Today we highlight legendary guitarist Dick Dale.
I was not aware of him or his influence until I found a couple of tracks on a surf album compilation in the 1980's. At the time, there were not many of his
recordings that were available until Rhino records released King Of The Surf Guitar: The Best of Dick Dale and the Del-tones in the late 80's.
He joined me on my radio show in 1993 to promote the album Tribal Thunder.
It was his first album of new material in almost thirty years.
Dick Dale played in Madison, Wisconsin, in the mid 1990's. Standing there by the stage that night, I could not believe that someone could have hands that moved that fast while playing guitar.
The other impressive thing was that most of the audience was made up of college students that were totally in awe. Dick Dale was mentored by Leo Fender, the designer of the Fender Strat.
Dick Dale was born May 4th, 1937, and died March 16th, 2019. During our
time on the air together, he talked about his attempts to live a clean life away from the spotlight. Many musicians wanted to visit him and work with him in the studio.
Dick Dale, of course, was a Surf Rock God as Surf Music swept the country in the early '60's, led primarily by The Beach Boys (who were also in awe of Dale's guitar-playing abilities) and several others. (In fact, instrumental surf rock was a HUGE part of the genre. Even The Turtles started out as a surf rock band before they discovered Bob Dylan and pop music ... and the fact that they could actually SING, too!!!)
It was certainly more of a cult-thing to be a follower of Dick Dale's music ... but he had a HUGE legion of fans, despite the fact that his actual Hit List is virtually non-existent. (Believe it or not, his best known track, "Miserlou," never even made The Top 100, peaking at #102 in Cash Box in early 1963 ... and never charting in Billboard at all!)
Still, you can't salute Dick Dale without featuring it (if nothing else, "Pulp Fiction" certainly made it recognizable around the world, so thank you, Quentin Tarantino!!!) ... as well as his biggest chart hit (#60, 1961), "Let's Go Trippin'" (kk)
Be sure to listen to Phil Nee's THOSE WERE THE DAYS radio program tonight … and EVERY Satuarday Night on WRCO ... 6 pm – Midnight (Central):
WRCO AM FM Radio Richland Center Wisconsin
Just click on the 100.9 headphones and start streaming!
