Sons and Daughters of No New York: The Raybeats

THE TRADITION of white instrumental rock in America is not a particularly strong one. Indeed, most of the young 'uns I know consider the white instrumental form to be little more than a novelty sound — a tag they would not apply to vocal-less jazz or R&B. It's Interesting to consider where the white stuff went astray. W/Link Wray and Duane Eddy as their precursors, the Ventures (and various Ventures-styled bands) enjoyed a goodly number of chart hits in the early '60s. But the period didn't last long, and after the Ventures' string of successes (and one-offs by bands like the Marketts and T-Bones), what were we left with but 'Hocus Pocus' and 'Love Is Blue'? "Beautiful music" it may have been, but rock and roll it was not. It would appear that the early-'60s bands were too closely aligned (at least in the ears of their beholders) w/the semi-novelty boom that was surf music.