Has there ever been an instrumental so sinister, slinky and sexy as Link Wray’s 1958 single, “Rumble?”<\/p>\n
Apparently not, because it remains the only instrumental ever to be banned from radio airplay (lest it incite iniquity and malefaction).<\/p>\n
Wray originally recorded the song under the name “Oddball.” Sources differ on who suggested the name “Rumble” (wikipedia credits Phil Everly, but I’ve read other accounts that credit Wray’s producer’s daughter), but all accounts seem to derive from the fact that the song sounds exactly like a soundtrack to a gang fight.<\/p>\n