It always amazes me that this guy produces a string of rock ‘n’ roll gems that propelled the British beat groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones into stardom, genius, hard-driving rock with searing guitar runs, and he has his biggest hit with a smutty throw-away ditty. That’s the modern world for you. That’s people.
I wish he’d never recorded My Dingaling. It taints his whole genius run of brilliance.
Heres some more Chuck
I’m going back to the 50s for a bit of energy. Chuck was a genius. So glad I got to see him perform. Amazing.
(2) Chuck Berry – Berry Is On Top – Full Album (Vintage Music Songs) (Vintage Music Songs) – YouTube
Chuck was one of the very best! Incredible. John Crosby put this up on facebook. I just had to copy it!! Great stuff. It seems that it’s a Chuck day today.
CHUCK BERRY – Complete Live T.V Show (1965) Waterloo, Belgium (HD) – YouTube
My mate Graham sent me this!! Superb!
I discovered Chuck in 1963. An older kid at school who said that he was going to buy a Chuck Berry album in preference to the debut Beatles album (Please Please Me). I thought Chuck must be good if that was the case so I checked it out. I was not disappointed.
I enjoyed yesterday’s Little Richard session so today I’m playing a bit of Chuck!
Chuck Berry – Berry Is On Top – Full Album (Vintage Music Songs) (Vintage Music Songs) – YouTube
When I was fourteen I was into Little Richard, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. I loved the energy of good Rock ‘n’ Roll. Then came the Beatles.
After the raw energy of fifties Rock ‘n’ Roll the early sixties Pop-Rock of the Teen Idols and surviving Rockers, with their soft-rock/pop, didn’t really cut it for me. But that Beatles first album was right back to the energy of that Rock ‘n’ Roll era – except this was ours. I was fourteen and blown away. I had my own music.
Of course, at school, our group of musos were discussing little else. The Beatles had blown the doors down. But one of the older lads did not agree. Rather than wanting to get his hands on that first Beatles album he professed to wanting to get the latest Chuck Berry offering – Chuck Berry On Stage (a fake live album recorded in the studio with dubbed MC and audience). That made an impression on me. The guy had taste and I respected him. I hadn’t really heard any Chuck Berry up until then so I went out and bought it. I didn’t know it was a fake live album and I wouldn’t have cared anyway – it was brilliant.
That set me off collecting Chuck Berry stuff. I loved that guitar and I adored the stories he told with those lyrics. My favourite album was More Chuck Berry – it was a fabulous album with tracks like – Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller, Anthony Boy, Beautiful Delilah, Reelin’ and Rockin’, Little Queenie, Brown Eyed Handsome Man and the amazing Too Much Monkey Business. I played it to death and still have my battered original.
It was great to have the original when the Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds and every other Beat group were all doing their covers of Chuck. I loved what the British bands did with that stuff but the originals were just as good.
My love of Chuck got me into Bo Diddley. Where as Chuck had these fabulous innovative riffs Bo had this amazing infectious jungle beat that blew me away. He was larger than life – brash, self-assured even arrogant with those loud suits, bragging lyrics and amazing guitars.
I remember that album – Bo’s Big 16 – which had 16 of his hits. All of them were gems.
It was no wonder that Chuck and Bo (along with Jimmy Reed) became the staple of every British Beat group going.
This is a track from 1956 that really demonstrates just how innovative Bo was. The guitar, the vocals, the sounds – the whole concept. I love this track to bits.
“Run Rudolph Run”
Said Santa to a boy child “What have you been longing for?”
“All I want for Christmas is a Rock and Roll electric guitar”
And then away went Rudolph a whizzing like a shooting star
Run, run Rudolph, Santa’s got to make it to town, come on
Santa make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down
Run, run Rudolph, reeling like a merry-go-round
Said Santa to a girl child “What would please you most to get?”
“A little baby doll that can cry, sleep, drink and wet”
And then away went Rudolph a whizzing like a Saber jet
Run, run Rudolph, Santa’s got to make it to town
Santa make him hurry, tell him he can take the freeway down
Run, run Rudolph ’cause I’m reelin’ like a merry-go-round
Chuck is one of the greats.
Chuck was brilliant. He invented a lot of the basic ingredients of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Although Johnny Johnson, his pianist, probably had a lot to do with it). His guitar riffs are instantly recognisable and fundamental. His songs formed a big percentage of many Rock Groups repertoire.
In the fifties he and Bo set the tone and brought black R&B and white C&W, with dollops of Chicago Blues, into Rock music.
Chuck was astute and homed in on the white teenage market yet he consistently produced songs that had more to them than just that. Cars, Dancing, School and Girls were the main themes. They were brilliant.
However as the fifties came to an end they wanted to shut down Rock ‘n’ Roll and Chuck got caught up in it. He found himself locked up on a trumped up charge.
Chuck had a big chip on his shoulder. He felt that he had been treated really badly and ripped off right left and centre by white promoters, record producers and club owners. It made him cynical. He put together scratch bands and did the minimum possible. The great songs (with a few exceptions) dried up, the performances were patchy (Unrehearsed and minimal input) and the creativity dried up.
What a shame. He was prostituting his talent.
It’s amazing how much you can learn if your intentions are truly earnest.
I think that is true in all creative endeavours.
Science and religion are both the same thing. They’re there; they’re life. If it’s not science, it’s not a fact.
That seems a bit contradictory to me. They are not the same thing. Science is about establishing how things work. It deals with reality. Religion is based on belief and has no factual substance.
A contract is an ask game, and if it asks for an hour, and I submit to an hour, then it’s an hour. When I look at a contract, I look at the obligation – where, when, how long, the compensation. If I agree to it, that’s the way it is. I have an obligation. They have an obligation.
This is the mindset that created decline. He wasn’t treating the music as a fun creative thing; it was a job that he had to do. I can’t understand why. If he had put his heart and soul into it he would have enjoyed it more himself. He was just eaten up with the way he had been exploited.
Of the five most important things in life, health is first, education or knowledge is second, and wealth is third. I forget the other two.
Thoroughly agree with the first two – but then I’d add pleasure, love, happiness, creativity, fulfilment, friendship way above wealth.
