Dick Dale obit

Dick Dale, godfather of surf guitar, dies aged 81

He was not on the list.


The guitarist Dick Dale, the pioneer of surf rock known for his 1962 hit Misirlou, has died age 81.


He died on Saturday night, Dale’s live bassist, Sam Bolle, confirmed to the Guardian.


Born Richard Anthony Monsour in May 1937, Dale developed his distinctive sound by adding to instrumental rock influences from his Middle Eastern heritage, along with a “wet” reverb sound and his rapid alternative picking style.

Dick Dale was pivotal in the development of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images


In 2011, he told the Miami New Times that the hectic drumming of Gene Krupa, along with the “screams” of wild animals and the sound and sensation of being in the ocean inspired his sound.

His fifth single, 1961’s Let’s Go Trippin’, is considered the first surf rock instrumental and has been credited with launching the early 1960s craze. The Beach Boys’ “vocal” surf pioneered the sound’s second wave.

Dale once claimed that Frank Sinatra had offered to manage him, but he turned him down because the singer wanted a 90% cut of his earnings.

At the turn of the 60s, Dale was pivotal in the development of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. “Everything that came out of Leo Fender’s head, I was his test pilot,” Dale told the Miami New Times in 2011. “He used to say: ‘When it can withstand the barrage of punishment from Dick Dale, then it is fit for the human consumption.’ So I blew up over 50 amplifiers. And that’s why they call me the Father of Heavy Metal.”

On the track Misirlou, Dale transformed the traditional Greek folk song into a sped-up, one-string performance, which became a national sensation after Dale performed it on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1962. In 1994, Quentin Tarantino used it as the opening music for Pulp Fiction.