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If Duane
Eddy's instrumental hits from the late '50s can sound unduly basic and
repetitive (especially when taken all at once), he was vastly influential.
Perhaps the most successful instrumental rocker of his time, he may
have also been the man most responsible (along with Chuck Berry) for
popularizing the electric rock guitar. His distinctively low, twangy
riffs could be heard on no less than 15 Top 40 hits between 1958 and
1963. He was also one of the first rock stars to successfully crack
the LP market.
That low, twangy sound was devised in collaboration with producer Lee
Hazlewood, an Arizona disc jockey whom Eddy had met while hanging out
at a radio station as a teenager. By the late '50s, Hazlewood had branched
out into production. Before Duane began recording, his principal influence
had been Chet Atkins, but at Hazlewood's suggestion, he started concentrating
on guitar lines at the lower end of the strings. His opening riff of
his debut single, "Movin' and Groovin'," would be lifted for the Beach
Boys five years later to open "Surfin' U.S.A." It was the next 45, "Rebel
Rouser," that would really break up him as a national star, reaching
the Top Ten in 1958. Opening with a down-and-dirty, heavily echoed guitar
riff, it remains the tune with which he's most often identified.
Eddy's phenomenally successful run of hits over the next few years was
to some extent a variation on the "Rebel Rouser" theme. With cowboy
whoops from the backup band helping drive things along, they weren't
nearly as innovative as work of Link Wray during the same era, but they
were much more popular. The singles — "Peter Gunn," "Cannonball," "Shazam,"
and "Forty Miles of Bad Road" were probably the best — also did their
part to help keep the raunchy spirit of rock & roll alive, during a
time in which it was in danger of being watered down. Much of that raunch
was not solely due to Eddy himself, but to the honking sax solos of
Steve Douglas, who would go on to become one of the top session players
in the industry. Duane would have his biggest hit, however, in 1960,
when he sweetened the twang with strings for the movie theme "Because
They're Young."
Eddy's records were also huge influences on legions of budding guitar
players. In England, the Shadows no doubt took Eddy as one of their
chief inspirations for their spare, moody sound, as one listen to their
most famous hit, "Apache," makes obvious. More subtly, his influence
can also be heard in the work of George Harrison. For evidence, listen
to the growling riffs that decorate the verse of "I Want to Hold Your
Hand."
Eddy started to lose momentum in the early '60s, and left the Jamie
label in 1962 for the much bigger RCA. "(Dance With The) Guitar Man,"
which featured an atypical chorus of female vocals, would be his last
Top 20 hit that same year. His albums — often based on loose themes,
like A Million Dollars Worth of Twang, Twisting With Duane Eddy, and
Surfing With Duane Eddy — kept him afloat to some degree. But his style
doggedly refused evolution, although scattered cuts indicate he was
capable of abandoning the twang for more bluesy or straight-out rock
sounds. The British Invasion wiped Duane out commercially, although
he recorded intermittently over the next couple of decades. In 1986,
he enjoyed a brief comeback when the Art of Noise built their "Peter
Gunn" hit around his guest contributions; Paul McCartney, George Harrison,
Ry Cooder, and Jeff Lynne all helped produce a 1987 album. It's that
run of late-'50s and early-'60s hits, though, for which he'll principally
be remembered.
This
bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
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