Dale was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame And Museum in Nashville in 2009
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty
Vintage Rockwas deeply saddened by the news that surf-rock pioneer Dick Dale had passed away on 16 March, aged 81.Rock’n’roll fans were immediately won over by the utterly unique surf guitar sounds swelling up from Dale’s Fender Stratocaster, delivered via majestic early 60s 45s Let’s Go Trippin’– considered one of the first examples of surf-rock – and his lurching take on Mediterranean folk song Miserlou, his now-ubiquitous version of which found popularity after a studio-shaking airing on The Ed Sullivan Showin 1963. For younger folk, of course, it would likely have been Quentin Tarantino’s use of the song as the thunderous theme for his 1994 film Pulp Fictionthat awakened them to Dale’s music but, either way, once those timeless riffs rattled around our brains, they never let us go.
After a brief hiatus from music in the 70s, Dale came back with a vengeance in the 80s and, despite battling cancer, continued to play live right up until his passing – in part as (cruelly) he still had to pay the medical bills for his treatment. Long live the one true King Of Surf Rock! See p38 for our full tribute.