Link Wray

Link Wray (1929-2005) is the man who invented the power chord. His 1958 instrumental Rumble — which used distortion created by poking holes in his amplifier speakers — was so menacing it was banned from radio, making it the only instrumental to ever be censored. That single recording influenced Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, Iggy Pop, and Neil Young. Wray was a Shawnee Native American who lost a lung to tuberculosis while serving in the Korean War and was told he would never sing again. He spent the next five decades proving otherwise, recording raw, aggressive guitar music in a converted chicken coop he called Wray's Three Track Shack. His influence on punk, garage rock, and heavy metal is incalculable. Pete Townshend has said that without Link Wray there would be no power chord and therefore no rock and roll.