Dick Dale

HUGE influence on many guitarists, ones as good as Bill Frisell (listen to his Guitar In The Space Age album) and even Saint Jimi (his "We’ll never listen to Surf music again" song lyric was said facetiously). Leo Fender created his great Dual Showman amp in response to Dick’s blowing up of all the existing Fender amps!

I never saw & heard Dick live (by the time I got to SoCal, he was long-gone. I did play at the Surf Music Museum in Redondo Beach, though), but I did The Ventures (on a cruise ship that went down to Mexico, the stage shared with modern instro-band Los Straitjackets. A bucket of beers for $10 ;-) and Link Wray (on his last time through L.A.. He had to be helped up the stairs onto the stage, dressed in his signature black leather jacket and pants, his dyed black hair in a ponytail).

I don’t know about Petty, but his guitarist Mike Campbell sure is (not was. The music lives on.). It was Campbell who arranged to have Los Straitjackets (a contemporary instro-band) open for TP & THB when they played the Pacific Amphitheater in Orange County in the early-2000’s. LS bassist Pete Curry (an old friend/bandmate of mine) told me Campbell came to their dressing room before the show to see if they needed anything (cool guy), while Petty accidentally walked in, looked around, and left without saying a word (not a cool guy. For proof watch the Scorsese documentary on George Harrison. At one point in his interview, Petty says about George "He liked to surround himself with people who are good at what they do", a self-satisfied smile then appearing on his face. Yes, Tom was referring to himself.). Some people really let stardom go to their head ;-) .

Another fan of Surf music is Conan O’Brien. He had The Straitjackets on his old show about once a year, and would jam with them (Conan plays guitar) for about an hour on the afternoons of their appearances.