Link Wray - Rumble (Full Version/Live)

[Bietel]

It was even banned for being too sexually suggestive... that's even better for an instrumental, right? Some of the bans were simply because it was a dark menacing instrumental, but also that in combination with the title 'Rumble' was considered inappropriate, indeed linking it to gang violence.

To answer ReSistaNceCitizenX's question: this was 1996 or 1997, in London or Manchester. (I'll have to look closely, if there's a Dead Moon shirt hanging over the bass amp -to dry!- it's Manchester!)

[83usmc2111]

i really like the bass lines in this song made the song a little different without changin it a lot like some bands do and it ends up killin the song.

[franklinrwful]

Was this the first heavy metal guitar? It was a hit in 1958. It was also banned on a lot of radio stations for for suggesting violence and gang culture which is amazing when you consider that its an instrumental.

[Photonzos]

Band played it well.

audience really enjoyed and that is the real test...

enjoyed by all looks like.

[anthony1158]

saw him at winterland twice. Once with Robert Gordon and several club dates. I was at one of his very last show where he had to be help to the stage. He broke a string and I scooped it up and put it on my wall with his picture. He needs to be in the hall of fame .

[JoeGuitarCenter]

because not everyone is a musician, and can make the difference between an electric bass ,and a double bass!I dare all those guy to try to cover the original bass line with their electric bass !

[Bietel]

@JoeGuitarCenter Besides, if you really really want to be a purist, you'd have to play it on a badly tuned double bass. (As Link remembered it: "Shorty hadn't even properly tuned up, and we didn't care at the time")

[1966WAX]

Bass player is NOT playing the original bassline .lame

[Bietel]

@1966WAX I'm perfectly aware of that, but this is what Link wanted. I would have preferred the chromatic bassline myself. Yes, I could have said 'Link, this bassline you are suggesting is lame compared to the original.' Would that have changed his mind? No way, believe me. (I can almost hear him say 'naaaaah, ust do it this way'.)

But you are right: it is not the original bassline. Quite.

[Pukeman44]

UNRUM'FUCKIN'INCREDIBLE!!!!!

[Bietel]

Could be some corporations have people working for them scanning the net for (c) violations... I do a website about Dutch author Jeroen Brouwers, and I ran into serious trouble about photo copyrights - basically because one photographer was very strict. Not wrong as such, but hey... he threatened to sue me over all photos I put there, not just the ones he had taken, but each and every photo I had put there that wasn't mine, copyright-wise. Again: he was not wrong as such, but...

Ah well...

[sawmillslim]

Link was wonderful live! He loved and appreciated the audience's adulation; how many rockers would let the fans reach up and twang the strings on their "baby"? In Denver , Link passed that red Mustang into the audience, where the entire first row pulled, plucked and beat the strings....Link just watched from the stage with his hands on his hips.. with this wonderful ear to ear grin! The father of the power chord was a helluva guy!

[Bietel]

@sawmillslim Amen to that - he was!

[Bietel]

@sawmillslim What also happened every now and then: halfway, say, Raw-Hide or Jack The Ripper (or any of those classics), he'd wave his arm to me saying 'you do a bass solo'. I never asked for that, 'cos I don't see my bass as a solo instrument, but he just put me on the spot.

And then he'd turn down the volume on his guitar, step to the side of the stage, grab a beer, and watch me sweat - with that same grin on his face, for sure!

Hell yeah, I loved the man!

[scotsblue]

Guys This Is Ace!

[Natokowsky]

Guitar 101 for me. Guys like Satriani and Halen might win the guitar jerk off olympics but they'll never touch this.

[conkface]

saw link about this time at richards on richards in Vancouver which is now gone and being replaced by a 30 story condo.

He was insanely loud.  From what I remember he was playing through a jcm900 half stack with a boss overdrive pedal. A yellow one. I think the one with 4 knobs. everything was dimed; the amp knobs, and the pedal knobs; all on ten! And then his crazy wife showed up on stage flinging his hair around while he played.

[Bietel]

@conkface An overdrive... ouch! That must've been TOO much... All he used when me and Rob did the Shadowman tours with him, was a JCM900 (indeed), but with only a blue Boss compression/sustainer between guitar and amp. And yeah, all turned fully up, amp and 'box' (that's how Link referred to it). All except reverb that is... plenty loud I tell ya :-)

[conkface]

@Bietel Thanks for responding! Did you play the Vancouver show?

It was blisteringly loud. Incredibly shrill untill I stuffed some toilet paper into my ears and then it all made sense. Probably Link had some hearing loss and what sounded good to me with toilet paper in my ears sounded normal to him.

He was great though! You're a lucky bastard to have played with him!

On another note, a friend of mine told me that his wife sold off that red yamaha for nothing to a fan. True?

[Bietel]

@conkface No - me and drummer Rob played a couple of European tours and Australia (that, plus recording his last three albums). But yes I feel lucky and honoured, believe me!

Link suffered hearing loss, that's correct, so I guess you're right there. For playback in the studio, Link had his earphones turned up loud as anything. When we explained that hearing loss doesn't mean everything just seems lower in volume, he didn't agree (and turned up everything marked 'treble'). Ah well!

[conkface]

@Bietel Thanks for responding! Did you play the Vancouver show?

It was blisteringly loud. Incredibly shrill untill I stuffed some toilet paper into my ears and then it all made sense. Probably Link had some hearing loss and what sounded good to me with toilet paper in my ears sounded normal to him.

He was great though! You're a lucky bastard to have played with him!

On another note, a friend of mine told me that his wife sold off that red yamaha for nothing to a fan. True?

[Bietel]

@conkface His 'Screaming Red' Yamaha was put up for auction by Olive, yes, as was his battered old SG. She did so while he was still alive, is what I heard, and Link subsequently played on (what I'd call 'just another') Strat during his last tour. I don't want to know what was payed for the Screaming Red, though, and I hope it's in the hands of someone who cares for it. It has the machineheads of Link's old Firebird on it, the one he broke on stage (accidentally...).

[mebloke69]

yes,jimmy was like a part of Link wray´s music video.and a GREAT part of that.

[bottlebrusher]

what year was this?

[Bietel]

@bottlebrusher Around '97.

[dj7eight]

POOR LITTLE BABYBOY! his lack of vocabulary forces him to use hate speech instead of actual adjectives... STUPID PIECE OF SHIT... maybe a a couple too many trips down to uncle touchy's naked puzzle basement has got ya a bit soured on the homos.

you probably loved every minute though huh?

[Bietel]

Didi you guys see that It Might Get Loud DVD? I love it when Jimmy Page picks an old copy of Rumble from a bunch of 45s, puts it on, and plays air guitar to it - beaming like a 16 year old kid while trying to explain what's so special about it.

Another 'wow'.

[CruJones2112]

@Bietel that was an awesome scene

[Gilad11235]

@Bietel only goes to show that music can truly be appreciated by anyone, anytime- if said one truly loves music

[TheYearTwentyTwenty]

@Bietel LOL that was cool, i never gave this song much notice until i saw that, even though it was in Pulp Fiction.

[Herreken]

@Bietel I love that scene :)

[Bietel]

@Herreken Me too, says a lot about Jimmy Page... AND about Link Wray!

[Herreken]

@Bietel I uploaded that scene to Youtube but it's blocked unfortunately :( I don't get why some people can post short clips from movies/documentaries/whatever, and why some are blocked.

[222sexidj4uuu]

@Bietel Best thing I've seen in years ! Second to " The Making of Darkness " !

[TallTorBlond]

@Bietel you took the words from my head. Just watched that last night; Jimmy's beaming face, what a pleasure.

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.

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[mussman717word]

@Bietel

When I saw that scene, I almost feinted. It's weird because we've all had that moment, but to see that across the face of the one and only Jimmy Page, damn. It's magical.

[chrook]

@Bietel

Yeah, the greatest moment of movie.

[Bietel]

Hey hey,

Eric here - the bassplayer in this vid.

First of all: this is not the original bassline, I know, but Link insisted on me doing it like this. (The original was chromatic and played on a double bass that was out of tune.)

Kidvic123: well spotted! Actually I do have a little leather loop strapped to the bridge, and when plugging in I put my wrist through that strap, also taking the plug through the loop, like you do with a shoulder strap. The Höfner bass is light enough to do that!

[plutofactory]

hey eric. thx 4 sharing. i gave it a listen n' also the original track. this bass version's a cool progression. a different flavor. a bit blue-sy. nice work! ;)

[SeattleSparker]

Eric,, when was this gig?

He looks so happy here!

[Bietel]

Somewhere '97 I think, filmed either in London or in Manchester. We had a great time! Me and drummer Rob were getting along great with Link - on stage and off stage.

A big thanks also to tour manager Steve, from Glasgow, who managed to stay sane with everything that was going on...

Later on we did a 2 week tour of Australia, also great. We were a real band, a gang, and Link even told journalists it was "like it was in the old days, playing with my brothers".

What that means to me... wow.

[oudzuidNL]

@Bietel ohja heb je gewoon met die link wray gespeeld .. toppie man

groetjes

[Minxii]

Eric, how old was Link here?

[Bietel]

If I'm correct he was 67.

I might be one year off though.

[Alu142]

74!

[JoeGuitarCenter]

@Bietel You have played with link Wray??????I hate you so much :p

nice basse line though

[Bietel]

@JoeGuitarCenter Not eveyone seems to appreciate it ;-)

Playing with Link was a blast!

[Kaaawa2000]

@Bietel I like what you did better than the original. On the original version the bass part always seemed wrong - it sounded like a country hick playing metal. Dorky. The other day I was listening to Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way" and thinking how much the intro was "Rumble" influenced, and this version is more like that with the tempo up a bit. The tempo may be a bit fast here but it's live so wtf. There's some versions of Rumble that the tempo sounds kinda painfully slow.

[Bietel]

@Kaaawa2000 Hey, thanks a lot! Again - it was Link who suggested this bass line... I just followed his lead, in more than one way.

[ReSistaNceCitizenX]

@Bietel Hey Eric, What year is this performance?

[FazlokAaAaAaA]

2:50 - 3:17 sounds like something Kurt Cobain Would have played

[ttoflea]

Link Wray FOREVER ROCK!!!!

The first and the baddest, Link nailed it decades b4 rock, hard rock, metal et-friggin-ceteras!!

AND!! decades later, LINK STILL GOT IT NAILED!!

[kidvic123]

Did you notice ? Eric the bassplayer has no strap to carry his bassguitar :)

[fatheadluv]

The original studio version of this song is the one to check out. The bass in that song is friggin nuts! The bassist is just moving chromatically up and down the neck. At times, it sounds like a drum with someone tightening on the head! Really crazy sound. Also, Link's use of the tremelo and such at the end is cool. Check out his RUMBLE compilation for some other badass jams. Keep Rockin' with a switchblade knife ; ) ~JRN (Austin, TX)

[ttoflea]

I met Link and his wife Olive back in the late 90's when a friend (Dexter Romweber) was touring with Link. By the lenght of Link's hair, this video must have been early 90's.. coz his hair was down to his waist when we met.)

Total effin cool man, Link is. I've seen him a few times since, and am so glad to have had the opportunity to know him, even if only for a bit.

Link, luv yu and rock on 4ever man!!!

[pjtheloser]

pretty much the inventor of power chords.....therefore making him the real father of punk

[HendrixPrinceFlea89]

bass tabs????????, dude it's twelve bar blues. just iear it out and grow a pair.

[JVHBand]

Link belongs in the Rock n' roll Hall of Fame... take a look at inductlinkwray dotcom - and sign the petition - rumble on!

[zuton100]

when you think about a lot of bands have copied this the white stripes for instance .

[XuliusCaesar]

replicated but never duplicated

[redhotcalvin]

and "quiet, please!" by cold war kids

but all three are awesome and unique, its all rock and roll.

[dewolf1997]

they say they banned this song from the radio beecuz it incoreged fighting link wrey rocks

[crackerHero]

they did in the 50s guess people were not ready for something hardcore yet

[dewolf1997]

i said they rock!! ok dont rate it bad if u actualy know what i said!!! my dad told me that so dont rate it bad unless you know wat im saying!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok i feel better now

[Muenden]

Does someone own the bass-tabs to this song?

[actooon]

Can't you play this simple line WITHOUT tabs?

hahahhahaha, how WE play bass 30 years ago???

[Muenden]

I can play most parts by ear, but I don't get the turn at 40 secs!

So thanks for your great help!

[actooon]

I am music teacher since 1996 - fretless bass, bass, guitar. MAYBE I get things too much easy... I'm sorry, man. I know that is maybe hard sometimes... ;););)

Play bass with 4 fingers on your left hand in all possibile combinations. You will get EAR for any kind of harmony.

[mikeluxy]

This Guy invented LOUD!!!

[matuschkas]

the grandfather of heavy metal.

[gunnydogs]

That smile on his face is priceless, having the time of his life. true badass

[rrwjw]

LINK WRAY....KICKS ASS!!!!!

[toastyplatters70]

this fucking absolutely rocks, without question

[HumGuitar]

It's Jack White's grandfather!

[ELECTRICSHAMAN13]

MR WILD GUITAR..

[chainlinkray]

The Father of FUZZ Guitar and Power Chords.

[56BUICKRiviera]

ooh man.. The song after Rumble is cool what is the name?

[kaempebuk]

I am proud that this brilliant man decided to end his days here in small Denmark!

[Boabyo]

Copenhage wasn't it?

[DupekChopra]

He fought in the Korean war.

[gabbagabba1ofus]

And coughed up a lung to keep kimchi free.

[sageit4me]

Same 3 chords as always one 4 five. nothing new here says Hendrix in 66'... search tim reynolds best ever for ever

[RuathaK]

The innovators always sound dated 50 years later to the people who grew up listening to all the music influenced by the innovators in the first place.

[blackplague213]

Forget Hendrix & forget Vai; Link Wray put more attitude, power, and raw emotion into three chords of his playing than most guitarists do in an entire career!