Menu
> I have no idea, but here's a story along these lines:
>
> Pete Townshend (of the Who) said on occasion that if it wasn't for
> Link Wray he never would have picked up the guitar. BUT, when I
was
> talking to Bruce Welch, the rhythm guitarist for the Shadows and
one
> of the band's two primary songwriters, in 2003 (BTW, I HIGHLY
> recommend sitting down with one of your heroes and shooting shit
late
> into the night, if you ever get a chance - it's quite choice! :)
he
> told me that recently he was inducted into some sort of hall-of-
fame-
> like thing (I forget what it was exactly), and it was Pete
Townshend
> that introduced him. Pete said the following: "When I was a young
> lad, learning to play the guitar, everybody I knew that was also
> learning to play wanted to be Hank. Not me. I wanted to be him
> (points to Bruce)!" (That actually makes a lot of sense -
Townshend
> is a hell of a rhythm guitarist, and a piss-poor lead guitarist!)
> Not only were the Shads the primary inspiration for pretty much
all
> British guitarists of the early sixties, but obviously even for
the
> guys that HAD heard Link Wray.
>
> I'd say that the impact that the Shadows had on all of subsequent
> rock and roll is considerably larger than the Ventures. If you
think
> about the guys that started playing the guitar because of the
> Shadows, it reads like who's-who of sixties and seventies guitar
> scene: Brian May (Queen), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Mark
Knopfler
> (Dire Straits), Pete Townshend (The Who), Peter Frampton (who just
> recorded an instrumental album, incidentally), Ritchie Blackmore
> (whose earliest gig was playing Shadows-like instrumentals in a
band
> called the Outlaws - one of Joe Meek's bands), etc. For God's
sake,
> the tribute to the Shads called "Twang!" besides these guys also
had
> songs by Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) and Andy Summers (the
Police)! I
> know that the Ventures were very influential, but it pales to the
> Shadows. In fact, I rarely see players explicitly pointing out
the
> Ventures as the reason why they became guitarists, whereas almost
> every time you read an interview with a British guitarist they'll
> talk about the Shads.
>
> Here's a reason why the Shadows are at least as worthy, and in my
> opinion, more worthy than the Ventures to get inducted into the
R&R
> HOF, but ultimately who cares. If they care, great, I really hope
> they get in. Both of them, actually. They definitely deserve
it.
Cool story about Bruce, and I do believe that Pete Townshend would
have rather "been" Bruce than Hank. Funny thing is alot of these
older guys, through my experince with talking to my heros, forgot a
majority of what really happened.
I doubt Pete could have played anything Hank did anyway. I'm not
denying the Shadows of being in whatever "mock" hall of fame we are
all saying the Ventures and Dick deserve to be in. It's funny we
are wasting all this time arguing for these bands and then we all
agree they are almost too good for the likes of the other musicians
in the RHOF.
I'm a history major, but I'm yet to come across any charts or
statistics that say who had more of an impact on the youth of the
60's. So to say the Shadows or Ventures made a larger impact is
pointless with out any proof, and I don't have the time to research
this.
Maybe the Shadows had more of an impact in Britian, but I doubt that
for America, or even Japan. My dad is dead now but by looking
through his record collection it's fairly easy to see which band
influenced a 16-18 year old guitarsist in 1964. I'm sure his
collection is rather similar to the countless other American garage
bands of the mid 60s. I'm also willing to bet the Ventures had more
of an influence on the actual American surf bands at the time as
well. Lastly, aren't the Ventures responsible for a cultural change
in Japan during 1965?
Bill
www.myspace.com/reluctantaquanauts
