RIP Dick Dale

[NoSleep]

King of the surf guitars has died aged 81.

Here he is just a year ago, still rocking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEJN_WmZjfA

[Gregory Torso]

Fuck.

[Shit Good Nose]

RIP.

He died pretty quickly having seemed pretty healthy recently.  But then he has been on an enormous combination of (prescribed) drugs for years now which single-handedly seemed to be keeping him alive.

I was due to see him supporting Bo Diddley in 2007, but Bo had a stroke before the UK tour started (just a few days before, if memory serves), so that was all cancelled.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Great sound, biggest in town

[Wet Blanket]

RIP.

He did pretty quickly having seemed pretty healthy recently.  But then he has been on an enormous combination of (prescribed) drugs for years now which single-handedly seemed to be keeping him alive.

I was due to see him supporting Bo Diddley in 2007, but Bo had a stroke before the UK tour started (just a few days before, if memory serves), so that was all cancelled.

I had tickets for that too, at the 100 Club?. Didn't realise Dick Dale was to have been the support act. Retrospectively double-gutted.

[jobotic]

I saw Bo Diddley in 1984 when I was 11.

Never seen Dick Dale, just showing off.

[Petey Pate]

He did pretty quickly having seemed pretty healthy recently.  But then he has been on an enormous combination of (prescribed) drugs for years now which single-handedly seemed to be keeping him alive.

He also wore a concealed colostomy bag on stage in the final years of his life. Touring was literally what kept him alive, as it enabled him to pay his medical bills.

The US is not kind to its artists, even pioneering ones.

R.I.P.

[Shit Good Nose]

I had tickets for that too, at the 100 Club?. Didn't realise Dick Dale was to have been the support act. Retrospectively double-gutted.

No, the Cheese and Grain in Frome.  I think Dale was only appearing at certain shows on that tour, possibly as a pseudo double header.

[alan nagsworth]

Sad about this. Surf is obviously the single greatest genre of music of all time based on the fact that 99.9% of all surf tunes are bona fide rippers, hoofers, bangers and heaters, and Dick was rightfully crowned the king of the surf guitar. Woulda loved to have been alive in the '60s for the sole reason of having the shit kicked out of my ears at one of his shows.

He partnered with Leo Fender to test new equipment, later saying "When it can withstand the barrage of punishment from Dick Dale, then it is fit for the human consumption." His combination of loud amplifiers and heavy gauge strings led him to be called the "Father of Heavy Metal".[8] After blowing up several Fender amplifiers, Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares saw Dale play at the Rendezvous Ballroom, Balboa, California and identified the problem with creating a sound louder than the audience screaming. The pair visited the James B. Lansing loudspeaker company and ask for a custom 15-inch loudspeaker, which became the JBL D130F model, and was known as the Single Showman Amp. Dale's combination of a Fender Stratocaster and Fender Showman Amp allowed him to attain significantly louder volume levels unobtainable by then-conventional equipment.

...

He later stated, "I still remember the first night we played it ("Misirlou"). I changed the tempo, and just started cranking on that mother. And ... it was eerie. The people came rising up off the floor, and they were chanting and stomping. I guess that was the beginning of the surfer's stomp."

...

Dale later said "There was a tremendous amount of power I felt while surfing and that feeling of power was simply transferred into my guitar". His playing style reflected the experience he had when surfing, and projecting the power of the ocean to people.

He's shreddin' the gnar on the other side now. Peace out, hero.