Anyone playing his songs today?
I grew up playing his stuff. loved it
R.I.P.
Just heard this sad news about Chuck Berry.
By the time I got into music, at about 9 years old in 1963, with The Beatles etc, he was really kind of old-school, but his legacy of great music speaks for itself I think - very influential to hundreds who followed him.
As we get older, I suppose we have to get used to our musical icons leaving us - 2016 was a particularly bad year. But being of the generation that lost Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Mama Cass, Marc Bolan, John Lennon etc in their prime, I suppose we are kind of used to it.
I wonder who else we will lose in 2017 !
Poor old Chuck.
Apart from his self inflicted Jail House rock episodes I think the one rubbish thing he did ever was My Ding-a-ling in the 70’s.
Must have been broke at the time and any dollar was a good dollar.
He was 90 after all but people like him don’t really die in one important way…when you put on the CD and crank it up!
When I went to senior school in 1955 Rock + Roll had just HIT the music scene. Chuck Berry and Fats Domino were, and still are my all time heroes, all the others came later. Hail, Hail the real Kings of Rock + Roll.
RIP (Rock In Paradise!) Chuck you were inspiration to us all, guitarist, wordsmith and consummate showman.
I shall now go and play my VINYL collection.
PS: I totally agree Rob. “My Ding-a-Ling” was rubbish, but as you say it earned him some much needed cash!
He was a bit before my time. I do remember though when Ding a Ling was a hit, thinking what awful cr*p.
However he wrote and recorded a couple of songs, that when later recorded by others , I really liked…
‘Come On’ - First chart hit for the Rolling Stones.
‘Roll Over Beethoven’ - Electric Light Orchestra
Age 90? One assumes Chick lived without the normal excesses of the rock legends, so one of a kind, few in number. You can hardly describe Chuck as ‘old school’ or as the Beeb said today - “He blended a mix of folk and country and western” - No idea. Chuck was one of the founders of rock and roll and wrote - and recorded a lot more than just two songs.
After the 70’s rock and roll (with a few exceptions) went pear shaped, so what we hear today is a pale image of what went before, not for the better either. ‘Pop’ is a good name for it, as like a balloon, stick a pin in it, and it dies a quick death.
In 1957, I emigrated to Canada. Here the radio was still playing Victor Silvester and Edmundo Ross, with very occasional nods to American swing, so for good music, we tuned to Luxembourg, or (while I was away) to Caroline and others. First diner I walked into - for a coffee - wss playing Rock and Roll, and when we got round to buying a radio, it was also doing the same. I grew up listening to Trad Jazz, then converted to Swing, so Rock and Roll was something totally unheard of over here, till the dreaded advent of Bill Haley and the Comets, the worse music I’ve ever heard.
Wile the Detroit sound was good, it also marked the advent of the gradual demise of good rock, with all those orchestral arrangements. My favourite CD is ‘American Graffiti’, - while the film was made later, it paid homage to the good old days of Rock and Roll, and the scenario at a typical ‘drive in’ diner.
I still miss those years, from 57 to 65, when Rock was king, life was better and happier then.
RIP Chuck - Join your mates up there is Rock heaven.
you’re right Gerry, a hell of a lot more than two hits, he composed many hits for himself which were covered by others & made even more popular.
My favourite is Johhny B Goode which original recording is also my mobile ringtone, & that’s why I always take my time answering the phone
LOL -