It seems unlikely that you could draw a straight line between the roaring, shredded power chords wrenched out of the ’53 Les Paul wielded by a Korean War vet in 1958 to Steve Jones’ “punk” rock riffs with the Sex Pistols on his Les Paul nearly two decades later. But Fred Lincoln “Link” Wray, a half Shawnee Indian born dirt poor in rural North Carolina, changed rock guitar forever with his ’58 instrumental hit “Rumble.” Even the leather jackets adopted by bands like the Pistols and the Heartbreakers were a throwback to Link Wray, the other Man in Black, as were the riffs and power chords he pummeled into existence with the Wraymen, which included his brothers Vernon and Doug. The unrepentant father of distortion and the power chord was born to semiliterate street preachers and started playing guitar at age eight, when a black circus performer named Hambone showed him a few chords and how to play slide guitar.

How a One-Lunged Shawnee Indian Invented Punk: Link Wray, “Rumble” and the Meanest D Chord Ever

cool.