Our Master of Film Sam Burns sent us a few image recently. The caption Dick Dale. As a kid I remembered Dick Dale and the Deltones, so I asked if it was the same guy. Sam confirmed that it was and we researched Dick Dale with Wikipedia.
Birth name Richard Anthony Monsour
Also known as The King of the Surf Guitar
Born May 4, 1937
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died March 16, 2019 (aged 81)
Loma Linda Hospital, Loma Linda, California, U.S.
Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known as “The King of the Surf Guitar”, which was also the title of his second studio album.
Dale was one of the most influential guitarists of all time and especially of the early 1960s. Most of the leading bands in surf music, such as The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and The Trashmen, were influenced by Dale’s music, and often included recordings of Dale’s songs in their albums. His style and music influenced guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen and Brian May.
He is cited as one of the fathers of heavy metal for pushing the limits of amplification. Working together with Leo Fender, Dale also pushed the limits of electric amplification technology, helping to develop new equipment that was capable of producing thick and previously unheard volumes including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier. Dale also pioneered the use of portable reverb effects. Never in the Wikipedia reports does it mention his motorcycles.
The use of his recording of “Misirlou” by Quentin Tarantino in the film Pulp Fiction led to his return in the 1990s, marked by four albums and world tours. He was also nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for the song “Pipeline” with Stevie Ray Vaughan. In “Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”, Dale was ranked 31st in 2003 and 74th in the 2011 revision.
Dale began playing in local country western rockabilly bars where he met Texas Tiny in 1955, who gave him the name “Dick Dale” because he thought it was a good name for a country singer.
Being lefthanded, Dale would become known for his unorthodox method of playing a right-handed guitar upside-down, doing so (like Albert King) without restringing the guitar (while Hendrix, by comparison, would restring his guitar). Even after he acquired a proper left-handed guitar, Dale continued to use his reverse stringing. He often played by reaching over the fretboard, rather than wrapping his fingers up from underneath.
He partnered with Leo Fender to test new equipment, later saying “When it can withstand the barrage of punishment from Dick Dale, then it is fit for the human consumption.” His combination of loud amplifiers and heavy gauge strings led him to be called the “Father of Heavy Metal”.
After Dale blew up several Fender amplifiers, Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares saw Dale play at the Rendezvous Ballroom, Balboa, California and identified the problem arose from him creating a sound louder than the audience screaming. The pair visited the James B. Lansing loudspeaker company and asked for a custom 15-inch loudspeaker, which became the JBL D130F model, and was known as the Single Showman Amp.
Dale’s combination of a Fender Stratocaster with a Fender Showman Amp allowed him to attain significantly louder volume levels unobtainable by then-conventional equipment. Furthering the development, the Showman Amp later added a second 15-inch JBL D-130 speaker, and it was named the Dual Showman Amp.
He obviously customized his music and his motorcycles.
Dale’s performances at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa in mid to late 1961 are credited with the creation of the surf music phenomenon. Dale obtained permission to use the 3,000 person capacity ballroom for surfer dances.
The Rendezvous ownership and the city of Newport Beach agreed to Dale’s request on the condition that he prohibit alcohol sales and implement a dress code. Dale’s events at the ballrooms, called “stomps,” quickly became legendary, and the events routinely sold out.
“Let’s Go Trippin'” is one of the first surf rock songs. This was followed by more locally released songs, including “Jungle Fever” and “Surf Beat” on his own Deltone label. His first full-length album was Surfers’ Choice in 1962. The album was picked up by Capitol Records and distributed nationally, and Dale soon began appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, and in films where he played his signature single “Miserlou”.
He later stated, “I still remember the first night we played it (“Misirlou”). I changed the tempo, and just started cranking on that mother. And … it was eerie. The people came rising up off the floor, and they were chanting and stomping. I guess that was the beginning of the surfer’s stomp.” His second album was named after his performing nickname, “King of the Surf Guitar”.
Dale later said “There was a tremendous amount of power I felt while surfing and that feeling of power was simply transferred into my guitar.”
Dale and the Del-Tones performed both sides of his Capitol single, “Secret Surfin’ Spot” in the 1963 movie Beach Party, starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. The group performed the songs “My First Love,” “Runnin’ Wild” and “Muscle Beach” in the 1964 film, Muscle Beach Party.
His family moved to El Segundo, California. Dale spent his senior year and graduated from Washington Senior High School. He learned to surf at the age of 17. As a Lebanese-American, he retained a strong interest in Arabic music, which later played a major role in his development of surf rock music.
Dale said that he was forced to keep touring to the end of his life, because of his inability to afford his medical costs. He had many health issues, including diabetes, kidney failure, and vertebrae damage that made performing excruciatingly painful. At the time of his death, Dale had tour dates scheduled into November 2019.
He said that, for health reasons, he never used alcohol or other drugs, and discouraged their use by band members and road crew. In 1972, he stopped eating red meat. He studied Kenpo karate for over 30 years. In early 2008, he experienced a recurrence of colorectal cancer and completed a surgical, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment regimen.
Even with bad health, he cherished custom bikes, as we do.
