Released in the United States on March 31, 1958, as a single (with "The Swag" as a B-side), "Rumble" utilized the techniques of distortion and tremolo, then largely unexplored in rock and roll.

At a live gig in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in early 1958, while attempting to work up a backing for The Diamonds' "The Stroll", Link Wray & His Ray Men came up with the instrumental "Rumble", which they originally called "Oddball".

[18] It has been used in movies, documentaries, television shows and elsewhere, including Top Gear, The Warriors (in the deleted opening scene), Pulp Fiction, Screaming Yellow Theater with host Svengoolie, Independence Day, SpongeBob SquarePants vs.

Intercut in this footage is part of a conversation among the three guitarists where Page discusses listening to, "anything with a guitar on, when I was a kid [...] but the first time I heard "The Rumble" [sic], that was something that had so much profound attitude to it".

[21] Interviewing on television with Stephen Colbert on April 29, 2013, Iggy Pop commented that he "left school emotionally" at the moment he first heard "Rumble" at the student union, which led him to pursue music as a career.