1987 Surf Rock Song Ranked the Best Classic Rock Instrumental of All Time

Although there are too many great rock instrumentals to count, Colliderrecently ranked the "10 Most Perfect Classic Rock Instrumentals of All Time." The song that came in at number one on the list was "Pipeline" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Dick Dale. Versions of this song have appeared in countless movies and television shows over the years, from The Simpsonsto Gilmore Girls to The Wanderers.

"Pipeline" was a surf rock instrumental recorded by The Chantays in 1962. It was originally called "Liberty's Whip" after the 1962 Western film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. However, the band renamed it after watching another movie showing surfers riding the waves in Hawaii. The song rose all the way to No. 4 on the Billboard charts, becoming a major hit.

Over the years, many different artists covered "Pipeline," including Vaughan and Dale. The 1987 version created by these two guitar legends went on to be nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

Bob Spickard, from The Chantays, spoke about the success of the song (and its covers) in an interview reported on by Vintage Guitar. "Fortunately for us, ‘Pipeline' is considered a classic, especially of that era," he said. "Covers kind of kept us going all those years. It seemed like the Ventures used it on almost every album they released in Japan. We did three weeks there, from one end of the country to the other, including Budokan. We drew 20,000 people at one concert. They treated us like we were the Beatles."

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"Pipeline" is still popular to this day. One fan said, "This is one of the best pieces of music ever created in the entire history of humanity." Another said, "Best version of this tune ever. Sadly both of these great guitarists are gone."

Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in 1990 when he was only 35. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dale died in 2019 at the age of 81 after years of battling diabetes, kidney disease, and cancer.

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 9:55 AM.