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It鈥檚 a guitar riff that鈥檚 only 30 seconds long and simple enough that Link Wray came up with it while playing at a sock hop. He repeated the riff several times when he recorded the 1958 single 鈥淩umble.鈥� That two minutes and 25 seconds of guitar nastiness inspired countless guitarists who followed and helped shift rock away from sock-hop chastity toward an edginess of danger. One of the many parts of the history of 鈥淩umble鈥� forgotten is that the song was banned from the airwaves for a time because it was feared this instrumental鈥攚ith no words!鈥攎ight incite youth violence. Steven Van Zandt, of the E Street Band, called 鈥淩umble鈥� 鈥渢he theme song of juvenile delinquency.鈥� 鈥淩umble鈥� contains one of the killer riffs in all of rock 鈥檔鈥� roll and essentially marks the invention of the power chord, but one of the secrets of the song鈥檚 history is that Link Wray was Native American. His ethnicity, like that of many Natives who made contributions to music, was left out of almost all his press. The documentary Rumble: The Indians That Rocked the World, which airs on PBS starting January 21, addresses the larger contribution Natives made to music. It鈥檚 an important story with many layers that involves both the human and cultural genocide that came with European conquest. The film showcases a lot of musical talent, though the legendary Wray is arguably only the fourth greatest Native guitar player鈥攁fter Jesse Ed Davis (who played with Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, and John Lennon), Robbie Robertson, and Jimi Hendrix.

I鈥檓 a biographer of Hendrix, and he was proud of his Native background. Wray鈥檚 鈥淩umble鈥� was one of the first songs Hendrix learned to play. He almost certainly had no idea of Wray鈥檚 background, just as most casual fans didn鈥檛 know about Hendrix鈥檚 genealogy, which included Native roots on both sides of his family tree as well as his African American ancestry (and many Hendrix fans didn鈥檛 know that his song 鈥淐herokee Mist鈥� was in part a homage to his grandmother). Wray鈥檚 history also surprised Robbie Robertson. 鈥溾�楻umble鈥� made an indelible mark on the whole evolution of where rock 鈥檔鈥� roll was going to go,鈥� Robertson observes in the film. 鈥淎nd then I found out [Wray] was an Indian!鈥� It could be argued that Robertson, a Mohawk, is one of the most important rock musicians of all time. Backing Bob Dylan with the Band when Dylan went electric, Robertson played an essential role in shifting popular music from folk to rock, but even his ethnic background was almost never talked about in the press.

Cultural appropriation is the central theme of Rumble, which pairs short bios of a dozen Native musicians with commentators who explain why so much of this story has never been told. 鈥淥ur peoples were part of the origin story of blues, jazz, and rock of American music, but we鈥檙e left out of the story consistently from the beginning,鈥� says Native musician Joy Harjo. Within colonialism, and within the slave trade, music was seen as a threat, which is why plantation owners banned slaves from owning drums, a prohibition that often was also applied to Natives, as well. Rumble does an excellent job of explaining how the histories of African slaves and Natives were intertwined, as slave traders bred male slaves with female Natives from tribes they conquered. This is one of the most horrific chapters in the history of the United States (and part of the reason Hendrix had Native blood, as do many African Americans).

Music has always been central to Indigenous culture in North America, but it was often taken away by a U.S. government seeking to control. 鈥淸Music] was seen as dangerous,鈥� says historian John Troutman. 鈥淪ingers and dancers were incarcerated for performing this music.鈥� The film asserts that the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890 began with the killing of Ghost Dancers. 鈥淚t was cultural genocide,鈥� observed the now-deceased Native activist and musician John Trudell. The career of Buffy Sainte-Marie, born on the Piapot Plains Cree First Nation Reserve in Canada, shows how both Natives and women struggled to be respected as musical artists. Sainte-Marie tells how she succeeded when she started off with folk music, but as soon as her songs became overtly political, and anti-Vietnam War, she was banned from radio.

Even White male superstars like Johnny Cash found that they lost their platform when they spoke or sang about the plight of Natives. Cash鈥檚 1964 album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian was boycotted by radio. Cash responded by taking out ads in music trade papers shaming radio (lore has it he was later to honor his activism).

Rumble聽centers on an important lost part of history, a history rooted in a different, less socially aware America.

Cash鈥檚 now-iconic album came out long before the age of social media, which now quickly serves to draw attention to many incidents of overt racism. When headdresses became fashionable at music festivals in the last decade, a few festivals responded by banning them.聽Powerful deterrents have been shame hashtags and social media infamy. Musician Pharrell Williams sparked a Twitter firestorm after he wore a headdress on the cover of Elle U.K. in 2014. He defended it saying he had Native background, but that didn鈥檛 calm critics like , which argued that 鈥渉aving an American Indian ancestor or relative isn鈥檛 a license to use that relative鈥檚 culture spontaneously and without context.鈥� (Williams later apologized.)

Rumble addresses these topics and more, and despite the importance of the story, the documentary falls short in places. While most of the commentators are Native, a number are not, and the contrast is confusing as it leaves a viewer wondering whether their tribal affiliation was mistakenly left off the title card. For example, Martin Scorsese is not who you would expect to see in this documentary. His comments lack the insight that activists like Sainte-Marie bring, but clearly he was brought in simply because he directed The Last Waltz, which is hardly a qualification on the level of the ethnomusicologists included, many of whom are Native. And when it comes to Jimi Hendrix, his adopted step-sister Janie Hendrix, quoted extensively鈥攕aying things like Native background is 鈥減art of who you are, and what you want to respect and represent鈥濃�攊s not blood-related to Jimi, which the film implies. There are plenty of Native Hendrixes who could have spoken instead, and this appropriation is exactly what Rumble rails against. Nonetheless, Rumble centers on an important lost part of history, a history rooted in a different, less socially aware America. The times, we hope, have changed since Wray started, though we鈥檒l really know there has been a shift when Wray finally gets into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Rumble is ultimately about the power of music to transcend. When the Native band Redbone perform their hit 鈥淐ome and Get Your Love鈥� wearing headdresses, in a song that uses Native rhythms and puts them into a context that is appropriate and not exploitative, it鈥檚 powerful. Redbone scored a top-five hit with the song, which includes a tribal beat and a classic guitar riff. Their moment onstage, in traditional dress, feels like triumph. 鈥淐ome and Get Your Love鈥� is also, like the rest of the music honored by Rumble, just plain great rock 鈥檔鈥� roll.

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