JACK THE RIPPER
Link Wray is credited with inventing the power chord (part of the basic language of modern rock guitar); and, together with his band the Ray Men, Link Wray scored hit songs like “Rumble”, “Rawhide” and “Jack the Ripper” (which was given new life when it made the soundtrack for the remake of Breathless that starred Richard Gere).
(June 2011)
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Ultimately “Rumble” was released in 1958.
Several of Link Wray’s other singles had similarly aggressive names: “Jack the Ripper”, “El Toro”, “Roughshod”, “The Stranger”, etc.
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As it happens, I have a live album by Link Wray from the same time period as the original Link Protrudi and the Jaymen, called Live in ’85 that includes several of his early classics like “Jack the Ripper” and “Rawhide”.
(February 2013)
