Happy Music Monday! When a ninety year old man dies, it's not really a shock, but it can still be a surprise. Chuck Berry long since earned his rest, but somehow didn't pass away until just a few weeks ago. Today Scott says a good-bye to the man who perhaps most created rock music.
When I was young I knew this as a Rolling Stones song. It took a record store employee to correct me. For kids like me who only knew Chuck Berry as "guy on the oldies station" or "brother of Marvin Berry in Back To The Future" it was really shocking to learn how important Chuck Berry was to the generation before. I didn't really understand just how good he was until I heard the non-hits they never played. Like, say, Little Queenie.
How did Scott only pick five Chuck Berry songs? Four more still to come.
Chuck Berry - Little Queenie
"Meanwhile, I'm still thinkin'." Bob Dylan called Berry "the Shakespeare of rock 'n' roll" and it wasn't just because he invented most of the guitar licks. This short little monologue presented sotto voce about how to pick up a pretty girl could be straight from a juke joint-themed Romeo And Juliet or from the fade-out of a glam rock classic. Chuck Berry's simple, important lyrics reminded everyone that music WAS for everyone. It was okay to sing about cars, parties, dancing, flirting and all the stuff some people pretend they don't like to do. And that's BEFORE we get to the duck walk.
The hard part about a tribute of this magnitude is how to approach it. I could have posted The Beatles or David Bowie or The Beach Boys and talked about how they were kind of his musical children. I could have posted Carl Perkins and asked how many white country stars have a steady friendship with black rockers these days. I could have posted about the quiet influence on hip hop or metal or about how he appreciated the Ramones or how many times he was in trouble with the law (armed robbery, crossing state lines with an underage girl, tax evasion, and more!) or noted that he was also a boxer, an auto factory worker, a trained beautician, an entrepreneur and a showman. But instead, I think it's best to just focus on the music itself. I picked five Chuck Berry songs I just really like. Maybe you'll like them too.
In the 1970s, so I'm told, Chuck Berry went on tour with just his guitar. He would show up, hire a local pickup band, and then leave to go to the next town. He just assumed anyone playing in a band would already know his music by heart. That's just a ridiculous thing that should be impossible, and yet... he pulled it off, didn't he?
This is a song from the last Chuck Berry album, due this year. He's playing guitar with Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine. If you're a Chuck Berry fan you've heard this intro again and again. You've basically heard it twice within this post. If you're a guitarist you probably even know how to play it. And it doesn't matter. It still catches a part of you every time. RIP Chuck. Thanks for, well, maybe literally everything.
Say what you will in the comments, but Chuck Berry's work has touched us all. Also maybe head to Facebook and see what vinyl is there for you to win. And let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia page and are here under fair use. See you next week.