Dick Dale, Surf Rock Guitar Pioneer, Dead at 81
Dick Dale, the surf-rock guitar innovator whose slinky playing in '60s beach classics such as "Miserlou" and "Let's Go Trippin'" inspired a generation of sun-seeking guitarists, has died at the age of 81, The Guardian reports.
The musician's death comes 25 years after Pulp Fiction inspired a cultural reappraisal of the guitarist's work after the iconic swell of "Miserlou" was featured in the opening sequence of the Quentin Tarantino-directed crime thriller.
Dale — who was born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, Massachussets, in 1937 — first found acclaim with his group, the Del-Tones. It was with this outfit he would start developing his pioneering take on guitar sounds.
Combining instrumental rock with Middle-Eastern music scales, and using a prolific amount of reverberation, the guitarist hit upon a unique combination of sounds that evoked the surf and sun of Southern California.
Dale died on Saturday evening (March 16), his live bassist, Sam Bolle, confirmed to The Guardian.
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