For all you guys out there who talk about rockabilly all the times & how great it was to grow up in the 50s this is what 90% of the people into hotrodding was listening to. growing up in NY do-whop was the only thing on the radio, WMCA, WINS, Murray the K. This is a newer tape but it gives ya an idea of 'street corner" music from the Bronx!! I think he still sounds great after 50 yrs!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvGktPaDAPM JimV
I just ran it to show how well his talent has held up over the yrs. theres alot of his old stuff in the column to the right of the video Jimv
Yeah I don't care for all the fluff they added to the version of that song, but the original was pretty damn good. I'd still rather listen to some good ol' Link Wray.
Link Wray was such an innovator, it's too bad so many people don't even know who he is. Rumble is one of the coolest songs ever.
Yeah, a lot of people have "heard" Link's work because it's been in a lot of surf movies as back ground music... and more recently in Pulp Fiction... they just don't know it's him. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but i'm sure he only had one lung, or partial use of his lungs. That's why you rarely hear him sing. He's more known for his instrumentals. He also did the original Batman TV theme song. A lot of people don't know that either. He's one of my faves. For only have the use of one lung he could really belt out a tune when he wanted to though! Listen:
Dion is Dion. And will always be. But I think Link Wray has the sound, and the music, of where it all started. More of a soul, or blues style. And that is what does it for me.
JIMV...great stuff...Dions' still doing it...GOOD FOR HIM!!...Rythm and Roll (listening to doowop and watching the wheelcover flippers roll !!!! who cares if we're greybeards; we're still kids in the 50s....AIN'T NEVER GONNA GROW UP --RR
Same stuff I grew up listening too, not that psychobilly trash. Real music. Its incredible how well Dion sounds all these years later, awesome! Doc.
First record I bought, Runaround Sue. Several after that, he still sounds good to me. Think I'll go dig out those old 45's and fire up the turntable.
i'll agree Link Wrays great, but you can't compare him to the "echo" do-whop of the 50's.I'm more of a 60's( was born in 49) person but having a older sister & cousins i know do whop.And what i'm saying is that dion & the likes where way more popular in the "greaser" world.Seems Link Ray & all them became more popular later on. Jimv
I Saw Link Wray play at Beachland Ballroom here in Cleveland shortly before he Died. He invented what we know today as the "power cord" bad Ass Mo Fo
Link Wray,had the pleasure of playing support act for him in London in the '90's,got my scratchplate signed and all that.Helluva nice guy.When he strutted on that stage he was 67 goin' on 21.My guitar hero,and more of a God than a man,R.I.P. I like Dions' "Born to Cry"That's some tuff doowop Paul
While I have to agree about Dion's current "embellishments", it brings to mind Rick Nelson's "Garden Party".
Ex-Hamber coldwar has all the rare do-wop. too bad he got thrown off here. stunning collection. these guys are trading it over the net from vinyle somehow. That movie Bronks tale with Denero capures that erra good
Jim, thanks for posting the Link Wray stuff, I forgot how good he really was. Maybe a reason he wasn't more known is because his record company didn't pay off the DJ's to get his records played. Remember this was the time of "payola", which became headline news when Allan Freid got busted. I worked for RCA Records for 30 years in sales and marketing and it remained rampant long after Allan Freid went to jail. I grew up listening to Doo Wop including Dion. One thing for sure, nobody dressed like that in the '50s or '60s.
See for me, i grew up at car shows even befor i had a bike, and all they played was Do-wop, Motown & similar stuff like that. Most everything i remember as a kid is dubbed with some 50's-60's song in it, haha. First day i instaled the radio in the 53', i went to hang out with a few friends, i pull up and 'Rebel rouser' is just blaring, they asked if i could change it, siad yeah no problem, and put on The cadillacs: 'Speedo'
Whoever tagged this 'music to build ratz to',I guess you ether get it or you don't,and obviously you fall into the latter.
Can't really compare do-wop with Link Wray, they were about 5 years apart, mid-fifties to late fifties/early sixties. And sorry, the King of the power chord is Dick Dale. I asked my dad once what he listened to during the early to late 50's, (i was born in 57', so memory is vague), he said out here, it was more of the Chuck Berry stuff and surprisingly, Mose Allison, bee-bop and Jazz.
Der very first song I ever played over & over enuf to prevoke Papa ta schmack me was Dion's "Ruby". Around my area back in the 50s & early 60s, we listened to a lot of country twang, Hank Sr., Lefty Frizzell, Ernest Tubb, etc., too. Und ven ve played those country songs backwards, we got cheered up gettin' all der schtuff ve losted back.