THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

301-Link Wray & His Ray Men-Rumble.

1958-Has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 1.10. Sometimes fact can be stranger than fiction. This song was banned from being played on the radio.’IT’S AN INSTRUMENTAL!’

Link Wray was born Fred Lincoln Wray Jr. on May 2nd, 1929, in Dunn, North Carolina, United States, he died on November 5th, 2005, of heart failure at the age of 76. Wray’s mother was descended from ‘Shawnee,’ and as a result of being indigenous, Wray and his family were always in fear of their lives from the ‘Ku Klux Klan. Wray served in the United States Army during the Korean War between 1950-1953, where he contracted tuberculosis, leading to him having a lung removed, and doctors telling him that he would never be able to sing again.

Link Wray is considered one of the most influential guitarists of all time for his groundbreaking use of ‘distortion,’ and ‘tremolo’ on this track ‘Rumble,’ which enhanced ‘Rock N’ Roll,’ and if not giving birth to ‘Rock’ music, then it certainly gave it a big push. Among the many greats who have acknowledged this are Pete Townshend (see also best songs 926-891-306 and 265) who has said,’He is the king, if it hadn’t been for ‘Rumble’ I would have never picked up a guitar.’ Jimmy Page (see also best songs 135 and 66) said that as a kid he used to listen to anything with a guitar on,’But the first time I heard ‘Rumble’ that was something that had so much profound attitude to it,’ and Bob Dylan (see also best songs 792-621-358-103-36 and 7) has called ‘Rumble’ The best instrumental ever.’

‘Rumble’ was officially written by Link Wray, and Milt Grant (1923-2007) but the chances are Grant had nothing to do with the composing of the song. Grant was a radio and television presenter who probably had his name added to the credits in return for commercial exposure. When Link Wray first came up with the instrumental he called it ‘Oddball,’ and was pleased with the reaction when performing it live. The song was brought to the attention of Archie Bleyer (1909-1989) of the ‘Cadence Records’ label, who being from a previous generation had a very low tolerance when it came to ‘Rock N’ Roll,’ he only agreed to the record being released due to his step-daughters fascination with the song. It was also Bleyer’s step-daughter who suggested the songs title ‘Rumble.’ as it reminded her of the rumble scenes in ‘West Side Story, although there is another story which suggests that it was Phil Everly (1939-2014) who suggested the songs title, the Everly Brothers were signed to ‘Cadence Records’ at that time. (see also best songs 799) The title made the song somewhat controversial because it implied gang violence, with ‘rumble’ being a slang name for street fighting among gangs of youths in America. This led to some radio stations refusing to play it for fear of glorifying juvenile delinquency. The song can be heard at it’s most ‘menacing’ in a scene from the 1994 film ‘Pulp Fiction,’ between John Travolta, and Uma Thurman.