Many controversial songs have an obvious reason for being shunned or banned, from NWA's profanity-filled "F*ck Tha Police" to The Prodigy's "Smack My B*tch Up;" but in the case of "Rumble," the only instrumental banned from radio, the reason for its censorship does not hold up today. When it was released in 1958, the world was a different place, and despite the fact it had no lyrics, many radio stations believed the song would cause rebellion and fights among teenagers, thus getting "Rumble" banned from radio. Creator Link Wray was a fan of jazz and the blues and wanted to create his own style of music, but in doing so, he unintentionally ended up changing rock forever and inventing the most powerful, loud, and gritty sounds heard at that time.
As Americans tried to rebuild the country as a safe, family-friendly place after WWII, young people wanted independence and recognition. The rise of juvenile delinquency and the impact of Broadway's West Side Story and movies like Blackboard Jungle also led many older residents to believe the younger generation was destroying social normalcy. Although there has never been another banned instrumental song, "Rumble" fell into this gap between teenage attitudes and what older generations found appropriate. This led to the "Rumble" song being banned from radio as well as a revolution in pop culture, as the song inspired not only artists who would come after Wray in the 1960s, '70s, and even today, but also laid the groundwork for punk and heavy metal.
How did the "Rumble" banned song come to create such controversy despite being a huge milestone for music and a tune still used in commercials and movie soundtracks? Blame the clash between 1950s culture and one musician who wanted to make music his own way.
The Song 'Sounded Like The Invitation To A Knife Fight…'Â
Many people in the late 1950s enjoyed live dance shows, AKA "hops," like American Bandstand and Milt Grant's House Party, a popular show in Virginia. In January 1958, Wray and his band, the Wraymen (later Ray Men), performed for House Party, and host Grant asked them to play a type of slow rock melody and line dance known as a stroll. "I just made up something on the spot, because I didn't know any stroll tune," Wray remembered.
As the drummer picked up a beat, Wray joined in with three chords. The band kept the song instrumental, which wasn't unheard of at the time, but the tune became completely original when Wray's brother Ray stuck the microphone into the guitar amplifier to create a gritty, much louder sound.
Wray recalled:
The speakers are rattling because they can't take that heavy playin', they're small, and I'm playin' really hard, see? So they're rattlin' all over the place and these kids started swarming, rushin' to the stage... My brother Doug got off the drums and started laughin' his a** off. He said, 'Y'know, you've been playin' here all f*ckin' night and these kids haven't been payin' a bit of attention, and now yer playin' this thing and they're going completely apesh*t.' We played it about four or five times. So Milt smelled a dollar and tells Ray, 'We gotta find a studio.'
Knowing how greatly the song affected the late 1950's music scene, Guitar Player editor Michael Molenda envied those in the audience that night who were able "to hear that big, distorted, evil ferocious chord for the first time," but they weren't the only ones captivated by Wray's new sound. "Its ragged, ominous chords, overdriven and dragged to a crawl, sounded like an invitation to a knife fight," a Rolling Stone writer would later claim. "Sure, 'Rumble' might seem... simple to play, but attempt to replicate the precise feel of it and you lose," noted Cub Koda.
Wray Punched Holes In The Speakers With A Pencil To Recreate The Rawer 'Live' Sound
Knowing they had a potential hit on their hands, Wray and his band found a studio to record "Rumble." According to Wray, they ended up in a room that "wasn't even a recording studio - they recorded politicians' speeches. A one-track Grundig tape recorder. Fifty-seven dollars, that's all it cost to record it." When the band began playing, however, Wray realized the sound wasn't right. "When I tried to remember the sound that made those kids scream, I missed the distortion right away," Wray recalled. "The sound was too clean - at the gig the amps were jumping up and down, burning up with sound."
Much to the dismay of his fellow bandmates with whom he shared the equipment, Wray tore the cover off the amplifier in an attempt to create a grittier sound. "I started experimenting, and I punched holes in the speakers with a pencil, trying to re-create that dirty, fuzzy sound I was getting onstage," Wray said. "And on the third take, there it was, just like magic."
After the song was released on March 31, 1958, Wray's sound invention came to be known as "fuzz tone" and was adopted by many artists, including Jimi Hendrix, who prominently displayed the sound in "Foxy Lady," and the Rolling Stones, who used fuzz on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Fuzz tone changed the music world so greatly, modern guitarists can create a similar sound using devices specifically made to duplicate the effect.
The Track Was Banned On The Radio In A Number Of Cities For Fears It Would Incite Riots
According to historian Dan Del Fiorentino, Wray's guitar "added more of a zing, more of a delinquency, if you will, to rock 'n' roll." Having recently survived WWII and looking for comfort and consistency in traditional values, Wray's sound upset many people. In a world of adults disproving of teenagers and their desire to be individuals, possibly after indulging in what was considered juvenile delinquency, Wray's music didn't fit in.
"Fifties rock was pretty clean, and you've got this guy - he's got a leather jacket, he looks scary - and all of a sudden he plays this loud chord that practically tears your eyebrows off your face," Guitar Player editor Michael Molenda recalled. "It was extremely aggressive, and it kind of paved the way for the next level of rock 'n' roll."
Because of the extreme backlash to both teen culture and "Rumble," disc jockeys at several radio stations across the US didn't want anything to do with the song. Despite having no lyrics, some believed the raw power of the song would cause young people to riot and become juvenile delinquents who rebelled against social norms. DJs in New York City and Boston refused to play "Rumble" on their stations, making the song the only instrumental ever banned in the US. Others decided playing the song was acceptable but had problems with the threatening-sounding title. Even Dick Clark allowed Wray to play the song on American Bandstand but refused to introduce the tune by using its name the first time Wray appeared on the show.
'Rumble' Became A Flashpoint In The Ongoing Late-'50s Movement To Scrub Rock 'N' Roll From The Airwaves
With more teenagers around than ever before, many adults in the 1950s became wary of the values and actions of America's young people. Although offensive behavior carried out by juvenile delinquents did increase during this time, many fears about what teenagers were capable of had no basis in reality. In order to combat their anxiety, older generations blamed music, movies, and comic books for teens' transgressions. A 1960 public opinion poll claimed only world peace and national defense were more important than dealing with juvenile delinquents.
Partly due to Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" being used in the 1955 movie Blackboard Jungle, a film about dangerously rowdy high schoolers, rock music became associated with volatile action. Theaters in some states banned the film completely, while others continued to screen the movie but turned off the sound when the song played. By the time "Rumble" came out in 1958, many Americans believed it was the perfect example of the loud, objectionable sounds that defined rock music and used it as a focus for the efforts against the genre.
Columbia Records refused to record or promote artists who played rock they didn't like. Other artists, like bandleader Mitch Miller, spoke out against the effect they believed rock had on music and its audience. The Mutual Broadcasting System also refused to have anything to do with rock in 1958 and included "Rumble" in their admonishment of the genre.
Wray’s Ultra-Loud Style Developed Out Of His Own Partial Deafness
As a child, Wray contracted measles and it caused him to suffer from hearing problems for the rest of his life. While serving in the army in the early 1950s, he contracted tuberculosis, which led doctors to remove one of his lungs to save his life.
Now partially deaf and having only one lung, doctors recommended Wray spend the rest of his life taking it easy. "And I said, 'Well there's a mightier power than you that's gonna tell me I can't go out and play my music,'" Wray remembered. "Ever since I went on the operating table, it's like this Link Wray character that was in the service [perished] and another Link Wray was reborn. Because things started happening to me. God appears in front of me in the hospital. God zaps this here "Rumble" in my head and this character called Link Wray is born."
Wray found a way to work his physical ailments into his music style. "I knew I couldn't sing, because I had a lung out," he said about his decision to play instrumental music. Wray also discovered his problems with deafness had a hand in his musical evolution, forcing him to develop a loud sound that he could hear.
"I found out with "Rumble," volume meant everything to me," Wray recalled. "Scotty Moore playin' behind Elvis was very quiet 'cause they didn't mike his amplifier - it was Elvis's voice. My music was very loud from the start, when Ray stuck the microphone into my amplifier. So right from day one, my music was supposed to be loud. It wasn't supposed to be quiet like Elvis."
A Producer’s Stepdaughter Allegedly Came Up With The Title 'Rumble' Because Its Rough Sound Reminded Her Of 'West Side Story'
Before Wray titled his creation "Rumble," he called it "Oddball." The less threatening name didn't help the song's success, however, and several major labels turned it down, apparently turned off by its raw sound. Eventually, Wray's demo made its way to Cadence Records and into the hands of Archie Bleyer. Although Bleyer didn't like it, he gave the record to his daughter, Jackie, to play during a party. According to legend, the teens in attendance all loved the song and after some pestering, Jackie convinced her father to release it.
Stories also claim the song's name change to "Rumble" came as a result of Jackie's imagination. The song reportedly reminded her of a tune that might play during a street fight, likely thanks to West Side Story, which was a popular Broadway musical at the time. The stage production featured a knife fight scene set to music called "The Rumble," and Jackie allegedly thought the term was fitting of the song. "Rumble, schmumble, who cares, as long as it's a hit?" Bleyer reportedly said. Other stories, however, claim the title came from the minds of the Everly Brothers.
