Online Petition
If you feel the same as myself and countless others about this legend please join our cause and Sign the Induct Link Wray Petition.
“If I could go back in time and see any band, It would be Link Wray and the Raymen.” – Neil Young
“Link Wray… He was the beginning of Grunge, way before anybody you know.” – Neil Young
“He is the king, if it hadn’t been for Link Wray and Rumble, I would have never picked up a guitar.” – Pete Townshend
“Rumble is the best instrumental ever.” – Bob Dylan
“Link Wray is the all-time legend.” – Conan O’Brien, T.V. talk show host
“Link Wray and Gene Vincent…. two of the greatest unknowns of rock ‘n’ roll.” – John Lennon
“Though rock historians always like to draw a nice, clean line between the distorted electric guitar work that fuels early blues records to the late 60s Hendrix-Clapton-Beck-Page-Townsend mob, with no stops in between, a quick spin of any of the sides Link recorded during his golden decade punches holes in the theory right quick. If a direct line from a black blues musician crankin’ up his amp and playing with a ton of violence and aggression can be traced to a young, white guy doing a mutated form of same, the line points straight to Link Wray, no contest. Pete Townshend probably summed it up for more guitarists than he realized when he said, “He is the king, had it not been for Link Wray and ‘Rumble,’ I would have never picked up a guitar.” – Cub Koda
“Link Wray was the most volatile and sophisticated guitarist to emerge from the late 50s. He was a powerful, inventive player, doing things with dynamics and rhythm that would later inspire Pete Townsend and Eric Clapton.” – Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone Magazine
“Link Wray invented the vocabulary of modern electric guitarists.” – answers.com; excerpted from Davie Allan’s page.
“The Rumble Man.” – Keith Moon, drummer The Who
“Father of the Power Chord.” – James Sullivan, Rolling Stone.com
“Link is a quiet man to meet- easy and courteous. His music, though, betrays that deep inside he gets very very mean very often. I remember being made very uneasy the first time I heard “Rumble” , and yet very excited by the guitar sound. And his voice! He sounds like a cross between Jagger and Van Morrison, even sometimes like Robbie Robertson. We met him in New York in 1970 while recording “Who’s Next”…. this later inspired the b-side “Wasp Man”, a tune we dedicated to Link Wray.” – Pete Townshend
“Money don’t rule me, record companies don’t rule me.” – Link Wray
“God is playing my guitar, I am with God when I play.” – Link Wray
December 4, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Link was and ORIGINAL….when you hear his guitar you KNOW IT IS LINK…Just like when you hear B.B. King, SRV, Jimi, etc. LINK is overdue to be inducted. Duke
Duke of the Discs!
December 5, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Induct an original!
December 5, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I saw Link several times here in Tucson.. The Man Rocks! INDUCT him!!
KenB
December 5, 2008 at 9:16 pm
An absolute tragedy that he has been overlooked by much of the public, let alone the Hall of Fame…time to rectify the situation!
December 5, 2008 at 10:14 pm
THINK LINK!!!!!!
December 5, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Let Link Live!
http://trustarvibrations.blogspot.com/
December 5, 2008 at 11:06 pm
This is an easy one to get right Hall “o” Fame people, get Link in!
http://kingvoodoo.blogspot.com/
December 6, 2008 at 12:09 am
C’mon — it’s 2008!
This country can elect a smart black guy who can hit the three as freakin’ President …. but we can’t induct the Godfather of the H-Bomb Guitar to the RRHOF?
Hall of Shame is right.
No denigration intended — but can someone please explain to me what “Madonna” and at least one-half of the other inductees have to do with “rock & roll”. Geez, either change the name to” Pop Moneymakers Hall of Fame” or set up a separate museum entity — stop insulting our intelligence.
I live in Ohio, yet have never visited the RRHOF, and would never do so while this cheap carney atmosphere persists. Wowie — come see the outfit Madoona wore while she was wiggling on that cross during her Public Disgrace Tour!!! And don’t you dare miss the induction ceremony for Brooke Hogan this year!!!
For pity’s sake — either induct the Linkster (and so many other worthies) or turn the dump into a Chuckie Cheese franchise.
–Hawkster
December 6, 2008 at 4:21 am
Link was just about the most rock and roll it is possible to get. His influence is everywhere. This is so obvious it’s amazing that you even have to bother with this petition.
INDUCT LINK NOW!
http://www.myspace.com/chester_rocket
December 6, 2008 at 6:10 am
Link Wray laid the tracks paving the way years ahead of his time for Steve Miller (is that the real space cowboy with the 2nd comment here ?) and so many others. Link Wray and Dick Dale – both made rock guitar what it is and even made it so amp & speaker tech had to be upgraded to handle thier music. Groundbreakers to say the least.
December 6, 2008 at 6:57 am
Induction is long over-due!
December 6, 2008 at 7:44 am
A true original, deserves it more than 90% of the muffins they induct into the hall.
December 6, 2008 at 8:56 am
I visited the Hall this summer with my son. His comment was “Dad, you have cooler stuff at home than this place does”. Put him in and let the others tremble in his wake!!!
December 7, 2008 at 4:10 am
This is a no brainier. Link Wray should automatically be inducted.
No explanation needed. Just listen to the proof.
I am ashamed to be an American and so should the R&RHOF until he is inducted.
I will boycott Rolling Stone Ragazine and all endeavors of the R&RHOF
until he gets his place in the pantheon of the greats.
But really who needs the R&RHOF to endorse Link Wray.
They have made a mokery of the institution.
What does Madonna have to do with Rock and Roll?
Note to the RRHOF: Induct Link Wray now and avoid any more shame.
>http://www.matsumoku.org
December 7, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Link Wray changed the way the guitar was used in Rock and Roll. Without him, nothing that followed would have been possible.
December 8, 2008 at 4:02 am
Link Wray = ROCK and he = ROLL, period!!!!!!
December 9, 2008 at 4:53 am
Original Punk! Period. End of Story.
December 9, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Great Memories. Hearing rumble when I was 5 back in 1956.
Picking up the Swan LP at a flea market in 1971 for 25 cents in mint shape.
Hearing Link (and sons) play in Rochester, NY on tour in Rochester, NY on July 9, 2002. LOUD LOUD. Watching him cranked up prowling the room at the edge of the stage just out of the lights was like watching the coolest grandfather in the world play tyhe history of the world in one hour. Only ever met one other man quite so cool and that was Stephane Grapelli back in 1977.
There shouled not even be a discussion happening over whether he belongs in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Better do it soon or risk being a laughing stock and irrelevant.
I am 58 years old. Rumble is one of the first songs I teach my young ‘rock’ guitar students.
December 11, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Just as Muddy Waters opened up a new style of the blues, and B.B. King brought it to a new audience and market, Link Wray paved the way for a style of music unfamiliar to all – but, unlike Muddy and B.B., he never got his just due, either financially or esteem.
We can’t undo the financial shortcomings (means he was never a big commercial success), but creds can still be given by electing Link to a place that, in my opinion, should first and foremost include Link Wray as one of the pioneers of rock music.
December 17, 2008 at 4:55 pm
It is obscene Link isn’t in the HOF.
Without him the Rock ‘n’ Roll HOF is no more than a Hard Rock Cafe minus the burgers.
December 22, 2008 at 5:43 pm
To whom it may concern,
I have been a Clevelander my whole life and I KNOW “Rock~n~Roll. I have spent many a day and night here at the Hall of Fame and one thing I know for sure…..
LINK WRAY AND HIS LEGACY OF MUSIC BELONG IN THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME!
If you take a compilation of 5 of his songs [any 5] I’ll bet you can distinguish at least 25 musicians who have carried on his guitar licks and rhythms.
From “Rumble” to “El Toro” to “Jack the Ripper” Wray was a consumate showman and artist who would not bend to the music companies. This is why he was so spectacular. I listen to him often and reminisce as well as pick up new sounds I haven’t heard before. It’s like I said Timeless and Rich with Soul, Link Wray needs to be recognized as a candidate for the Rock Hall and I for one will express this point until he is.
G. Collins
January 4, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Link is the true Father of Rock and Roll! The power chord king!
Rev http://www.urbansurfkings.com
January 14, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I hope that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is paying attention to the fans.
Beth Wray Webb – Link’s daughter!
January 15, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Sounds to me like time has come to do the right thing and honor this amazing musician!
January 17, 2009 at 7:14 pm
I think my dad has done something no other band or musician will ever do. Start a rumble in the rock world
Its long over doooo!!!!
Link Wray’s son! Thanks Shayne
January 18, 2009 at 12:16 am
I believe he is a great rockn roller and deserves to be accepted in the hall of fame.His music was awesome.
January 25, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Link was, is, and always will be the sound and feeling of REAL rock ‘n’ roll. If you don’t get it, do yourself a favor and THINK LINK!
Mike Murray D.J. Whole lotta shakin’ WITR FM Rochester, Ny
http://www.wholelottashakin.net
January 26, 2009 at 8:51 am
Link needs to be honored, no Hall of Fame is complete without this man’s guitar sound!!!!!
February 22, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Induct Link. Original and genius. That is all.
March 15, 2009 at 9:34 am
to put it mildly.
the rock n roll hall of fame, it’s all a bunch of guys huddling together to honor pop stars and stroke each others egos – just the fact that Link WRay is still not on their goodie list tells you they don’t know crap, they don’t honor guys like Frank Zappa straight up and no one wants to announce him neither, I bet Captain Beefheart’s not even in there? The 4 pop fags from England who only know 3 chords they treat like gods and The Sex Pistols only get a mention when it becomes trendy to be into Punk Rock.
edited due to inflammatory expletives.
March 23, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Link Wray would make my day!
Not to admit him is to admit that R&R
never happened!! ‘nuf said.
April 10, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I was in the music business for over 50 years as performer, retail salesman in music stores, manager of retail music stores and independent sales representative for a number of musical equipment manufacturers and suppliers.
My chosen career path started with “RUMBLE” and a great Rock ‘n’ Roll show at The Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, WI in the late 1950′s which featured Link Wray and Duane Eddy.
Does Link deserve to be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame?
Of course he does, he started Rock ‘n’ Roll. Just ask any old guitar player who their influences were – Link Wray – Chuck Berry – Duane Eddy – Buddy Holly – The Ventures.
April 21, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I think The Rock and Roll Hall of shame has for gotten what it’s for.
There are many people and groups that are standing in the shadows that should be stage front. It took the Dave Clark Five and The Ventures years to be inducted and if it weren’t for groups like them music would be so different.
April 22, 2009 at 7:32 am
Link Wray recreated the electric guitar with a swagger that wouldn’t be imagined by any other guitarist until Jimi Hendrix came along. That he could still mesmerize with his dangerous persona into his 70s gives artists like Keith Richards and Steven Tyler a height they can only hope to eventually attain. His larger than life attitude is in the tradition of American greats and lends rock and roll the kind of legendary Americana status only attained by greats like Son House, Robert Johnson and Woody Guthrie.
http://www.blueswax.com/
April 23, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Without Link Wray it’s simply a joke to call it the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Think about it!
May 22, 2009 at 11:35 am
This should be an obvious choice for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
Since our formation over 10 years ago, almost every guitarist from the Native American Music Community has credited the great Link Wray as their inspiration. His influence goes well beyond our community to a global one. He deserves his proper reverence and respect from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame organization as well.
Ellen Bello
Founder of Native American Music Awards
http://www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com
June 20, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Link is Father of PC!
August 18, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I saw Link back in 2002 when I was 23. What a truly wonderful impact he made in music. He will and shall never be forgotten. What an amazing talent. I feel fortunate to have been able to see him in concert. He really deserves to be inducted.
August 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm
It would be a Travesty not to induct Mr Link Wray into your Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame, He was An Original!
September 15, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Link is long overdue to be included in the R&R Hall of Fame. Get him in!
http://www.bluewaverecords.com/index2.html
September 22, 2009 at 2:57 am
“The Missing Link”… great one, because Link Wray is most certainly missing from the RNRHOF. Given that most, if not all of the great guitarists in the RNRHOF can attribute influence to Link. Most notable is that in 2008, the Ventures got inducted. Each of their guitar players cite or have cited Link as an influence.
Unfortunately, Link passed away in 2005. Today (Sept. 2009) he would be 80. And as sad as it is to that Link wouldn’t be around to see it, 2010 should be the year Link is posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RNRHOF).
Let’s hope they make it happen!
September 29, 2009 at 2:10 am
Il reste un modèle d’humilité, cependant, quelle énergie aurait pu avoir le rock d’aujourd’hui s’il n’était pas entré dans son histoire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gill_Dougherty
October 11, 2009 at 10:08 am
If and when the announcement of the Link Wray celebration is going to be held here at a Md . location I would like to contribute a tribute to Link by playing some of his songs Let’s DO This !
October 25, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Think Link !! Rob /Robert Johnson & Punchdrunks & The BottleUps
http://www.myspace.com/robertjohnsonandpunchdrunks
December 31, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Get Him into the Hall …He deserves it. I play guitar because of the Link era.
January 8, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Are they nuts? Good players are a dime a dozen…Without Link Wray rock and roll as we know it would not be possible!
January 30, 2010 at 12:48 am
In my High Store days in the early to mid 1970′s when every body was listening to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. I said,To myself this is not Rock n Roll.
It wasn’t until I pickup a 45 rpm copy of Link Wray’s “Ace of Spades” on one side and “Hidden Charms” on the Swan label s-4261-s.
“Ace of Spades” was 2:16 minutes of pure rock spirit that Link Wray could master.
No other rock could master Link’s Power chords and Fuzz Tones which would later be copied by Jimi Hendrix.
Why Link Wray is not in the Hall of Fame could be anybodies idea.
February 7, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I can only back-up what everyone else has to say. Link Wray’s spirit is the essential Godfather that embodies modern Rock. Who else? Nobody previous even comes close. Those that buck the commercial systems get the cold shoulder, then they get locked out, then commercially-damaged as much as possible to keep them out. And musically speaking, Link was his own man and true to his own style and innovations; he wasn’t the type to kiss-ass to get ahead. So, I 2nd everybody that says he is too good for the HOF. If you don’t play THEIR game, in THEIR sandbox, don’t expect THEIR awards. I think it is high-time to start work on building a new reality, and let the NWO/banker/corporate-statist reality die it’s (over)due death. We can make a better society ourselves, a grassroots R+R Hall Of Fame, and Link can get inducted 1st. I am reminded of the Six Million Dollar Man intro:
“The NWO/banker/corporate-statist reality; a reality barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first non-commerical, free & independent society. The Constitution for the USA will be our direction. We can do it better than they did before. Better, stronger, faster.”
I vote for creating a better HOF. People can choose which they support. The commerical HOF, or the non-commercial HOF. There’s no law that says there must only be one …
February 12, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Link Wray is the best guitar player I have ever heard on records. I saw him onstage twice: 1999 & 2000.
http://daddyodilly.blogspot.com
February 14, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I can’t believe he’s not already in the RnR Hall of Fame. This is one of the most outstanding omissions yet to the Rock N Roll HOF.
March 12, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Link Wray belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Rock N Roll. It’s a disgrace that Wenner and the rest did not induct Link the first year the the r&r hof began, and a crime that 25 years later they have still not.
Mt. Rushmore of rock, I like the concept!
April 28, 2010 at 10:25 pm
There should be no reason to have an online petition to induct Link Wray into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because those bastardos should have inducted him without us fans reminding them.
May 1, 2010 at 7:37 pm
[...] Sign the Induct Link Wray online petition! [...]
May 19, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Link should be in the hof not some of those people we have never heard of.
May 22, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Please induct Link Wray into the R and Roll hall of fame.
June 2, 2010 at 10:26 am
Are they kidding, he should have been in the first round of inductees! Shame on the Hall of Fame!
July 3, 2010 at 10:53 pm
link wray is rock n roll
July 8, 2010 at 11:23 am
why is there even a need for a petition???
no brainer….he should have been one of the first to be “honored” and frankly i’m surprised to find out he’s been overlooked. SHAMEFUL!