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dick dale dead at 81 - RIP
- Thread starter pcake
- Start date
Dick Dale was a pioneer in the surf music genre. Have you ever seen Pulp Fiction? That insane guitar sound and riff at the beginning is Dick Dale.
The point of the thread is to pay tribute to that pioneer. Does that clear things up for you?
I remember reading an article where Dale said he taught Jimi how to play upside down or something to that effect. Funny stuff, Dale was always taking credit for something. RIP in a reverb soaked surf heaven.
I got a chance to see him a few times. Even more thrilling, I got to CHAT(!!) with the guy, at length, just like shooting the breeze. His stories of taking care of tigers and stitching his own wounds, never having a drink or smoke or a joint!!! And, most impressive to me, performing while hooked up to a freaking ostomy bag!!! The man was unstoppable!!! Surf Rock, he invented it! Punk, he influenced it. Speed metal? well he certainly planted the seed...
To a brilliant musician, an innovator, a fighter! Godspeed!!! RIP
To a brilliant musician, an innovator, a fighter! Godspeed!!! RIP
“Nobody played loud, because there was no reason for them to play loud, so Leo [Fender] gave me one of his amps and told me, ‘You go beat it to death, and tell me what you think of it.’ And I started blowing them up, and they would catch on fire. I blew up over 50 of his amps,” Dale told Surfer in 2010. “He would say, “Why do you have to play so loud?” but when I put it on stage, the people’s bodies would soak up the sound because I wanted my guitar to sound like Gene Krupa’s drums.”
This qoute was taken from the book, The Birth of Loud, which I'm reading and just happen to have just finished the Dick Dale section. His real name was Richard Monsour. Not only did he blow up those amps, but as Leo was trying to resolve the problem of Dick burning up the amps capacitors, Leo had his ear to the amp speaker with the volume cranked to ten to listen for hum or hiss. Dick accidentally hit a note by tripping over the guitar, ringing out a note through the 15 inch JBL speaker, causing Leo to go deaf in his ear. Now, not only did Leo have one eye (from an accident that happened during his youth on the farm) but also one ear.
Leo made the first custom amp for Dick Dale - The Dick Dale Showman.
In order to make an amp loud enough for Dick Dale, Leo had to separate the head from the cabinet. The Dick Dale Showman was the first stack.
The first Spring Reverb for guitar amps was made exclusively for Dick Dale.
Brian Wilson was inspired by Dick Dale and, although Dick Dale was the king of surf, the Beach Boys made it commercially popular. The local surfing community preferred Dick Dale's music over the Beach Boys... the locals didn't even like the Beach Boys, but the Beach Boys sang and that went over well with the rest of America, which didn't know anything about surfing culture.
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This qoute was taken from the book, The Birth of Loud, which I'm reading and just happen to have just finished the Dick Dale section. His real name was Richard Monsour. Not only did he blow up those amps, but as Leo was trying to resolve the problem of Dick burning up the amps capacitors, Leo had his ear to the amp speaker with the volume cranked to ten to listen for hum or hiss. Dick accidentally hit a note by tripping over the guitar, ringing out a note through the 15 inch JBL speaker, causing Leo to go deaf in his ear. Now, not only did Leo have one eye (from an accident that happened during his youth on the farm) but also one ear.
Leo made the first custom amp for Dick Dale - The Dick Dale Showman.
In order to make an amp loud enough for Dick Dale, Leo had to separate the head from the cabinet. The Dick Dale Showman was the first stack.
The first Spring Reverb for guitar amps was made exclusively for Dick Dale.
Brian Wilson was inspired by Dick Dale and, although Dick Dale was the king of surf, the Beach Boys made it commercially popular. The local surfing community preferred Dick Dale's music over the Beach Boys... the locals didn't even like the Beach Boys, but the Beach Boys sang and that went over well with the rest of America, which didn't know anything about surfing culture.
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RIP Dick Dale. He was so important to me. My band was fortunate to have opened for him many years ago. He regaled my son and I with stories of picking up chicks with Elvis in Las Vegas. He was so gracious with his time. He kinda reminded me of a 1950’s greaser, a really nice tough guy. He signed the headstock of my bass and he told my son to learn to play country before you learn rock ‘n roll.
I read about him a few months ago and found it interesting that Dick Dale was a Lebanese American. (His birth name was not Dale.) He also was from the northeast and never surfed. When I found out he was of Lebanese descent it occurred to me how much the surf guitar licks resemble licks you hear in flamenco and middle eastern oud music. I think what we call "surf rock" is actually mostly middle eastern music played with distorted electric guitars.
He sat in with Rosie O'Donnell's house band in 1997 (after a little research). I watched the episode but can't find it online. They played "Miserlou" and when they got to the trumpet solo, he reached over picked up a trumpet and played it with the guitar still around his neck. That was him on the recording. On the show, he played it perfectly as on the record. Mind blown.
I have a drummer buddy who played with Dick and they stayed in touch. He's heartbroken today, but Dick told him "Carry on"! So cool...
He outlived the guy who said "you'll never hear surf music again" by almost 5 decades.
Saw him a while back! Loudest show ever! He was fantastic. It was a smaller club and he walked right out the front door and played an extended solo out on the sidewalk with the folks hanging outside. What a blast now that I think back on it. RIP Dick Dale.
He was from Boston. "Miserlou" is an electric guitar rendition of a Mediterranean melody.
I saw him two July's ago - I think his kid was on drums. Great sound, and near-shredding (but better) solos.
It’s called surf rock because the surfers claimed his music as theirs. He was playing to packed halls all over Southern California just as new lighter boards were replacing the heavy wooden ones and surfing was exploding. And he did surf.
