Dick Dale

“Surf music is played through a Showman amp with a Stratocaster guitar.”

“I called it Rockabilly 'cause I was rocking the strums, which you're not supposed to do.”

“Earthlings are confused, insecure. And some Earthlings have no heritage: that's what leads them to kill each other and rob 7-11 stores.”

“Jimi was a good guy 'til he got into drugs. That's the way it is. I just tell it like it is.”

“I was reading a magazine when I was a little kid, probably about twelve years old, and an ad said that if you sell so many jars of Noxzema skin cream, we'll sell you a ukulele. So I went out and banged on doors in the snow in Quincy, Massachusetts, where I was raised, and I sold the skin cream.”

“What we perceive things to be when they come out of our mouth is not what the listener perceives it to be. They think it differently. They're not your blood. They're not your mind. You get in an argument.”

“What I play now isn't surf music. It's too powerful. I used to go through paper bags; now I go through brick walls. I play hard.”

“My mind never left 20, because once it does, that's when you start to die.”

“Nothing could capture the sound of Dick Dale - he was too loud.”

“They're putting cement dust into cattle feed to make the cows heavier; the FDA knows all about it.”

“I met Leo Fender, who is the guru of all amplifiers, and he gave me a Stratocaster. He became a second father to me.”

“Drums were my first instrument.”

“I don't like to use the word 'fans;' I call them 'Dick Dale music lovers.'”

“I'm dedicated to touring the rest of my life.”

“My aunt played the piano and I used to sit and listen to it.”

“I surfed Dana Point, San Clemente, and of course Huntington Beach. Every morning, you could find me at the hot water pipe.”

“The Musicians Hall of Fame is chosen by thousands of your peers. So it's the real thing.”

“I always wanted a guitar. I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I also listened to Hank Williams, and he would always sing these neat romantic songs.”

“If I ever wrote a book, people would never believe it.”

“Every time I went into the studio some engineer tried to impress me with how they're going to capture my sound with all kinds of tricks. But they limited the sound and never allowed me to play how I felt.”