.

01:21:25It's a pity that

01:21:26that wasn't known at the time.

01:21:28I don't think Link

01:21:29had a chance, to be honest,

01:21:31of ever being

01:21:32a really, truly celebrated artist.

01:21:39If the Britpop invasion

01:21:41had honored his legacy more often,

01:21:44it would have really helped him.

01:21:45But for some reason,

01:21:46that didn't happen.

01:21:50Any kind of music that first comes out,

01:21:52people dislike it.

01:21:52Rock and roll, rap,

01:21:54grunge.

01:21:55It always happens

01:21:56that at first

01:21:57it's received very badly

01:21:58by the culture

01:21:59because it wrecks the rules

01:22:00that came before.

01:22:01So he was one of the first

01:22:03to wreck a rule,

01:22:04and he was the patron saint

01:22:06of wrecking the rules of music,

01:22:07so he was embraced.

01:22:09And he never changed.

01:22:10He never sold out.

01:22:11So many things came together

01:22:13with Rumble

01:22:13in terms of that.

01:22:14The chord,

01:22:16the attack,

01:22:18the sound.

01:22:19It changed

01:22:21rock history.

01:22:23Rumble will be that riff

01:22:25that he's defined by

01:22:27and he's always remembered by,

01:22:28but you'd be doing

01:22:30a real disservice

01:22:31to Link Wray

01:22:32to say

01:22:33that was the only good thing

01:22:35he ever came up with.

01:22:36He came up with

01:22:37hundreds and hundreds

01:22:39and hundreds of great songs

01:22:40over a period

01:22:41of many, many decades.

01:22:43If you want to talk

01:22:44about rock and roll,

01:22:46Link Wray

01:22:47just blew it out, man.

01:22:49He just took it

01:22:50to the farthest point,

01:22:51and that legacy,

01:22:53it's a haunting,

01:22:54beguiling legacy.

01:23:09He's one of those artists

01:23:11that if you were at a session

01:23:12or if you were at a gig,

01:23:14you would tell someone,

01:23:16make it like Link Wray,

01:23:17and I think that everyone

01:23:18would know

01:23:19what you're talking about.

01:23:20I'm always trying to play

01:23:22Link Wray for people

01:23:22because people always love it.

01:23:24Every time they hear Link Wray,

01:23:25they love it.

01:23:26For me,

01:23:26the fact that we're sitting here

01:23:28talking about him

01:23:29and this powerful,

01:23:30joyful revelation

01:23:32of what an electric guitar can do

01:23:34that he put in all our psyches so well,

01:23:37that's his legacy.

01:23:39He made a sound

01:23:40that lives on,

01:23:42is experiencing a rebirth

01:23:44and a resurgence

01:23:45and a resurgence

01:23:46amongst young people.

01:23:47They know the sound,

01:23:49now they know the name.

01:23:50He is the rock and roll

01:23:53Shawnee prophet.

01:23:57Yes, the artist may pass away,

01:24:00might go even out of print,

01:24:01but that possession

01:24:02never leaves you.

01:24:04And Link is right up there

01:24:06with the top artist

01:24:07that I still feel

01:24:08that possession

01:24:09in a beautiful way by

01:24:10that I'll carry on

01:24:11for the rest of my days.

01:24:26And my music is alive

01:24:27and I'm alive,

01:24:28you know,

01:24:29and I'll always be alive.

01:24:35Link Wray,

01:24:36mysterious,

01:24:37at times reclusive

01:24:38and almost always

01:24:40loud.

01:24:41Wray spent much

01:24:42of his early career

01:24:43in the D.C.,

01:24:44Maryland and Virginia area.

01:24:45For years,

01:24:46Wray,

01:24:47like other rock pioneers,

01:24:48was overlooked

01:24:49by the Rock and Roll

01:24:50Hall of Fame,

01:24:51leading to an outcry

01:24:52from guitar aficionados.

01:24:54But that changes tonight.

01:24:55I'm really thrilled

01:24:56and honored

01:24:57to be the one

01:24:58to be able to induct

01:25:00Link Wray,

01:25:01my hero,

01:25:03into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

01:25:13The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

01:25:13And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

01:25:22Oh,

01:25:38I'm really thrilled

01:25:39to be able to

01:25:39and see you

01:25:39with the Rock and Roll audience

01:25:39in the background

01:25:39that you've been

01:25:39and had

01:25:39a great day

01:25:39and a great day

01:25:39of the Rock and Roll.

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