Latest Release
- 17 MAR 2023
- 18 Songs
- Misirlou · 1962
- King of the Surf Guitar · 1963
- Tribal Thunder · 1993
- Guitar Legend: The Very Best of Dick Dale · 2010
- Surfer's Paradise, Vol. 1 · 1963
- Wanna Surf? · 1960
- Tribal Thunder · 1993
- 30 Dick Dale Masterpieces · 1963
- Wanna Surf? · 1960
- Calling Up Spirits · 1996
Essential Albums
Music Videos
Artist Playlists
- The King of Surf Guitar couldn’t be contained by the beach.
Live Albums
- 2014
- 2014
Appears On
- Bo Troy And His Hot Rods
About Dick Dale
Dick Dale, “King of the Surf Guitar”, was a technical virtuoso and trailblazing innovator. Born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1937, Dale learned to play country tunes on his ukulele and guitar as a teenager. He became a surfer when the family moved to Southern California in 1954 and, inspired by the motion of the ocean while wave-riding, he created his singular sound: the electrifying swing of 1961’s “Let’s Go Trippin’”, the first recorded surf-rock instrumental. In 1962, Surfer’s Choice featured the wild “Jungle Fever” and now-classic “Miserlou”, the latter of which propelled Dale to a midlife comeback when filmmaker Quentin Tarantino featured it in 1994’s Pulp Fiction. Dale’s lightning-fast staccato picking influenced phenoms like Eddie Van Halen; he tested the boundaries of amplification with the help of Fender; and he defined the sound of surf for generations to come. He died in 2019, after nearly six decades of music and with tour dates still scheduled.
- HOMETOWN
- Boston, MA, United States
- BORN
- 4 May 1937
- GENRE
- Rock