Who is Dick Dale?
Dick Dale (born Richard Anthony Monsour) was one of the most influential guitarists of all time.
He pioneered the Surf Rock/Guitar genre that formed in the 1960s, his most famous work being the song Misirlou, which was released in 1962.
He was a left-handed guitarist, but instead of taking the time to restring his guitar, he simply flipped it upside down (what a madlad)
To quote Mr. Dale: "There was a tremendous amount of power I felt while surfing and that feeling of power was simply transferred into my guitar"
When it comes to my personal connection towards the King of the Surf Guitar, I put him in at least my top 5 guitarists of all time. Since I was little, I would listen to surf rock, and I really started getting into it in around 2021. I've tried to learn Miserlou, and doing so has given me a lot more respect towards him. But to be fair, I am a right-handed, bass-player-turned-guitarist. Listening to his tunes opened me up to an amazing world of music. The many artists that flowed and ebbed away throughout the 1960s inspire me in some sort of odd way. A good portion of these groups were together for less than 5-10 years, they put out an album or two, and were never heard from again. Maybe these musicians went on to form other bands, maybe they went back to their normal lives, who knows. But decades later, there is still at least one person (me) listening and enjoying their tunes, their songs, their b-sides and singles and the occasional grainy live footage. They may not have any idea that someone still cares, that someone is still involved and intrigued by their fast drums and tremolo guitars. Somebody out there still appreciates you. You are not forgotten. Whenever the sun decides to emerge and shine down on the PNW, I'll be found inside a record store, trying to keep cool, flipping through all the bins looking for anything that entices me. Whether it be something from The Ventures or Thom Starr & the Galaxies, I'll take it!
Regardless, I really hope that this part of my site will either
A) Introduce someone to Dick Dale
B)Help me find fellow Surf Music fans
or C) Somehow immortalize the King of the Surf Guitar on the World Wide Web!
Thanks for reading my little rant, rock and roll, my fellow gremmies!