I just saw this. If his name doesn’t ring a bell, think surfer rock with a hard guitar riff sound and that unmistakable dum-da-da-dum-da beat. Think Miserlou, the instrumental song made famous anew by Pulp Fiction. Think Hava Nagila like you’ve never heard it before. If the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean represented the “nice boy” side of surfer rock, Dick Dale was more of its “bad boy” side. You KNOW this sound, you just might not associate it with his name.
Sadly, he just passed, at 81, of heart failure. He was from a Lebanese background, and supposedly got his trademark sound from learning to play the electric guitar upside-down, Dale being left-handed but playing a guitar strung for right-handed players. He also incorporated Arabic scales and rhythms in his music, strung his guitars with heavy strings, and relied heavily on reverb and powerful amps at a time when few rock musicians were doing that.
Here are some of his signature songs. Rock on, Dick!
Here’s his Wiki page for more info on his life and legacy.
