Charles Edward Anderson Berry.
His songs have been covered by almost everyone you can think of... and there's a reason for that! He redefined all notions of popular music.
Dig this list: Elvis, Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Sex Pistols, Peter Tosh, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buck Owens, Judas Priest, The Beatles, Johnny Winter... that's just who's covered the song "Johnny B. Goode".
Anyone who spouts off about the importance of Elvis is probably a white person trying to give him credit for rock n' roll. There is no Elvis without Chuck Berry. Most of the British Invasion bands would never have arrived either. They had been listening to raw country blues (acoustic) and trying really hard to imitate something that did not explain their existence. Once they heard Chuck Berry plug his guitar in and shred the blues and R&B they dug, they plugged in. Not vice versa.
The man did the Duck Walk! Forget gyrating white hips. Forget hair metal bands and glam rock! Chuck Berry is it! If you want to know what the desperate teenagers living in the Age of Conformity turned to for excitement (and danger!), go buy the compilation The Great Twenty-Eight! All the classics are there as well as some hidden gems.
Nobody got down like Chuck. Several late 50s rock n rollers picked up what he was into, but no one could get down like the original!
Happy 86th Birthday, Chuck!
His songs have been covered by almost everyone you can think of... and there's a reason for that! He redefined all notions of popular music.
Dig this list: Elvis, Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Sex Pistols, Peter Tosh, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buck Owens, Judas Priest, The Beatles, Johnny Winter... that's just who's covered the song "Johnny B. Goode".
Anyone who spouts off about the importance of Elvis is probably a white person trying to give him credit for rock n' roll. There is no Elvis without Chuck Berry. Most of the British Invasion bands would never have arrived either. They had been listening to raw country blues (acoustic) and trying really hard to imitate something that did not explain their existence. Once they heard Chuck Berry plug his guitar in and shred the blues and R&B they dug, they plugged in. Not vice versa.
The man did the Duck Walk! Forget gyrating white hips. Forget hair metal bands and glam rock! Chuck Berry is it! If you want to know what the desperate teenagers living in the Age of Conformity turned to for excitement (and danger!), go buy the compilation The Great Twenty-Eight! All the classics are there as well as some hidden gems.
Nobody got down like Chuck. Several late 50s rock n rollers picked up what he was into, but no one could get down like the original!
Happy 86th Birthday, Chuck!
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