Tell Me :
Talk
That's a great statement - never looked at it that way, but I guess you 100% 'nailed' it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-22 12:47 by RoughJusticeOnYa.
Yes, love T Morello top ... Great track, classic Chuck!
Well I've known one of them my entire life and the other guy I got to know and still consider him a friend. These photos are closer to the reality the world should see.
Thanks for your input, CBII. My condolences to you and your family.
Thank you my friend.
CBII
That looks a lot like a young Clint Eastwood playing there.
That's really great to hear, Charles.
My condoleances to you & your family!
Take care of each other OK; and keep on wearing the name 'Berry' with pride...
An excellent read, thanks!
Talk about your favorite band.
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Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
georgelicks
()
Date: March 22, 2017 01:09
Chuck Berry Sales Increase After Death
by PAUL CASHMERE on MARCH 21, 2017
Sales of Chuck Berry music has predictably increased substantially after the death of the rock and roll pioneer on Saturday.
According to BuzzAngle Music, overall sales increased 9581% following the news of his passing although that figure was off an extremely small base of just 39 albums sales per day last week to 2054 sales on the day of his death and 3808 the following day. (US figures).
Individual song sales rose by 11,684%, again off a small base, to 16,616 sales the day after his death.
The most popular song was the classic ‘Johnny B. Goode’,
Overall, Chuck Berry album sales increased 9,581% after his passing. His album sales average was 39 per day, which went to 2,054 the day of his death and then to 3,808 the day after. Two-thirds of those album sales were for his album, The Definitive Collection.
Chuck Berry notched only one album on the Billboard 200 since 1973: "20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection" reached No. 134 on early 2012.
by PAUL CASHMERE on MARCH 21, 2017
Sales of Chuck Berry music has predictably increased substantially after the death of the rock and roll pioneer on Saturday.
According to BuzzAngle Music, overall sales increased 9581% following the news of his passing although that figure was off an extremely small base of just 39 albums sales per day last week to 2054 sales on the day of his death and 3808 the following day. (US figures).
Individual song sales rose by 11,684%, again off a small base, to 16,616 sales the day after his death.
The most popular song was the classic ‘Johnny B. Goode’,
Overall, Chuck Berry album sales increased 9,581% after his passing. His album sales average was 39 per day, which went to 2,054 the day of his death and then to 3,808 the day after. Two-thirds of those album sales were for his album, The Definitive Collection.
Chuck Berry notched only one album on the Billboard 200 since 1973: "20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection" reached No. 134 on early 2012.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
HankM
()
Date: March 22, 2017 08:44
Thanks for the great music Chuck
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-22 10:07 by HankM.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-22 10:07 by HankM.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: March 22, 2017 12:10
Great, great stuff! Wow, it was impressive indeed
I take it it's CBII Tom Morello in the right channel + the solo in the ending. Good stuff!
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-22 12:29 by DandelionPowderman.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-22 12:29 by DandelionPowderman.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
frankotero
()
Date: March 22, 2017 12:22
Wow!!! Just love that song, it's everything I could have hoped for. Really looking forward to the album. Sad that Chuck isn't here to enjoy it's success. Again, thanks to him for everything he did in Rock And Roll.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
RoughJusticeOnYa
()
Date: March 22, 2017 12:29
Quote
Doxa
Sad news for rock'n'roll. There is no way to underestimate the significance and influence of mr. Berry to rock music. He was also the most common factor between two biggest rock bands of all time; while the Beatles looked the 'white' side of Berry, the Stones took the 'black' side of him, the Chigaco stuff. In Berry they were one and the same.
RIP mr. Rock'n'Roll
- Doxa
That's a great statement - never looked at it that way, but I guess you 100% 'nailed' it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-22 12:47 by RoughJusticeOnYa.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
RoughJusticeOnYa
()
Date: March 22, 2017 12:57
I remember an earlier post, supposedly in this thread (though I can't find it anymore...), where someone quite rightfully stated that some (most?) pics with Keith ànd Chuck in it come across as rather 'uneven' - Keith trying very hard to show his appreciation & admiration for CB, and Bery almost reluctant to aknowledge. Although I do find it a verry interesting issue, I don't wanna get into thàt specifically (simply because I don't know either of the two well enough to hace a decent opinion about it...) - but I do want to add the two pics just posted on Keith's Facebook page, that are showing (and that's really refreshing to see!) Keith & Chuck very relaxed together, in true amical poses: ...
P.S.: obviously, Keith's deeply touched by Chuck's passing - he's allowing himself a deep trip down to memory lane, judging by the daily photo updates on his timeline. Get a song out of it, Keith!
P.S.: obviously, Keith's deeply touched by Chuck's passing - he's allowing himself a deep trip down to memory lane, judging by the daily photo updates on his timeline. Get a song out of it, Keith!
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
LeonidP
()
Date: March 22, 2017 13:30
Quote
DandelionPowderman
Great, great stuff! Wow, it was impressive indeedI take it it's CBIITom Morello in the right channel + the solo in the ending. Good stuff!
Yes, love T Morello top ... Great track, classic Chuck!
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
KRiffhard
()
Date: March 22, 2017 20:54
Quote
RoughJusticeOnYaQuote
Doxa
Sad news for rock'n'roll. There is no way to underestimate the significance and influence of mr. Berry to rock music. He was also the most common factor between two biggest rock bands of all time; while the Beatles looked the 'white' side of Berry, the Stones took the 'black' side of him, the Chigaco stuff. In Berry they were one and the same.
RIP mr. Rock'n'Roll
- Doxa
That's a great statement - never looked at it that way, but I guess you 100% 'nailed' it.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
tomcasagranda
()
Date: March 22, 2017 22:55
I gave Tulane a whirl earlier today. Great track, and so too is Have Mercy Judge.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
bye bye johnny
()
Date: March 22, 2017 23:53
From Dave Edmunds:
Me & Chuck
Sometimes you have great gigs, and sometimes you don't. This gig was in St Louis, Missouri, and it was the best of the tour. Great audience, great monitor sound, great band (with the renowned Jamie Oldaker on drums). The kind of gig that whatever you do, whatever you sing, whatever you say, and whatever you play – is right! We did three encores, came off sweating and settled into after-gig drinks in the dressing room. We were towelling off and congratulating ourselves when Steve, my tour manager, burst breathlessly into the room spluttering something about Chuck Berry. “Calm down, Steve!...What's up?”
“Chuck Berry is in the audience sitting with two girls – he's seen the whole show and he wants to get up and do a few songs with you!” Whoa! This is no time for practical jokes. “What did you say?” “Chuck Berry is in the audience sitting with two girls – he's seen the whole show and he wants to get up and do a few songs with you!” I explained to Steve that if he was pissing around and we went back out on stage (the audience was still chanting for more), we have no more songs to do and it could get embarrassing. He swore on everything dear to him that Chuck Berry was ready to climb onstage if we would just go back out. He grabbed my spare (black) Gibson 335 and pushed us back out onstage and, sure enough, Chuck clambered up, strapped on my spare, and started into Roll Over Beethoven, moving on through Memphis, Tennessee, towards The Promised Land.
I wondered if he remembered me from his sixtieth birthday gig in the Felt Forum, Madison Square Gardens, NY, in 1986. I don't remember how this came about, but my then manager, John Scher, arranged for me to put a band together for the gig – an opportunity from heaven. I called in my dear friend and colleague, Chuck Leavell (keyboard player with The Rolling Stones), then John Entwistle, (The Who), and Terry Williams (Rockpile/Dire Straits). Came the night, with no rehearsal whatsoever or any prior discussions with Chuck, we gravitated from our hotel bar across the road to the Felt Forum. There was no one backstage to introduce us to Chuck, so we just sort of gathered side-stage and waited. A couple of minutes before showtime, Chuck ambled up to us and sat down with his guitar hanging around his neck. We nervously introduced ourselves to him, but I am convinced he had absolutely no idea who we were. He gave no indication. I dared to ask if there would be a set-list. “Nooo, I always start my songs with this guitar riff” (and he plays it! – as if no one knows, already), “and then I stamp my foot when to end the song.” “Oh, and no drum fills.” And that was it!
I was fifteen years of age when I first heard Johnnie B. Goode on Radio Luxembourg. I was also fifteen when I got my first guitar. I was determined to learn the opening guitar riff and the solo. I also learned the 'knack' of playing Chuck's “raka-rack' rhythm style on the lower strings while singing. Many accomplished guitar players find this uncomfortable or impossible to do without sounding 'stilted'. His songs, his lyrics, his guitar solos, the style and the keys – I've pondered, puzzled, practised and learnt over the years, eventually incorporating them into many of my records.
That night, I don't know if Chuck recognised I was copping his licks, or whether he was just feeling lazy, but he had me play all the guitar solos – to every song. (except My Ding-a-Ling, when we left the stage). At the end of the final song he grabbed my arm and hauled me centre-stage; he held my hand aloft with his and shouted into the microphone to the screaming audience: “Who said the white man can't play the blues?” It was my proudest moment.
- DE
[www.facebook.com]
Me & Chuck
Sometimes you have great gigs, and sometimes you don't. This gig was in St Louis, Missouri, and it was the best of the tour. Great audience, great monitor sound, great band (with the renowned Jamie Oldaker on drums). The kind of gig that whatever you do, whatever you sing, whatever you say, and whatever you play – is right! We did three encores, came off sweating and settled into after-gig drinks in the dressing room. We were towelling off and congratulating ourselves when Steve, my tour manager, burst breathlessly into the room spluttering something about Chuck Berry. “Calm down, Steve!...What's up?”
“Chuck Berry is in the audience sitting with two girls – he's seen the whole show and he wants to get up and do a few songs with you!” Whoa! This is no time for practical jokes. “What did you say?” “Chuck Berry is in the audience sitting with two girls – he's seen the whole show and he wants to get up and do a few songs with you!” I explained to Steve that if he was pissing around and we went back out on stage (the audience was still chanting for more), we have no more songs to do and it could get embarrassing. He swore on everything dear to him that Chuck Berry was ready to climb onstage if we would just go back out. He grabbed my spare (black) Gibson 335 and pushed us back out onstage and, sure enough, Chuck clambered up, strapped on my spare, and started into Roll Over Beethoven, moving on through Memphis, Tennessee, towards The Promised Land.
I wondered if he remembered me from his sixtieth birthday gig in the Felt Forum, Madison Square Gardens, NY, in 1986. I don't remember how this came about, but my then manager, John Scher, arranged for me to put a band together for the gig – an opportunity from heaven. I called in my dear friend and colleague, Chuck Leavell (keyboard player with The Rolling Stones), then John Entwistle, (The Who), and Terry Williams (Rockpile/Dire Straits). Came the night, with no rehearsal whatsoever or any prior discussions with Chuck, we gravitated from our hotel bar across the road to the Felt Forum. There was no one backstage to introduce us to Chuck, so we just sort of gathered side-stage and waited. A couple of minutes before showtime, Chuck ambled up to us and sat down with his guitar hanging around his neck. We nervously introduced ourselves to him, but I am convinced he had absolutely no idea who we were. He gave no indication. I dared to ask if there would be a set-list. “Nooo, I always start my songs with this guitar riff” (and he plays it! – as if no one knows, already), “and then I stamp my foot when to end the song.” “Oh, and no drum fills.” And that was it!
I was fifteen years of age when I first heard Johnnie B. Goode on Radio Luxembourg. I was also fifteen when I got my first guitar. I was determined to learn the opening guitar riff and the solo. I also learned the 'knack' of playing Chuck's “raka-rack' rhythm style on the lower strings while singing. Many accomplished guitar players find this uncomfortable or impossible to do without sounding 'stilted'. His songs, his lyrics, his guitar solos, the style and the keys – I've pondered, puzzled, practised and learnt over the years, eventually incorporating them into many of my records.
That night, I don't know if Chuck recognised I was copping his licks, or whether he was just feeling lazy, but he had me play all the guitar solos – to every song. (except My Ding-a-Ling, when we left the stage). At the end of the final song he grabbed my arm and hauled me centre-stage; he held my hand aloft with his and shouted into the microphone to the screaming audience: “Who said the white man can't play the blues?” It was my proudest moment.
- DE
[www.facebook.com]
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
CBII
()
Date: March 23, 2017 01:02
Quote
RoughJusticeOnYa
I remember an earlier post, supposedly in this thread (though I can't find it anymore...), where someone quite rightfully stated that some (most?) pics with Keith ànd Chuck in it come across as rather 'uneven' - Keith trying very hard to show his appreciation & admiration for CB, and Bery almost reluctant to aknowledge. Although I do find it a verry interesting issue, I don't wanna get into thàt specifically (simply because I don't know either of the two well enough to hace a decent opinion about it...) - but I do want to add the two pics just posted on Keith's Facebook page, that are showing (and that's really refreshing to see!) Keith & Chuck very relaxed together, in true amical poses: ...
P.S.: obviously, Keith's deeply touched by Chuck's passing - he's allowing himself a deep trip down to memory lane, judging by the daily photo updates on his timeline. Get a song out of it, Keith!
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
CBII
()
Date: March 23, 2017 01:05
Quote
RoughJusticeOnYa
I remember an earlier post, supposedly in this thread (though I can't find it anymore...), where someone quite rightfully stated that some (most?) pics with Keith ànd Chuck in it come across as rather 'uneven' - Keith trying very hard to show his appreciation & admiration for CB, and Bery almost reluctant to aknowledge. Although I do find it a verry interesting issue, I don't wanna get into thàt specifically (simply because I don't know either of the two well enough to hace a decent opinion about it...) - but I do want to add the two pics just posted on Keith's Facebook page, that are showing (and that's really refreshing to see!) Keith & Chuck very relaxed together, in true amical poses: ...
P.S.: obviously, Keith's deeply touched by Chuck's passing - he's allowing himself a deep trip down to memory lane, judging by the daily photo updates on his timeline. Get a song out of it, Keith!
Well I've known one of them my entire life and the other guy I got to know and still consider him a friend. These photos are closer to the reality the world should see.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
Cristiano Radtke
()
Date: March 23, 2017 01:08
Quote
CBIIQuote
RoughJusticeOnYa
I remember an earlier post, supposedly in this thread (though I can't find it anymore...), where someone quite rightfully stated that some (most?) pics with Keith ànd Chuck in it come across as rather 'uneven' - Keith trying very hard to show his appreciation & admiration for CB, and Bery almost reluctant to aknowledge. Although I do find it a verry interesting issue, I don't wanna get into thàt specifically (simply because I don't know either of the two well enough to hace a decent opinion about it...) - but I do want to add the two pics just posted on Keith's Facebook page, that are showing (and that's really refreshing to see!) Keith & Chuck very relaxed together, in true amical poses: ...
P.S.: obviously, Keith's deeply touched by Chuck's passing - he's allowing himself a deep trip down to memory lane, judging by the daily photo updates on his timeline. Get a song out of it, Keith!
Well I've known one of them my entire life and the other guy I got to know and still consider him a friend. These photos are closer to the reality the world should see.
Thanks for your input, CBII. My condolences to you and your family.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
barbabang
()
Date: March 23, 2017 01:25
My condolences to you and your family, CBII and I appreciate your input here very much too.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
CBII
()
Date: March 23, 2017 02:25
Quote
carlitosbaez
RIP Chuck Berry. Condolonces to everyone and specially to Charles Berry CBII, big hug from Spain amigo!!
[www.dirtyrock.info]
Carlitos
Tenerife
Thank you my friend.
CBII
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
The Sicilian
()
Date: March 23, 2017 04:13
That looks a lot like a young Clint Eastwood playing there.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
RoughJusticeOnYa
()
Date: March 23, 2017 10:24
Quote
CBIIQuote
RoughJusticeOnYa
I remember an earlier post, supposedly in this thread (though I can't find it anymore...), where someone quite rightfully stated that some (most?) pics with Keith ànd Chuck in it come across as rather 'uneven' - Keith trying very hard to show his appreciation & admiration for CB, and Bery almost reluctant to aknowledge. Although I do find it a verry interesting issue, I don't wanna get into thàt specifically (simply because I don't know either of the two well enough to hace a decent opinion about it...) - but I do want to add the two pics just posted on Keith's Facebook page, that are showing (and that's really refreshing to see!) Keith & Chuck very relaxed together, in true amical poses: ...
P.S.: obviously, Keith's deeply touched by Chuck's passing - he's allowing himself a deep trip down to memory lane, judging by the daily photo updates on his timeline. Get a song out of it, Keith!
Well I've known one of them my entire life and the other guy I got to know and still consider him a friend. These photos are closer to the reality the world should see.
That's really great to hear, Charles.
My condoleances to you & your family!
Take care of each other OK; and keep on wearing the name 'Berry' with pride...
God bless the Chuck. Love
Posted by:
Kuntaman
()
Date: March 21, 2017 00:19
Thanks for everything. One of rock'n roll biggest pioners. God bless
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
bye bye johnny
()
Date: March 25, 2017 15:30
Little Richard, Joan Jett, Joe Perry & More Remember Friend and Idol Chuck Berry
3/22/2017 by Billboard Staff
GAB Archive/Redferns
Little Richard
At 84, the live-wire, piano-playing rock pioneer remembers a rival, friend and fellow trailblazer.
I just feel sad about Chuck going. I didn’t even know he was sick. I lost a really great friend -- one of my best friends in music. I love Chuck. I’ve been with Chuck all my life, really.
We went around and toured America and Europe together. Most of my favorite moments were watching him just do the duck walk and play. Sometimes his daughter came out on the road with us. I remember one day he gave me a gold horseshoe to hold -- “Feel this. How do you like it?” -- and then he said, “OK, now give it back!” I said, “Chuck, you’re not an Indian giver!” “No, I’m not!” He was one of those kind of guys. He would always say to me, “You got some pretty skin, Richard.” I would just say, “Shut up, Chuck. Next joke!”
It was some beautiful times we had together. One or two times I played the piano on some of his songs. He’s a rocker, he could really rock, for real. He ain’t just jiving around. He really puts it down and picks it up and throws it out to the audience. He was the greatest rock’n’roll musician, though he could play more than that, he could play all types of music. I learned those rock’n’roll riffs he had. He had the kind of riff that makes your big toe shoot up in your boot.
He was a real thoughtful person in the business, and I learned a lot of business things from Chuck: Get paid before you go onstage. Get your money in front. And he stuck to that. There were some honest, good promoters, but some people, you had to get it in front or you wouldn’t get it at all.
When Chuck and I played together, Chuck always wanted to close the show, and I wanted to close it, too. We were always banging at that. “I’m the star of the show!” “No, I’m the star of the show!” Really, Chuck was the star of the show. But we’d be onstage together and we sang together. I’d tell him, “I’m the creator of rock’n’roll,” and he’d say, “I am.” But I have to admit, he’s older than me; he came before me.
The truth is the truth. Chuck Berry’s songs are rock’n’roll standards, and mine are classics, also. “Roll Over Beethoven,” “School Day,” and here I come with “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Long Tall Sally.” Chuck had more hits than I had. But we both contributed. It has been a blessing and a lesson, and I thank God for letting me live at this time so I could be a part of it.
Joan Jett
Fresh off the success of “I Love Rock ’N Roll,” she brought The Blackhearts to Berry’s hometown -- and snagged the man himself as backup singer.
We were playing in St. Louis in maybe ’83, and we got a note that Chuck Berry had come to see us and was turned away at the door. Kenny [Laguna, Jett’s musical partner] went running out the backstage door and caught Chuck in his black Cadillac Seville, just about to pull out of the parking lot: “Please come back in, we want you to be our guest.” We asked if he would introduce us onstage, and he went out there and said, “Let’s hear it for rock’n’roll, let’s hear it for St. Louis, let’s hear it for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts!” When “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” came around, Chuck was by the side of the stage and he jumped onto the mic and started singing with Kenny.
The next day we had a day off, and he invited us to Berry Park to just hang out. He was so ahead of everything: He had huge TV screens on the wall and satellite TV, he was watching all the music shows -- he was really into MTV. He knew what was going on. He drove us down the road to get a bite at the local diner, and on the way, I guess he must have cut somebody off because this trucker comes in screaming at Chuck, pretty vile stuff. Kenny and I of course want to get in and defend him. But Chuck goes, “Just let it go.” I’m sure Chuck had many run-ins in his life with people who found a reason to have a problem with him.
Several years later, we were both at a festival in upstate New York, but not on the same stage. I was walking around backstage and all of a sudden I feel someone come up behind me, wrap their arms around me and pick me up off the ground. I was scared -- I thought someone was attacking me! I threw my elbows back and head butted him, and guess who it was? Chuck Berry. But he understood. This is a guy who had been through a lot in his life. He knew, you come up behind a girl and grab her, she’s going to get you. I apologize, [all these] years later.
Joe Perry
The Aerosmith guitarist recalls talking shop with his root beer-sipping rock idol.
Chuck Berry was the Ernest Hemingway of rock’n’roll, a storyteller for the ages. He wrote the textbook, the lexicon, the poetry. He had two distinct voices -- his guitar voice and his singing voice. Both were riveting.
He once came to an Aerosmith gig in St. Louis. He showed up in my dressing room, where we talked for hours, picker to picker, about his affinity for the Gibson and the state of the world, as he sipped on a Virgil’s root beer. That empty can, marked with tape that says “NEVER THROW AWAY!” has become a talisman. It goes with me on the road and sits in my dressing room before every show.
Robert Cray
Filming Hail! Hail! Rock ’N’ Roll, the blues guitarist and singer backed Berry -- and soaked up the behind-the-scenes scene.
I had never met Chuck Berry before, but I had gotten word about being part of this [film] and was asked to pick out a couple of tunes, one of which I might perform onstage. I picked “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” because I remembered my dad playing it a lot.
Keith Richards introduced me to Chuck. I was the new kid on the block, and I was treated that way by Chuck, and it was great. Where he was giving Keith all kinds of grief, it was “Come on, Robert, you want to have a cup of coffee?” Keith -- bless his heart -- was honoring his hero, and his hero was treating him like a young, derelict kid!
We were at Chuck’s place, Berry Park, for a week of rehearsals. And I was in the backup band as well, so we practiced the songs that I was going to be backing Chuck up on. Show day comes, I’m presented with my list, and there’s about twice as many songs. I was sitting next to Eric Clapton when I received it, and he goes, “How do you rate?” He got really pissed off because, once again, Chuck was at work. He meant for those guys to see that I was going to be on more songs. (Laughs.)
Onstage, he was like a walking statue, so I kept my eyes glued on him all the time. And there were quiet moments offstage, too. He and [late pianist] Johnnie Johnson would play songs like “Cottage for Sale,” just the two of them. It was a beautiful thing to see and be a part of.
Julian Lennon
The singer-songwriter grew up revering Berry (like Dad did), then got to join him onstage for “Johnny B. Goode.”
I was, and still am to a degree, quite a shy character, so to be invited to perform with Chuck Berry [in Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’ Roll], and to be filmed doing it, was quite an overwhelming experience. I’d known a few of the other performers, like Keith Richards, among others, but that certainly didn’t sway the nerves I had performing with Chuck. I managed to spend a few days, on- and offstage, interacting with him and the others, which was an insight into life in the rock’n’roll world, most of which I’d never witnessed before. Not only the camaraderie, but the tension, too.
When I started learning to play guitar, around age 10 or 11, it was through my gym teacher, who taught acoustic guitar to a few pupils. He had a DA -- duck’s arse -- hairstyle and was a real lover of rock’n’roll. After a year or so, a few of us managed to buy an electric guitar, at which point we decided to form a band and perform at the end-of-year school show. We may have had one or two original songs, but all of the others were classics, mostly written by Chuck.
Of course, I did have an inkling of how Dad felt about him, too. Around that time [in 1975], Dad released his Rock ’N’ Roll album, which, of course, contained a song by Chuck, as he was one of Dad’s idols, and he’d played with him on The Mike Douglas Show. So quite amazing, really, to see that he influenced two generations of musicians.
Buddy Guy
As a young bluesman in rural Louisiana, he heard the sound of the future come crackling through the radio.
Never will forget when I first heard “Maybellene.” I was on the farm in Lettsworth, La., out there in the middle of nowhere with nothing on my mind except pretty girls and hot blues. We had this broken-down battery radio with a raggedy antenna. I’m listening to WLAC, where they’re hawking Royal Crown hair pomade and Randy’s record store in Gallatin, Tenn., and here comes something I never heard before. Mind you, I was a good student of the blues. I knew all about Lightnin’ Slim and Muddy and Wolf and Little Walter and John Lee. But this shit was different. The guitar had a different twang and the story had a different twist. It was all about a V8 Ford chasing a Coupe de Ville and catching up with Maybellene on top of the hill. First time I saw how a song could be poetry in motion.
Chuck’s genius was an instant thing: He’d run into the studio without a guitar lick, nothing written down. Then, in 10 or 15 minutes, he’d write the song and record it on the spot. Of course, he had the help of my good buddy Johnnie Johnson, his pianist.
I’d have to call Chuck a mystery man. He traveled his own road, and he traveled alone. Later, I got to open for him several times, but there wasn’t any hanging out. He was a hit-and-quit cat. Gone before I had a chance to tell him how much I appreciated what he’d done for us all. He busted the thing wide open.
I was in St. Louis when I heard he passed. Made me do some deep thinking. You can talk about Guitar Slim being the first to use a long cord and stroll out of the club into the streets to grab the people’s attention. You can talk about T-Bone Walker being the first to marry up that fine jazz feeling with down-home electric blues. But I believe Chuck had a bigger first. He was the first to say that this music called rhythm and blues ain’t just for folks down south or up north -- this music is for the world.
Melissa Etheridge
Long before “Come to My Window,” she covered “Johnny B. Goode” in Kansas bars.
In the early ’70s, I was starting to play in local bands around Kansas, and “Johnny B. Goode” was a staple. Every time you did a Chuck Berry song, people were on the floor dancing, and getting people dancing was your job. Growing up in this lower middle class, suburban white bread existence, his music had no color. The things he was singing about were cool and interesting but they didn’t scare you. It was celebrating the joy of being in high school, it was that rock’n’roll dream. You looked at him and went, “Well, I like that guy!” Of course, he made the biggest impression on me with “My Ding-a-Ling.” I was in middle school, and that was just the naughtiest song I’d ever heard!
I did meet him at the [1995] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert in Cleveland. Bruce Springsteen came backstage and said, “Hey, we’re going to do ‘Rock and Roll Music,’ you, me and Chuck Berry.” My God, OK! It was kind of a disaster though. Chuck told Bruce and I that he was playing in the key of G, but he told the band E. I found out later he’d do that for fun, just to mess with people.
Doug Morris
Before becoming Sony chairman, he visited St. Louis to meet a man fond of flamboyant cars and pretty girls -- who could turn out a stellar song overnight.
While I was president of Atco Records, Chuck agreed to do an album with me [1979’s Rock It, Berry’s final studio album prior to the forthcoming Chuck]. Co-producer Kyle Lehning and I flew to St. Louis, and Chuck picked us up from the airport in what I recall was an elongated Cadillac with actual horns on the front fenders. It was a really flashy car. On the way back to Berry Park he kept making different stops. I said, “Why are we stopping at all these places?” He said, “I like hitting on all the girls here. I figure I get about one out of every eight.”
Chuck was a lot of fun, a big personality, but he was very serious about the music. We went to his studio and recorded with Johnnie Johnson from his original band. The first day Chuck played us some material, and it was all slow, Muddy Waters-type blues songs. I said to him, “I can’t put out a blues album. Where’s the uptempo stuff?” and he was like, “I haven’t done that recently. Give me till tomorrow.” The next day he had a whole album of jump tunes.
I remember we had to pay Chuck in cash, for everything. When I asked him why, he showed me a cigar box full of checks that had bounced.
Gary Clark Jr.
The masterful guitarist and singer has played with plenty of rock legends, but never met Berry (though he did open for him).
It’s like guitar for beginners: Whether they realize it or not, most people who play guitar start off learning Chuck Berry. I remember hearing “Maybellene” as a kid, and growing up in the ’80s I, of course, saw Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future doing “Johnny B. Goode.” But [Berry] always stood out to me. The way he approached songs, it was just complete freedom.
When I was a teenager, I got a chance to open up for him at the Paramount Theater in Austin. He had hired a backing group called The Eggmen, a Beatles cover band, and the only direction they got was “We’re going to play Chuck Berry songs.” He drove up in this white Lincoln right before the show, did his thing for maybe two hours, and these poor guys did the best they could. I never got a chance to speak to him, because he got in there, got his money, got back in the Lincoln and left. It was like something out of a movie -- so badass.
There was something about his presence and his confidence, his willingness to try to push the bar. His tone changed the game. I like the little, subtle things in his technique. He’s got this rhythm guitar thing that has this island beach vibe to it -- just listening, you might not pay much attention, but if you try to play it and sing it, it’s not easy. And then there’s that repetitive digging into the same note over and over again, but using octaves and multiple strings. You can hear Chuck Berry in most guitar-solo playing.
I wish I could have had a conversation with him, just to ask what he was into, what he listened to. I’m a guy that likes to take perfectly good things and pick them apart and try to put them back together, so it’s fun to think about what his sources were. I think about how he influenced artists like Jimi Hendrix. As a musician, you can get stuck in a box, stuck in repetition, because you think you 100 percent know what you’re doing. To have the foresight to change? That’s a pretty bold move. “You guys are doing this? Well, I’m going to do this.”
[www.billboard.com]
3/22/2017 by Billboard Staff
GAB Archive/Redferns
Little Richard
At 84, the live-wire, piano-playing rock pioneer remembers a rival, friend and fellow trailblazer.
I just feel sad about Chuck going. I didn’t even know he was sick. I lost a really great friend -- one of my best friends in music. I love Chuck. I’ve been with Chuck all my life, really.
We went around and toured America and Europe together. Most of my favorite moments were watching him just do the duck walk and play. Sometimes his daughter came out on the road with us. I remember one day he gave me a gold horseshoe to hold -- “Feel this. How do you like it?” -- and then he said, “OK, now give it back!” I said, “Chuck, you’re not an Indian giver!” “No, I’m not!” He was one of those kind of guys. He would always say to me, “You got some pretty skin, Richard.” I would just say, “Shut up, Chuck. Next joke!”
It was some beautiful times we had together. One or two times I played the piano on some of his songs. He’s a rocker, he could really rock, for real. He ain’t just jiving around. He really puts it down and picks it up and throws it out to the audience. He was the greatest rock’n’roll musician, though he could play more than that, he could play all types of music. I learned those rock’n’roll riffs he had. He had the kind of riff that makes your big toe shoot up in your boot.
He was a real thoughtful person in the business, and I learned a lot of business things from Chuck: Get paid before you go onstage. Get your money in front. And he stuck to that. There were some honest, good promoters, but some people, you had to get it in front or you wouldn’t get it at all.
When Chuck and I played together, Chuck always wanted to close the show, and I wanted to close it, too. We were always banging at that. “I’m the star of the show!” “No, I’m the star of the show!” Really, Chuck was the star of the show. But we’d be onstage together and we sang together. I’d tell him, “I’m the creator of rock’n’roll,” and he’d say, “I am.” But I have to admit, he’s older than me; he came before me.
The truth is the truth. Chuck Berry’s songs are rock’n’roll standards, and mine are classics, also. “Roll Over Beethoven,” “School Day,” and here I come with “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Long Tall Sally.” Chuck had more hits than I had. But we both contributed. It has been a blessing and a lesson, and I thank God for letting me live at this time so I could be a part of it.
Joan Jett
Fresh off the success of “I Love Rock ’N Roll,” she brought The Blackhearts to Berry’s hometown -- and snagged the man himself as backup singer.
We were playing in St. Louis in maybe ’83, and we got a note that Chuck Berry had come to see us and was turned away at the door. Kenny [Laguna, Jett’s musical partner] went running out the backstage door and caught Chuck in his black Cadillac Seville, just about to pull out of the parking lot: “Please come back in, we want you to be our guest.” We asked if he would introduce us onstage, and he went out there and said, “Let’s hear it for rock’n’roll, let’s hear it for St. Louis, let’s hear it for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts!” When “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” came around, Chuck was by the side of the stage and he jumped onto the mic and started singing with Kenny.
The next day we had a day off, and he invited us to Berry Park to just hang out. He was so ahead of everything: He had huge TV screens on the wall and satellite TV, he was watching all the music shows -- he was really into MTV. He knew what was going on. He drove us down the road to get a bite at the local diner, and on the way, I guess he must have cut somebody off because this trucker comes in screaming at Chuck, pretty vile stuff. Kenny and I of course want to get in and defend him. But Chuck goes, “Just let it go.” I’m sure Chuck had many run-ins in his life with people who found a reason to have a problem with him.
Several years later, we were both at a festival in upstate New York, but not on the same stage. I was walking around backstage and all of a sudden I feel someone come up behind me, wrap their arms around me and pick me up off the ground. I was scared -- I thought someone was attacking me! I threw my elbows back and head butted him, and guess who it was? Chuck Berry. But he understood. This is a guy who had been through a lot in his life. He knew, you come up behind a girl and grab her, she’s going to get you. I apologize, [all these] years later.
Joe Perry
The Aerosmith guitarist recalls talking shop with his root beer-sipping rock idol.
Chuck Berry was the Ernest Hemingway of rock’n’roll, a storyteller for the ages. He wrote the textbook, the lexicon, the poetry. He had two distinct voices -- his guitar voice and his singing voice. Both were riveting.
He once came to an Aerosmith gig in St. Louis. He showed up in my dressing room, where we talked for hours, picker to picker, about his affinity for the Gibson and the state of the world, as he sipped on a Virgil’s root beer. That empty can, marked with tape that says “NEVER THROW AWAY!” has become a talisman. It goes with me on the road and sits in my dressing room before every show.
Robert Cray
Filming Hail! Hail! Rock ’N’ Roll, the blues guitarist and singer backed Berry -- and soaked up the behind-the-scenes scene.
I had never met Chuck Berry before, but I had gotten word about being part of this [film] and was asked to pick out a couple of tunes, one of which I might perform onstage. I picked “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” because I remembered my dad playing it a lot.
Keith Richards introduced me to Chuck. I was the new kid on the block, and I was treated that way by Chuck, and it was great. Where he was giving Keith all kinds of grief, it was “Come on, Robert, you want to have a cup of coffee?” Keith -- bless his heart -- was honoring his hero, and his hero was treating him like a young, derelict kid!
We were at Chuck’s place, Berry Park, for a week of rehearsals. And I was in the backup band as well, so we practiced the songs that I was going to be backing Chuck up on. Show day comes, I’m presented with my list, and there’s about twice as many songs. I was sitting next to Eric Clapton when I received it, and he goes, “How do you rate?” He got really pissed off because, once again, Chuck was at work. He meant for those guys to see that I was going to be on more songs. (Laughs.)
Onstage, he was like a walking statue, so I kept my eyes glued on him all the time. And there were quiet moments offstage, too. He and [late pianist] Johnnie Johnson would play songs like “Cottage for Sale,” just the two of them. It was a beautiful thing to see and be a part of.
Julian Lennon
The singer-songwriter grew up revering Berry (like Dad did), then got to join him onstage for “Johnny B. Goode.”
I was, and still am to a degree, quite a shy character, so to be invited to perform with Chuck Berry [in Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’ Roll], and to be filmed doing it, was quite an overwhelming experience. I’d known a few of the other performers, like Keith Richards, among others, but that certainly didn’t sway the nerves I had performing with Chuck. I managed to spend a few days, on- and offstage, interacting with him and the others, which was an insight into life in the rock’n’roll world, most of which I’d never witnessed before. Not only the camaraderie, but the tension, too.
When I started learning to play guitar, around age 10 or 11, it was through my gym teacher, who taught acoustic guitar to a few pupils. He had a DA -- duck’s arse -- hairstyle and was a real lover of rock’n’roll. After a year or so, a few of us managed to buy an electric guitar, at which point we decided to form a band and perform at the end-of-year school show. We may have had one or two original songs, but all of the others were classics, mostly written by Chuck.
Of course, I did have an inkling of how Dad felt about him, too. Around that time [in 1975], Dad released his Rock ’N’ Roll album, which, of course, contained a song by Chuck, as he was one of Dad’s idols, and he’d played with him on The Mike Douglas Show. So quite amazing, really, to see that he influenced two generations of musicians.
Buddy Guy
As a young bluesman in rural Louisiana, he heard the sound of the future come crackling through the radio.
Never will forget when I first heard “Maybellene.” I was on the farm in Lettsworth, La., out there in the middle of nowhere with nothing on my mind except pretty girls and hot blues. We had this broken-down battery radio with a raggedy antenna. I’m listening to WLAC, where they’re hawking Royal Crown hair pomade and Randy’s record store in Gallatin, Tenn., and here comes something I never heard before. Mind you, I was a good student of the blues. I knew all about Lightnin’ Slim and Muddy and Wolf and Little Walter and John Lee. But this shit was different. The guitar had a different twang and the story had a different twist. It was all about a V8 Ford chasing a Coupe de Ville and catching up with Maybellene on top of the hill. First time I saw how a song could be poetry in motion.
Chuck’s genius was an instant thing: He’d run into the studio without a guitar lick, nothing written down. Then, in 10 or 15 minutes, he’d write the song and record it on the spot. Of course, he had the help of my good buddy Johnnie Johnson, his pianist.
I’d have to call Chuck a mystery man. He traveled his own road, and he traveled alone. Later, I got to open for him several times, but there wasn’t any hanging out. He was a hit-and-quit cat. Gone before I had a chance to tell him how much I appreciated what he’d done for us all. He busted the thing wide open.
I was in St. Louis when I heard he passed. Made me do some deep thinking. You can talk about Guitar Slim being the first to use a long cord and stroll out of the club into the streets to grab the people’s attention. You can talk about T-Bone Walker being the first to marry up that fine jazz feeling with down-home electric blues. But I believe Chuck had a bigger first. He was the first to say that this music called rhythm and blues ain’t just for folks down south or up north -- this music is for the world.
Melissa Etheridge
Long before “Come to My Window,” she covered “Johnny B. Goode” in Kansas bars.
In the early ’70s, I was starting to play in local bands around Kansas, and “Johnny B. Goode” was a staple. Every time you did a Chuck Berry song, people were on the floor dancing, and getting people dancing was your job. Growing up in this lower middle class, suburban white bread existence, his music had no color. The things he was singing about were cool and interesting but they didn’t scare you. It was celebrating the joy of being in high school, it was that rock’n’roll dream. You looked at him and went, “Well, I like that guy!” Of course, he made the biggest impression on me with “My Ding-a-Ling.” I was in middle school, and that was just the naughtiest song I’d ever heard!
I did meet him at the [1995] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert in Cleveland. Bruce Springsteen came backstage and said, “Hey, we’re going to do ‘Rock and Roll Music,’ you, me and Chuck Berry.” My God, OK! It was kind of a disaster though. Chuck told Bruce and I that he was playing in the key of G, but he told the band E. I found out later he’d do that for fun, just to mess with people.
Doug Morris
Before becoming Sony chairman, he visited St. Louis to meet a man fond of flamboyant cars and pretty girls -- who could turn out a stellar song overnight.
While I was president of Atco Records, Chuck agreed to do an album with me [1979’s Rock It, Berry’s final studio album prior to the forthcoming Chuck]. Co-producer Kyle Lehning and I flew to St. Louis, and Chuck picked us up from the airport in what I recall was an elongated Cadillac with actual horns on the front fenders. It was a really flashy car. On the way back to Berry Park he kept making different stops. I said, “Why are we stopping at all these places?” He said, “I like hitting on all the girls here. I figure I get about one out of every eight.”
Chuck was a lot of fun, a big personality, but he was very serious about the music. We went to his studio and recorded with Johnnie Johnson from his original band. The first day Chuck played us some material, and it was all slow, Muddy Waters-type blues songs. I said to him, “I can’t put out a blues album. Where’s the uptempo stuff?” and he was like, “I haven’t done that recently. Give me till tomorrow.” The next day he had a whole album of jump tunes.
I remember we had to pay Chuck in cash, for everything. When I asked him why, he showed me a cigar box full of checks that had bounced.
Gary Clark Jr.
The masterful guitarist and singer has played with plenty of rock legends, but never met Berry (though he did open for him).
It’s like guitar for beginners: Whether they realize it or not, most people who play guitar start off learning Chuck Berry. I remember hearing “Maybellene” as a kid, and growing up in the ’80s I, of course, saw Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future doing “Johnny B. Goode.” But [Berry] always stood out to me. The way he approached songs, it was just complete freedom.
When I was a teenager, I got a chance to open up for him at the Paramount Theater in Austin. He had hired a backing group called The Eggmen, a Beatles cover band, and the only direction they got was “We’re going to play Chuck Berry songs.” He drove up in this white Lincoln right before the show, did his thing for maybe two hours, and these poor guys did the best they could. I never got a chance to speak to him, because he got in there, got his money, got back in the Lincoln and left. It was like something out of a movie -- so badass.
There was something about his presence and his confidence, his willingness to try to push the bar. His tone changed the game. I like the little, subtle things in his technique. He’s got this rhythm guitar thing that has this island beach vibe to it -- just listening, you might not pay much attention, but if you try to play it and sing it, it’s not easy. And then there’s that repetitive digging into the same note over and over again, but using octaves and multiple strings. You can hear Chuck Berry in most guitar-solo playing.
I wish I could have had a conversation with him, just to ask what he was into, what he listened to. I’m a guy that likes to take perfectly good things and pick them apart and try to put them back together, so it’s fun to think about what his sources were. I think about how he influenced artists like Jimi Hendrix. As a musician, you can get stuck in a box, stuck in repetition, because you think you 100 percent know what you’re doing. To have the foresight to change? That’s a pretty bold move. “You guys are doing this? Well, I’m going to do this.”
[www.billboard.com]
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
donvis
()
Date: March 25, 2017 19:03
CB II, my deeply profound heartfelt sympathies.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
latebloomer
()
Date: March 25, 2017 19:59
Quote
donvis
CB II, my deeply profound heartfelt sympathies.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
Lien
()
Date: March 27, 2017 11:11
Exclusive Keith Richards talks Chuck Berry: 'I've learned more and more from him over the years'
In trying to capture the momentous influence of Chuck Berry, who died March 18 at age 90, numerous obituaries and appreciations written in recent days have theorized that a number of rock ’n’ roll groups may never have formed were it not for his pioneering work.
But it’s no wild assumption to say that the Rolling Stones might never have existed had it not been for the Berry connection.
Guitarist Keith Richards famously introduced himself to Mick Jagger when they were teenagers who randomly found themselves on the same train in London.
“We happened to get in the same railway carriage together, and Mick was holding two Chess records,” Richards told The Times on Friday, taking time out from a early spring vacation to the Caribbean to discuss the incalculable impact Berry’s music had on him. One of those records in Jagger’s possession was a Berry album, the other was from Chicago blues great Muddy Waters.
See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »
“In those days in England, a carriage held about six people, and for some bizarre reason, I had this one to myself,” Richards said. “Suddenly, the door opened, in popped Mick and immediately, I spied what he’s got under his arm.”
That moment launched a friendship and artistic collaboration that’s lasted 55 years and counting. One of Berry’s most fervent musical disciples, Richards spoke to The Times about his lifelong love affair with Berry’s music and what it has meant not only to him but also to countless musicians who have followed in his wake.
How did Chuck Berry’s music first come onto your radar screen?
I’m sort of wondering if it was “Johnny B. Goode” or “Sweet Little Sixteen.” It was probably pretty much as soon as he recorded them, although it sometimes took a little while for American records to get to England.
Do you recall, as a teenage music fan, what it was that first grabbed you about his music: his guitar work, the groove, his voice or the lyric?
Yes, yes, yes and yes. (He laughs.)
I guess it was the combination of all of those things. To me, it had sort of a crystal clear clarity of what I wanted to hear, and what I was aiming for. In retrospect, it was Chess Records. That studio — it was amazing. [Bassist, songwriter and producer] Willie Dixon was in the band with [pianist] Johnnie Johnson, it was an amazing collection of musicians. And they were having fun — that was the underlying aspect of it all. There was an exuberance and they were not too serious. What was serious was what was going down — they weren’t serious about it (laughs again).
What was the first Chuck Berry song you learned to play?
The first was probably “Sweet Little Sixteen,” since I was about 16, or 15, at the time. There’s that lazy beat and a sweet little melody. After that the one that taught me was “Back in the USA.” The Beatles also learned it (laughs).
Was it Chuck Berry who first made you aware of Chess?
That’s a good question. At my age, in my stage of development at that time, yeah, I wanted to know where records were made, where the guy that made ’em came from. I was into all of that. To me, it was all important to find these sources of sound. That was my mission at the time. My real awareness of Chess Records was from Chuck Berry, but I was also listening to Muddy Waters, and I realized that these guys were working in the same room.... At the time, information was sparse but every little piece was treasured.
Obviously, that made a huge impression on the band, because on your first trip to the U.S. in 1964, you made sure to visit Chess, and record there as well.
We were amazed that that came together, and certainly that that room was available to be used. At the time, it felt like, wow, you think you’ve passed on and gone to heaven.
SNAP Video
Chuck Berry sings "Nadine" with an all-star band in "Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll."
Is there one Stones song you consider most thoroughly inspired by Chuck’s music?
Oh God, off the top of my head, I would say no, because we deliberately tried not to “do a Chuck Berry,” so to speak. But on every one, Chuck’s influence is there, for sure. And I love the fact that he could vary his music. When you listen to “[You] Never Can Tell,” he had a handle, he was very interested in various kinds of music. He used country music....[and] he was a great admirer of Hank Williams. We used to sit around talking about country writers.
Some cynics have suggested that Chuck wrote only one song and that he just rewrote it over and over again.
They obviously ain’t listening, pal. There are shallow listeners, you know.
But there are some superficial similarities — talk about some of the nuances that differentiate those signature introductions for “Johnny B. Goode,” “Carol” and “Little Queenie”?
I look upon that as sort of a clarion call, his way of saying, “I’m here.” That’s why those famous intros for “Johnny B. Goode,” “Carol” and “Little Queenie” are sort of the same. It was almost his own personal monogram on the damn thing before he would start.
People try and pick out things that are similar. Like Jimmy Reed — you want to talk about a guy who played the same song [repeatedly] and beautifully! It’s not that — it’s the variations on the theme that count. Also the effortless ease of that rhythm he could produce, which everybody else pumps away at. People don’t realize Chuck used his whole body to play that riff, he doesn’t just use his wrists. I’m still working on it.
If you ever saw him in concert, or look at old film footage, you really see how much body language there was in his performances.
Everything was syncopated and synchronized to his body movements. We all know the duck walk — that’s the famous one, and it’s a good one too. But if you look at old footage of him, playing in those times, those early movies, “Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” you see a sort of almost demonic power going on in that rhythm and his delivery of it. It always fascinated me.
You’ve often said it’s the “roll” in “rock ’n’ roll” that is the key thing for you. I was listening to his version of “Route 66” again and noticing how the guitar and piano play a pretty straight rhythm while the bass and drums really swing the beat. The way those things rub up against each other on that record strikes me as a great example of the “roll.”
This is the thing that fascinated us. It was that eight [beats]-to-the-bar against the four-to-the-bar swing feel. It could be produced if you had an upright bass.
When the electric bass came along, what happened is that basically everybody became a guitar player, and usually in the old days, it was the worst guitar player who got the bass. [He chuckles.] Also, [the bassist] automatically played the eight-to-the-bar like a guitar player would. That shifts the whole thing and that also shifts the drummer, because now on the high hat, he’s got different work to do. Then the beat stiffened and it became rock. Before that, the upright bass would swing it and it was basically four to the bar. That was the roll in rock [’n’ roll].
Mick’s statement after Chuck passed had a very interesting line in it that said, “His lyrics shone above others and threw a strange light on the American dream.” What was your awareness of racial tensions in the U.S. before you first came here — did you catch glimpses of it through the records you were hearing?
Only very slightly. Chuck was by then mainly aiming at a white audience, and he didn’t want to rub nobody the wrong way. I’d have to search to find the chip on the shoulder here and there, which he definitely had himself, especially after the jail [time he served on a conviction of transporting a minor across state lines “for immoral purposes”]. He came out another man after that, and I don’t blame him. It took me a while to get past the chip, but we managed.
Speaking of the chip on his shoulder, just about every story on Chuck’s life has mentioned that scene in Taylor Hackford’s 1987 documentary “Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll” where he reams you about not getting a guitar lick right in one of the songs you’re rehearsing. How do you look back on that exchange now?
At the time, I said, “I’m running this band, I’m going to let Chuck [mess] with me, and I’m going to show the rest of the guys in the band that I don’t give a [damn].” Because he was just playing with me. He’d give me a different riff every time I played it. I could have said, “Actually, I prefer to play it this way.” But I just thought I’d let him wear himself out on me.
When was the last time you got together with him?
The last time I saw Chuck was in Boston [in 2012], he got the [PEN New England’s Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence] award. Apparently, it was the first time they sort of acknowledged that songwriting could possibly be called literature. [He laughs.] Chuck was the first recipient, and I was there for him for that, and that was the last time I saw him. But we passed a few notes since.
Wasn’t that the ceremony where they also honored Leonard Cohen, and Cohen said, “All of us are footnotes to the words of Chuck Berry”?
Yeah, that was it.
Bob Dylan once said, “People don’t always realize how powerful the innovators are. Take someone like Chuck Berry. When his records came out, they were dangerous. There was nothing like them on the radio, they were like a stampede. Now all these bands just play it louder and faster and don’t really add anything to it. And so Chuck Berry, the creator, sounds ‘quaint’ and ‘old-fashioned.’… [Those records] are important pieces of art, and art isn’t looked at as something old or new, it’s looked at as something that moves ya.”
Would you agree?
This is true. I guess this is why you have to get beyond imitation. There is a certain part of me that still has my Chuck Berry niche, especially on the rhythm end, more than anything. I’ve learned more and more from him over the years of how to sling the hash. (He laughs.)
[www.latimes.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-27 11:15 by Lien.
In trying to capture the momentous influence of Chuck Berry, who died March 18 at age 90, numerous obituaries and appreciations written in recent days have theorized that a number of rock ’n’ roll groups may never have formed were it not for his pioneering work.
But it’s no wild assumption to say that the Rolling Stones might never have existed had it not been for the Berry connection.
Guitarist Keith Richards famously introduced himself to Mick Jagger when they were teenagers who randomly found themselves on the same train in London.
“We happened to get in the same railway carriage together, and Mick was holding two Chess records,” Richards told The Times on Friday, taking time out from a early spring vacation to the Caribbean to discuss the incalculable impact Berry’s music had on him. One of those records in Jagger’s possession was a Berry album, the other was from Chicago blues great Muddy Waters.
See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »
“In those days in England, a carriage held about six people, and for some bizarre reason, I had this one to myself,” Richards said. “Suddenly, the door opened, in popped Mick and immediately, I spied what he’s got under his arm.”
That moment launched a friendship and artistic collaboration that’s lasted 55 years and counting. One of Berry’s most fervent musical disciples, Richards spoke to The Times about his lifelong love affair with Berry’s music and what it has meant not only to him but also to countless musicians who have followed in his wake.
How did Chuck Berry’s music first come onto your radar screen?
I’m sort of wondering if it was “Johnny B. Goode” or “Sweet Little Sixteen.” It was probably pretty much as soon as he recorded them, although it sometimes took a little while for American records to get to England.
Do you recall, as a teenage music fan, what it was that first grabbed you about his music: his guitar work, the groove, his voice or the lyric?
Yes, yes, yes and yes. (He laughs.)
I guess it was the combination of all of those things. To me, it had sort of a crystal clear clarity of what I wanted to hear, and what I was aiming for. In retrospect, it was Chess Records. That studio — it was amazing. [Bassist, songwriter and producer] Willie Dixon was in the band with [pianist] Johnnie Johnson, it was an amazing collection of musicians. And they were having fun — that was the underlying aspect of it all. There was an exuberance and they were not too serious. What was serious was what was going down — they weren’t serious about it (laughs again).
What was the first Chuck Berry song you learned to play?
The first was probably “Sweet Little Sixteen,” since I was about 16, or 15, at the time. There’s that lazy beat and a sweet little melody. After that the one that taught me was “Back in the USA.” The Beatles also learned it (laughs).
Was it Chuck Berry who first made you aware of Chess?
That’s a good question. At my age, in my stage of development at that time, yeah, I wanted to know where records were made, where the guy that made ’em came from. I was into all of that. To me, it was all important to find these sources of sound. That was my mission at the time. My real awareness of Chess Records was from Chuck Berry, but I was also listening to Muddy Waters, and I realized that these guys were working in the same room.... At the time, information was sparse but every little piece was treasured.
Obviously, that made a huge impression on the band, because on your first trip to the U.S. in 1964, you made sure to visit Chess, and record there as well.
We were amazed that that came together, and certainly that that room was available to be used. At the time, it felt like, wow, you think you’ve passed on and gone to heaven.
SNAP Video
Chuck Berry sings "Nadine" with an all-star band in "Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll."
Is there one Stones song you consider most thoroughly inspired by Chuck’s music?
Oh God, off the top of my head, I would say no, because we deliberately tried not to “do a Chuck Berry,” so to speak. But on every one, Chuck’s influence is there, for sure. And I love the fact that he could vary his music. When you listen to “[You] Never Can Tell,” he had a handle, he was very interested in various kinds of music. He used country music....[and] he was a great admirer of Hank Williams. We used to sit around talking about country writers.
Some cynics have suggested that Chuck wrote only one song and that he just rewrote it over and over again.
They obviously ain’t listening, pal. There are shallow listeners, you know.
But there are some superficial similarities — talk about some of the nuances that differentiate those signature introductions for “Johnny B. Goode,” “Carol” and “Little Queenie”?
I look upon that as sort of a clarion call, his way of saying, “I’m here.” That’s why those famous intros for “Johnny B. Goode,” “Carol” and “Little Queenie” are sort of the same. It was almost his own personal monogram on the damn thing before he would start.
People try and pick out things that are similar. Like Jimmy Reed — you want to talk about a guy who played the same song [repeatedly] and beautifully! It’s not that — it’s the variations on the theme that count. Also the effortless ease of that rhythm he could produce, which everybody else pumps away at. People don’t realize Chuck used his whole body to play that riff, he doesn’t just use his wrists. I’m still working on it.
If you ever saw him in concert, or look at old film footage, you really see how much body language there was in his performances.
Everything was syncopated and synchronized to his body movements. We all know the duck walk — that’s the famous one, and it’s a good one too. But if you look at old footage of him, playing in those times, those early movies, “Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” you see a sort of almost demonic power going on in that rhythm and his delivery of it. It always fascinated me.
You’ve often said it’s the “roll” in “rock ’n’ roll” that is the key thing for you. I was listening to his version of “Route 66” again and noticing how the guitar and piano play a pretty straight rhythm while the bass and drums really swing the beat. The way those things rub up against each other on that record strikes me as a great example of the “roll.”
This is the thing that fascinated us. It was that eight [beats]-to-the-bar against the four-to-the-bar swing feel. It could be produced if you had an upright bass.
When the electric bass came along, what happened is that basically everybody became a guitar player, and usually in the old days, it was the worst guitar player who got the bass. [He chuckles.] Also, [the bassist] automatically played the eight-to-the-bar like a guitar player would. That shifts the whole thing and that also shifts the drummer, because now on the high hat, he’s got different work to do. Then the beat stiffened and it became rock. Before that, the upright bass would swing it and it was basically four to the bar. That was the roll in rock [’n’ roll].
Mick’s statement after Chuck passed had a very interesting line in it that said, “His lyrics shone above others and threw a strange light on the American dream.” What was your awareness of racial tensions in the U.S. before you first came here — did you catch glimpses of it through the records you were hearing?
Only very slightly. Chuck was by then mainly aiming at a white audience, and he didn’t want to rub nobody the wrong way. I’d have to search to find the chip on the shoulder here and there, which he definitely had himself, especially after the jail [time he served on a conviction of transporting a minor across state lines “for immoral purposes”]. He came out another man after that, and I don’t blame him. It took me a while to get past the chip, but we managed.
Speaking of the chip on his shoulder, just about every story on Chuck’s life has mentioned that scene in Taylor Hackford’s 1987 documentary “Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll” where he reams you about not getting a guitar lick right in one of the songs you’re rehearsing. How do you look back on that exchange now?
At the time, I said, “I’m running this band, I’m going to let Chuck [mess] with me, and I’m going to show the rest of the guys in the band that I don’t give a [damn].” Because he was just playing with me. He’d give me a different riff every time I played it. I could have said, “Actually, I prefer to play it this way.” But I just thought I’d let him wear himself out on me.
When was the last time you got together with him?
The last time I saw Chuck was in Boston [in 2012], he got the [PEN New England’s Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence] award. Apparently, it was the first time they sort of acknowledged that songwriting could possibly be called literature. [He laughs.] Chuck was the first recipient, and I was there for him for that, and that was the last time I saw him. But we passed a few notes since.
Wasn’t that the ceremony where they also honored Leonard Cohen, and Cohen said, “All of us are footnotes to the words of Chuck Berry”?
Yeah, that was it.
Bob Dylan once said, “People don’t always realize how powerful the innovators are. Take someone like Chuck Berry. When his records came out, they were dangerous. There was nothing like them on the radio, they were like a stampede. Now all these bands just play it louder and faster and don’t really add anything to it. And so Chuck Berry, the creator, sounds ‘quaint’ and ‘old-fashioned.’… [Those records] are important pieces of art, and art isn’t looked at as something old or new, it’s looked at as something that moves ya.”
Would you agree?
This is true. I guess this is why you have to get beyond imitation. There is a certain part of me that still has my Chuck Berry niche, especially on the rhythm end, more than anything. I’ve learned more and more from him over the years of how to sling the hash. (He laughs.)
[www.latimes.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-27 11:15 by Lien.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
Cristiano Radtke
()
Date: March 27, 2017 11:24
Nice interview, Lien. Thanks for posting.
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: March 27, 2017 11:38
Quote
Lien
Exclusive Keith Richards talks Chuck Berry: 'I've learned more and more from him over the years'
In trying to capture the momentous influence of Chuck Berry, who died March 18 at age 90, numerous obituaries and appreciations written in recent days have theorized that a number of rock ’n’ roll groups may never have formed were it not for his pioneering work.
But it’s no wild assumption to say that the Rolling Stones might never have existed had it not been for the Berry connection.
Guitarist Keith Richards famously introduced himself to Mick Jagger when they were teenagers who randomly found themselves on the same train in London.
“We happened to get in the same railway carriage together, and Mick was holding two Chess records,” Richards told The Times on Friday, taking time out from a early spring vacation to the Caribbean to discuss the incalculable impact Berry’s music had on him. One of those records in Jagger’s possession was a Berry album, the other was from Chicago blues great Muddy Waters.
See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »
“In those days in England, a carriage held about six people, and for some bizarre reason, I had this one to myself,” Richards said. “Suddenly, the door opened, in popped Mick and immediately, I spied what he’s got under his arm.”
That moment launched a friendship and artistic collaboration that’s lasted 55 years and counting. One of Berry’s most fervent musical disciples, Richards spoke to The Times about his lifelong love affair with Berry’s music and what it has meant not only to him but also to countless musicians who have followed in his wake.
How did Chuck Berry’s music first come onto your radar screen?
I’m sort of wondering if it was “Johnny B. Goode” or “Sweet Little Sixteen.” It was probably pretty much as soon as he recorded them, although it sometimes took a little while for American records to get to England.
Do you recall, as a teenage music fan, what it was that first grabbed you about his music: his guitar work, the groove, his voice or the lyric?
Yes, yes, yes and yes. (He laughs.)
I guess it was the combination of all of those things. To me, it had sort of a crystal clear clarity of what I wanted to hear, and what I was aiming for. In retrospect, it was Chess Records. That studio — it was amazing. [Bassist, songwriter and producer] Willie Dixon was in the band with [pianist] Johnnie Johnson, it was an amazing collection of musicians. And they were having fun — that was the underlying aspect of it all. There was an exuberance and they were not too serious. What was serious was what was going down — they weren’t serious about it (laughs again).
What was the first Chuck Berry song you learned to play?
The first was probably “Sweet Little Sixteen,” since I was about 16, or 15, at the time. There’s that lazy beat and a sweet little melody. After that the one that taught me was “Back in the USA.” The Beatles also learned it (laughs).
Was it Chuck Berry who first made you aware of Chess?
That’s a good question. At my age, in my stage of development at that time, yeah, I wanted to know where records were made, where the guy that made ’em came from. I was into all of that. To me, it was all important to find these sources of sound. That was my mission at the time. My real awareness of Chess Records was from Chuck Berry, but I was also listening to Muddy Waters, and I realized that these guys were working in the same room.... At the time, information was sparse but every little piece was treasured.
Obviously, that made a huge impression on the band, because on your first trip to the U.S. in 1964, you made sure to visit Chess, and record there as well.
We were amazed that that came together, and certainly that that room was available to be used. At the time, it felt like, wow, you think you’ve passed on and gone to heaven.
SNAP Video
Chuck Berry sings "Nadine" with an all-star band in "Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll."
Is there one Stones song you consider most thoroughly inspired by Chuck’s music?
Oh God, off the top of my head, I would say no, because we deliberately tried not to “do a Chuck Berry,” so to speak. But on every one, Chuck’s influence is there, for sure. And I love the fact that he could vary his music. When you listen to “[You] Never Can Tell,” he had a handle, he was very interested in various kinds of music. He used country music....[and] he was a great admirer of Hank Williams. We used to sit around talking about country writers.
Some cynics have suggested that Chuck wrote only one song and that he just rewrote it over and over again.
They obviously ain’t listening, pal. There are shallow listeners, you know.
But there are some superficial similarities — talk about some of the nuances that differentiate those signature introductions for “Johnny B. Goode,” “Carol” and “Little Queenie”?
I look upon that as sort of a clarion call, his way of saying, “I’m here.” That’s why those famous intros for “Johnny B. Goode,” “Carol” and “Little Queenie” are sort of the same. It was almost his own personal monogram on the damn thing before he would start.
People try and pick out things that are similar. Like Jimmy Reed — you want to talk about a guy who played the same song [repeatedly] and beautifully! It’s not that — it’s the variations on the theme that count. Also the effortless ease of that rhythm he could produce, which everybody else pumps away at. People don’t realize Chuck used his whole body to play that riff, he doesn’t just use his wrists. I’m still working on it.
If you ever saw him in concert, or look at old film footage, you really see how much body language there was in his performances.
Everything was syncopated and synchronized to his body movements. We all know the duck walk — that’s the famous one, and it’s a good one too. But if you look at old footage of him, playing in those times, those early movies, “Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” you see a sort of almost demonic power going on in that rhythm and his delivery of it. It always fascinated me.
You’ve often said it’s the “roll” in “rock ’n’ roll” that is the key thing for you. I was listening to his version of “Route 66” again and noticing how the guitar and piano play a pretty straight rhythm while the bass and drums really swing the beat. The way those things rub up against each other on that record strikes me as a great example of the “roll.”
This is the thing that fascinated us. It was that eight [beats]-to-the-bar against the four-to-the-bar swing feel. It could be produced if you had an upright bass.
When the electric bass came along, what happened is that basically everybody became a guitar player, and usually in the old days, it was the worst guitar player who got the bass. [He chuckles.] Also, [the bassist] automatically played the eight-to-the-bar like a guitar player would. That shifts the whole thing and that also shifts the drummer, because now on the high hat, he’s got different work to do. Then the beat stiffened and it became rock. Before that, the upright bass would swing it and it was basically four to the bar. That was the roll in rock [’n’ roll].
Mick’s statement after Chuck passed had a very interesting line in it that said, “His lyrics shone above others and threw a strange light on the American dream.” What was your awareness of racial tensions in the U.S. before you first came here — did you catch glimpses of it through the records you were hearing?
Only very slightly. Chuck was by then mainly aiming at a white audience, and he didn’t want to rub nobody the wrong way. I’d have to search to find the chip on the shoulder here and there, which he definitely had himself, especially after the jail [time he served on a conviction of transporting a minor across state lines “for immoral purposes”]. He came out another man after that, and I don’t blame him. It took me a while to get past the chip, but we managed.
Speaking of the chip on his shoulder, just about every story on Chuck’s life has mentioned that scene in Taylor Hackford’s 1987 documentary “Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll” where he reams you about not getting a guitar lick right in one of the songs you’re rehearsing. How do you look back on that exchange now?
At the time, I said, “I’m running this band, I’m going to let Chuck [mess] with me, and I’m going to show the rest of the guys in the band that I don’t give a [damn].” Because he was just playing with me. He’d give me a different riff every time I played it. I could have said, “Actually, I prefer to play it this way.” But I just thought I’d let him wear himself out on me.
When was the last time you got together with him?
The last time I saw Chuck was in Boston [in 2012], he got the [PEN New England’s Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence] award. Apparently, it was the first time they sort of acknowledged that songwriting could possibly be called literature. [He laughs.] Chuck was the first recipient, and I was there for him for that, and that was the last time I saw him. But we passed a few notes since.
Wasn’t that the ceremony where they also honored Leonard Cohen, and Cohen said, “All of us are footnotes to the words of Chuck Berry”?
Yeah, that was it.
Bob Dylan once said, “People don’t always realize how powerful the innovators are. Take someone like Chuck Berry. When his records came out, they were dangerous. There was nothing like them on the radio, they were like a stampede. Now all these bands just play it louder and faster and don’t really add anything to it. And so Chuck Berry, the creator, sounds ‘quaint’ and ‘old-fashioned.’… [Those records] are important pieces of art, and art isn’t looked at as something old or new, it’s looked at as something that moves ya.”
Would you agree?
This is true. I guess this is why you have to get beyond imitation. There is a certain part of me that still has my Chuck Berry niche, especially on the rhythm end, more than anything. I’ve learned more and more from him over the years of how to sling the hash. (He laughs.)
[www.latimes.com]
An excellent read, thanks!
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
frankotero
()
Date: March 27, 2017 15:40
Absolutely great words above. Kind of says everything really. Thanks to Keef!
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
hopkins
()
Date: March 27, 2017 23:59
Keith Richards & Jerry Lee Lewis - Little Queenie 1983 TV
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
Re: RIP Chuck Berry
Posted by:
georgelicks
()
Date: March 28, 2017 03:12
Chuck Berry's Back in the Top 40 of Billboard 200 Albums Chart for First Time in More Than 40 Years
3/27/2017 by Keith Caulfield
The late Chuck Berry ranks in the top 40 of the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time in more than 40 years, as the rock and roll legend, who died on March 18, debuts at No. 33 on the April 8-dated list with the greatest hits compilation The Definitive Collection.
The set marks Berry’s first visit to the top 40 -- and his highest-charting album -- since 1972. That year, his The London Chuck Berry Sessions (which includes his No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 novelty hit “My Ding-a-Ling”) spent 20 weeks in the top 40, peaking at No. 8 on the Oct. 28, 1972-dated chart.
The Definitive Collection, released in 2005, earned 13,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 23 (up from a negligible amount in the previous week), according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 6,000 were in traditional album sales.
The Definitive Collection marks Berry’s first visit to the Billboard 200 since 2012, when another hits package, The Best of Chuck Berry: 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection spent four weeks on the list, peaking at No. 134. The Definitive Collection boasts Berry’s familiar hit singles like “Johnny B. Goode,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “No Particular Place to Go” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”
[www.billboard.com]
3/27/2017 by Keith Caulfield
The late Chuck Berry ranks in the top 40 of the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time in more than 40 years, as the rock and roll legend, who died on March 18, debuts at No. 33 on the April 8-dated list with the greatest hits compilation The Definitive Collection.
The set marks Berry’s first visit to the top 40 -- and his highest-charting album -- since 1972. That year, his The London Chuck Berry Sessions (which includes his No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 novelty hit “My Ding-a-Ling”) spent 20 weeks in the top 40, peaking at No. 8 on the Oct. 28, 1972-dated chart.
The Definitive Collection, released in 2005, earned 13,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 23 (up from a negligible amount in the previous week), according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 6,000 were in traditional album sales.
The Definitive Collection marks Berry’s first visit to the Billboard 200 since 2012, when another hits package, The Best of Chuck Berry: 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection spent four weeks on the list, peaking at No. 134. The Definitive Collection boasts Berry’s familiar hit singles like “Johnny B. Goode,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “No Particular Place to Go” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”
[www.billboard.com]
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