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Chuck was not a huge influence on me personally, but his influence in the greater musical world on musicians now working in every genre of popular music is incalculable. Like many artists, he did his best work over the course of a single decade and spent the rest of his career riding it. He melded R&B and country into something fresh and exciting and I can't listen to Johnny B. Goode without feeling happy. RIP.
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03-19-2017 06:38 AM
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Each and every solo I play is partly a rip-off from Chuk Berry's legaacy. What an influence!
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I had stumbled on an interview a few days ago.Where Kieth was telling Jimmy Fallon with great pride how he was punched in the face by Chuck.K found himself back stage alone with CBs guitar, case open.K decided he would just strum one chord.Timing stunck.LOL K look like he felt honored.So i decided to look at a few vids. of CB and i wake up to this.Did someone say he was like 90.Great i got 25 more years of playing and hanging around here.God willing.
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We all knew this would come one day. Berry was the man.
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Originally Posted by wolflen
Calls to mind a line from Bob Seger's "Rock'n'Roll Never Forgets": "All of Chuck's children are out there playing his licks."
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From the London Sessions album of 1972. (Just audio). Odd that this was his biggest hit.
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My Ding-A-Ling, I think, was actually the first Chuck Berry song I've ever heard and for one step more detachetment, it was not his version, but some studio session band playing tributes, "Smash Hits '72". On the cover there was a girl in Karate kimono, one leg lifted, so little boys would wonder if those are her knickers we can see, or maybe something even better.
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"C'est la vie (say the old folks)":
Last edited by destinytot; 03-19-2017 at 12:45 PM.
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Chuck was the man !
Must watch Hail Hail Rock n Roll again ...
Might be the best documentary ever made
The section with Chuck teaching Keef is priceless
"I'm gonna learn to dance ,
If it takes me all night and day"
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Wow, shows you what I know. I thought he was already dead.
RIP
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Originally Posted by destinytot
"The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and Ginger Ale." I love that line.
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"Chuck Berry is the greatest rock lyricist this side of Bob Dylan, and sometimes I prefer him to Dylan."
Robert Christgau: Chuck Berry
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I never get tired of that part (or any of it, actually). Keith might be a rock star, but Chuck wasn't going to let him forget that the boy spent hours copping his licks, not the other way around. Not without his flaws, of course (like the rest of us), but he knew what he had created, and how his contribution had led to countless other bands that (for a bunch of reasons) would be more famous . . . but never more important. Originally Posted by pingu
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Originally Posted by destinytot
They both developed a way to make vernacular speech flow. Chuck's genius was for having a strong rhythmic flow without making the lyrics sound forced. He never sounds sing-songy. (Well, aside from "My Ding-A-Ling")
Dylan writes better about romantic love and loss and remembrance. (Love wasn't a big theme of Chuck's.) Dylan seems to know more chords (!) and has a stronger gift for melody.
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Nice discussion of how Berry "invented" RnR:
Chuck Berry didn’t just invent rock and roll. He perfected it.
Probably the most coherent view of Berry and his accomplishment:
Chuck Berry, dead at 90, invented the idea of rock and roll.
Chuck was the first great lyricist of RnR. He also had, uh, interesting flaws that would almost certainly doom him in today's environment. I mean, Roman Polanski has been crucified for less.
Not to detract from what he did or what he meant. He was a true pioneer.
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The song "Rock and Roll Music" contains the following:
I've got no kick against modern jazz
Unless they try to play it too darn fast
And lose the beauty of the melody
Until they sound just like a symphony
I always thought it was a little wrong-headed but cool and clever anyway. Anyone who can articulate the moldy fig position in the middle of a rock and roll classic has got to be a major dude.
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
I always thought that Subterranean Homesick Blues was inspired by Too Much Monkey Business.
"Runnin' to and fro hard working at the mill never fail in the mail yet come a rotten bill"
"Johnny's in the basement mixin' up the medicine I'm on the pavement thinkin' 'bout the government"
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I heard "Subterranean" first, but as soon as I heard "Monkey Business," I knew which end was up. Originally Posted by mrcee
Not one time did I ever wish to be Elvis, Jerry Lee, Muddy, Wolf, or even Johnny Cash -- but I've spent many a songwriting hour wishing I could put it all together (just once) the way Chuck Berry did.
If I had it to do all over -- from the time I first started to play -- I'd play little more than Chuck Berry and Freddie King tunes, and let the chips fall where they may.
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Originally Posted by snailspace
You can go a long way with Chuck Berry and Freddie King. And the chips are always going to fall where
they may.
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When I'm doing Americana type gigs, 90% of my solos' content is Chuck Berry vocabulary.
Last edited by cosmic gumbo; 03-20-2017 at 11:52 PM.
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I'm finding this out more and more. It's never too late to learn, but I always learn too late. Originally Posted by mrcee
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Freddie's a badass. Originally Posted by snailspace
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Ever consider this lineage ? :
Charlie Christian > Chuck Berry > Rock'n'Roll > 90% of todays consumed music.
His influence is just too great to get your head around. Guitar based, exciting, teen rebel music started with Chuck, and led to Stones, Beatles and everything else since, yeah sure, even hiphop. Bigger influence than the Beatles, Hendrix, Sinatra, Parker, probably everyone except Louis Armstrong.
We should build a fucking huge monument. He made our lives so much better! He didn't write the song, but with Chuck dead, we can now safely say, with due sadness, that the thrill is gone. And oh my, what a thrill it was!
Roll over Beethoven....
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