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Voidoid Surrealist · Post by **Voidoid Surrealist** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:50 pm

Just read on garagepunk.com, and later on metafilter.com that guitar legend Link Wray passed away at age 76.

Apparently the english speaking press hasn't caught on yet, but the Spanish and Danish have...

duncanparsons · Post by **duncanparsons** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:13 pm

sad loss.. but such as it goes, it was somewhat inevitable..

He invented distortion by putting a pencil through the cone of his amp speaker.. Now model a VST of that!

DSP

ew · Post by ew » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:20 pm

duncanparsons wrote:sad loss.. but such as it goes, it was somewhat inevitable..

He invented distortion by putting a pencil through the cone of his amp speaker.. Now model a VST of that!

DSP

I'm not sure, but I think you'll find the original "Train Kept a Rolling" by Paul Burlison and the Rock and Roll Trio precedes Link Wray's pencil experiments. That distortion was created by pulling a tube partly out of its socket...

Link was great, no matter who came up with it first, though...

ew

Dunbar · Post by **Dunbar** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:30 pm

It's sad news.

Barbed Wire Kiss · Post by **Barbed Wire Kiss** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:57 pm

Another great man lost.

geoffrey · Post by **geoffrey** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:08 am

The story I have read about distortion and the Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio was that they dropped the amp down some steps and shazam loose tube distortion was born. I always thought that they did the original version of Train Kept a Rollin' (It is my favorite version) But I found an older 40's swing version of it a few years back. Forget who did that version though.. ew, whomever you are... all respect for even knowing who Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio are... They are somewhat obscure nowadays. Shoot, Johnny Burnette invented the term when he wrote Rock Billy Boogie about his kids. I bet you even know that Rocky , his son, plays with Fleetwood Mac now...

ew · Post by ew » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:14 am

Ah... thanks! It was Johnny Burnette who the band was named after. Paul Burlison was the guitarist, but his name didn't look right to me as the name of the band...
Thanks for the clarification.

ew

geoffrey · Post by **geoffrey** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:17 am

Paul Burlison was one kick ass guitarist who is also fairly obscure nowadays. I have all the J.B. and the Rock and Roll Trio stuff. He was big as Elvis there for a minute, and predates him. In fact Elvis ripped him off when he wrote words over the music and came up with I Wanna Play House with You. Johnny's version is a bit racier. I Wanna Make Love to You was its title.

duncanparsons · Post by **duncanparsons** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:25 am

..to which no one would bat an eyelid these days.. sad how times change; I'm against totally restrictive and repressive regimes, but a sense of decency ain't a bad thing at times.. also to 'Make Love' back then wasn't just sex, it was the whole making out, and had a slightly more romantic notion. ..Tho' I guess it was the 50's that started to alter that meaning. In the 40s it still had the more gentle interpretation, it appears in 'It's a Wonderful Life' from 1946 ('It's George Bailey, mother, and he's making love to me')

Nice to get the fuller picture on where all these things we take for granted come from

DSP

Link Wray, R.I.P.