Stuff You Gotta Watch: Rumble
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World is a long overdue rewrite of the musical history books, celebrating the stories of Native Americans’ revolutionary contributions to popular culture. Catherine Bainbridge’s 2017 film digs deeper than the usual rock doc with a vast array of voices and enough archival images to fill a museum.
The film begins (naturally) with Link Wray’s “Rumble”, which became the first instrumental to be banned from radio airplay. (Authorities thought it would incite delinquency.) He wasn’t the only Indigenous artist facing blacklisting: Buffy Sainte-Marie’s music was pulled from US stations, and even Johnny Cash’s album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indians encountered resistance.

Some of the film’s most heartbreaking stories focus on the musicians that died at a young age, such as powerhouse drummer Randy Castillo and guitar hero Jesse Ed Davis. (The latter laid down the immortal solo on Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes.”) Thankfully, there are some stars who are still with us, like Redbone’s Pat Vegas, whose signature hit “Come And Get Your Love” reached a new generation with its appearance on the soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy. To hear the songs and stories that have been suppressed for too long, join in the Rumble.
Review by Jesse Locke. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.