Editing Link Wray (section)

== Musical style and influence ==

Link Wray's 1950s recordings "straddled [[country music|country]] and [[rockabilly]]".<ref name=Koda/> He later performed [[surf music|surf]] influenced [[garage rock]] in the 1960s, [[swamp rock]] and [[country rock]] in the early 1970s and [[hard rock]] in the late 1970s and onward.<ref name=Fablo>{{cite web |url=http://rocksalted.com/2016/10/link-wray-live-at-the-paradiso/ |title=Link Wray – Live at The Paradiso |last=Fablo |first=Syd |date=October 16, 2016 |publisher=Rock Salted |access-date=2022-12-10}}</ref>

Wray is credited with inventing the [[power chord]].<ref name=Koda/> According to [[AllMusic]]'s [[Cub Koda]], Wray's instrumental recordings starting with "Rumble" through his Swan singles in the early 1960s laid the blueprints for "[[heavy metal music|heavy metal]], thrash, you name it."<ref name=Koda>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/link-wray-mn0000240311 |title=Link Wray Biography |last=Koda |first=Cub |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2022-12-10}}</ref> "Rumble" facilitated the emergence of "[[Punk rock|punk]] and heavy rock", according to Jeremy Simmonds.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simmonds |first=Jeremy |year=2008 |title=The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtpkCgAAQBAJ |page=559 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=978-1-55652-754-8}}</ref>

Wray has influenced a wide range of artists. [[Jimmy Page]] described Link Wray as having a "real rebel attitude" and credited Wray in the documentary ''[[It Might Get Loud]]'' as a major influence in his early career. According to ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', [[Pete Townshend]] of [[The Who]] once said, "If it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I never would have picked up a guitar."<ref name="GreatGuitar"/> [[Mark E. Smith]] of [[The Fall (band)|The Fall]] wrote in his autobiography: "The only people I ever really looked up to were Link Wray and Iggy Pop{{nbsp}}... Guys like [Wray] are very special to me."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5K-mAAAACAAJ |title=Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith |first=Mark E. |last=Smith |author-link=Mark E. Smith |publisher=[[Penguin UK]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0141028668}}</ref> [[Iggy Pop]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Iggy Pop – The Colbert Report| date=30 April 2013| url=https://www.cc.com/video/8ewxg4/the-colbert-report-iggy-pop| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206085116/https://www.cc.com/video/8ewxg4/the-colbert-report-iggy-pop| url-status=dead| archive-date=December 6, 2021|access-date=2021-12-06|publisher=Comedy CentraL}}</ref> and [[Neil Young]]<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/_tDsDnr18PM Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20131222000715/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tDsDnr18PM&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=BBC Documentary; Don't Be Denied|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tDsDnr18PM|access-date=2009-06-10|publisher=BBC}}{{cbignore}}</ref> have also cited Wray as an influence on their work.
 
[[Bob Dylan]] refers to Wray in his song "Sign Language", which he recorded as a duet with [[Eric Clapton]] in 1975: "Link Wray was playin' on a juke box I was payin'/ for the words I was saying, so misunderstood/he didn't do me no good."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://dylanchords.info/00_misc/sign_language.htm |title=Sign Language |website=Dylanchords.info |access-date=February 4, 2020}}</ref> Both Dylan and [[Bruce Springsteen]] performed Wray's tune "Rumble" in concert as a tribute to the influential musician upon his 2005 death.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/2534 |title=Sign Language: the meaning behind the music and lyrics in Dylan's song |website=Bob-dylan.org.uk |date=14 June 2016 |access-date=February 4, 2020}}</ref>  In 2007, musician [[Steven Van Zandt]] inducted Link Wray into the Native American Music Hall of Fame with a tribute performance by his grandson Chris Webb and Native artist Gary Small.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}