RIP Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry passed away over the weekend at 90(!!!!) years young.

Thanks for the Rock'n'Roll, Chuck!

One of the original inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Chuck started as a singer and moved on to guitar. He learned some fundamentals and got a gig as a house player at a St. Louis club where they played blues, calypso, and "jazzy ballads." After a trip to see the blues scene in Chicago, the synthesis was mostly complete.

A hybrid music style was forming. Once the final touches were added---the incorporation of country riffs---the foundation of "rock music" was birthed. Isn't that an Americanism? Country music riffs blended with blues, calypso and jazz gave the world rock music...stolen from black people? You betcha...

Chuck Berry inspired pretty much all of the rock bands my generation called "classic", and those bands have in-turn created entire industries of sub-genres. Berry was inspired by Muddy Waters, who was subsequently ripped off by many of those same "classic" bands, so it seems like they all were onto something.

When Napster was fresh and new I wasn't on it (truthfully, I never was), but when my brother asked me what songs I would like him to find and burn for me (my first burned CD!!) the two I deemed necessary after searching his files/archives/torrents turned out to both be covers:

Jimi Hendrix playing "Johnny B Goode" and Frank Zappa's all percussion "Stairway to Heaven."

Berry's "Johnny B Goode" is the only rock song to have made it to Voyager's Golden Record, and remains the only hardcopy of rock music to have left our solar system. It was captured eloquently in "Back to the Future" as well, in an ultimately regrettable scene with Michael J. Fox introducing Marvin Berry and his cousin Chuck (over the phone) to the piece. Is Zemeckis trying to take rock and roll away from black people in an even more profound way?

Anyway, Maybelline was his first big hit, and I think all rock fans have grown up with Roll Over Beethoven, Rock and Roll Music, and Riding Along in my Automobile. Maybe it was just me.

I do feel like, though, all of those songs are in the cultural consciousness of both America and Western Society in general.

For good measure, here's Chuck's own Johnny B Goode, and for laughs, here're the Sex Pistols not knowing the lyrics so well.

Also, Frank's percussion Stairway. Okay, so it's not all percussion, and during his last tour in '88 he played Stairway at most venues, but this one is a little different sounding...

That should satisfy some YouTube/old-school music itches...

Also also, check out Berry's first albun of mostly new material in 38 years, set to release in a few months: Chuck.