“Roll over, Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news.”
Keith Richards Inducts Chuck Berry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986):
“Chuck was my man. He was the one who made me say ‘I want to play guitar, Jesus Christ!’…Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do.”
~Keith Richards (1992)
“..if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.”
~John Lennon
“Well, now, Chuck Berry was a rock & roll songwriter. So I never tried to write rock &
roll songs, ‘cause I figured he had just done it.”
~Bob Dylan (to Kurt Loder October 1987)
Birth name | Charles Edward Anderson Berry |
---|---|
Born | October 18, 1926 (age 86) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
Genres | Rock and roll, blues,rhythm and blues |
Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
Years active | 1955–present |
Labels | Chess, Mercury, Atco |
Website | www.chuckberry.com |
Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.
Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers. Quite simply, without him there would be no Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, nor myriad others. There would be no standard “Chuck Berry guitar intro,” the instrument’s clarion call to get the joint rockin’ in any setting. The clippety-clop rhythms of rockabilly would not have been mainstreamed into the now standard 4/4 rock & roll beat. There would be no obsessive wordplay by modern-day tunesmiths; in fact, the whole history (and artistic level) of rock & roll songwriting would have been much poorer without him.
“he wrote all of the great songs and came up with all the rock & roll beats.”
~Brian Wilson
Those who do not claim him as a seminal influence or profess a liking for his music and showmanship show their ignorance of rock’s development as well as his place as the music’s first great creator. Elvis may have fueled rock & roll’s imagery, but Chuck Berry was its heartbeat and original mindset.
….read more over @ allmusic.com
Johnny B Goode:
While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, “Maybellene.”
-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Album of the day – The Ultimate Chuck Berry (2007)
Released | 3 December 1965 |
---|---|
Recorded | 18 October 1965 EMI Studios, London |
Genre | Baroque pop |
Length | 2:28 |
Label | Parlophone |
Writer | Lennon–McCartney |
Producer | George Martin |
-Egil
alldylan.com will merge with borntolisten.com. Please check out borntolisten.com & subscribe.
Bob Dylan performing Warren Zevon's wonderful "Mutineer".
On January 21, 1966 Bob Dylan recorded one of his best songs "She's Your Lover…
Bob Dylan recorded "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" on November 30, 1965. Here…
Happy 81st Birthday Gordon Lightfoot (November 17, 1938). This post includes audio of Bob Dylan…
Bob Dylan covers Neil Young's "Old Man" - 3 versions from 2002.