Saturday Night Attitude Dance with Power Chords Rumbling At the 2022 Birthday of the Awesome Bad Boy Grunge Guitarist Link Wray
by Robert Wilkinson Monday is the birthday of the iconic bad boy Link Wray, one of the pioneer guitarists of rock and roll. Black leather jacket, sunglasses and a slicked back ducktail, he set the standard for early raunchy guitar slinging. Without Link Wray, rock and roll might never have survived the transition from the late 50s into the 60s, and certainly wouldn’t sound much like it has these past 60 years! He was one of the most influential guitarists in the history of rock and roll. Though most have never heard of the raw, menacing work of Link Wray (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005), he gave rock and roll one of its most distinctive guitar trademarks, the power chord! From AllMusic: “... his contribution to the language of rockin' guitar would still be a major one, even if he had never walked into another studio after cutting "Rumble." Link Wray invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists. Listen to any of the tracks he recorded be...