RIP Chuck Berry

ArnieZ

ArnieZ

Well-known member
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Nothing else to say, his time has come. So many accolades, we all know what they are. He's duck walkin somewhere else now. Sadly did not always enjoy a reputation as a good guy

ArnieZ

 
Chuck was as big a name as you could ever be in rock and roll.  I got to see him play on stage in Atlanta once. 

 
I remember a debate over what the first Rock and Roll song ever recorded was. A friend said "I don't know but I can tell you when it was invented. The day Chuck Berry picked up the electric guitar"

RIP Chuck. Thanks for the timeless tunes and influence

 
Probably lived longer than he should of, but definitely left his mark and paved the way.  RIP Mr. Berry

 
Brown Eyed Handsome Man

/kinda pervy, but aren't we all. Thank Ted ours is gear related.

 
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Sadly, his only U.S. #1 single was My Ding-A-Ling (according to Wikipedia)...in 1972.  John Lennon lost a copyright infringement case over Come Together, because of Berry's song You Can't Catch Me:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jKrHzps0XM

RIP Chuck, you taught a bunch of us how to play guitar.

 
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Arguably the progenitor or rock 'n' roll and definitely its first superstar.  A monster influence with an ego to match.  Worked with him briefly in the early/mid 80's.  Wish I could say it was a pleasant experience, but I'll never forget it and I'm glad for the time. As a native St. Louisan I could spin Chuck yarns for days.  RIP Chuck, you old curmudgeon.

 
The man who started it all.  He wasn't a saint, he was a god.



 
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tomteriffic said:
Arguably the progenitor or rock 'n' roll and definitely its first superstar.  A monster influence with an ego to match.  Worked with him briefly in the early/mid 80's.  Wish I could say it was a pleasant experience, but I'll never forget it and I'm glad for the time. As a native St. Louisan I could spin Chuck yarns for days.  RIP Chuck, you old curmudgeon.
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You weren't one of the members of his many touring back-up bands, were you?   B)

 
marc61 said:
I remember a debate over what the first Rock and Roll song ever recorded was. A friend said "I don't know but I can tell you when it was invented. The day Chuck Berry picked up the electric guitar"

RIP Chuck. Thanks for the timeless tunes and influence
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well to be fair he pulled everything from T-Bone Walker.  But Chuck made it his own.

 
Chuck Berry.  The Arnold Palmer of RnR.  Both men brought their craft to the masses thru the TV.  Not a guitar player alive can say they were not influenced by Chuck Berry.  Big heroes.  Who can forget watching Chuck Berry duck walking his way across Ed Sullivan's stage.  Who can forget Arnie chasing putts into the hole.  Chuck's biggest achievement may be giving middle age, white men from the suburbs the desire to dance at weddings. 

Thanks Chuck, Thanks. Here's to ya Chuck.  At midnight we should all make a toast to Chuck.  CHEERS!!
caddie

ps-He's hailed as the guitar player who invented RnR,  no arguments here.  He was also the king of writing RnR lyrics. A master.
Way down in LOOziana close to New Orleans.  Way back up in the woods among the evergreens.   You know exactly what he is describing, he wrote lyrics that compel your imagination to paint a picture. 

 
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Interesting guy.  I've got a pretty complicated opinion of him, personally, but no denying the tunes. 

...but seriously, when a guy who wants to play country music admits himself that writing that hip, new music, suburban kids were digging was an effort to capitalize on what folks like Little Richard were already doing, saying he was an inventor of a genre he was making a purely commercial effort at seems a bit of a stretch on its face. 

SORRY!  I COULDN'T NOT TYPE IT!  I TRIED! 

I do think there is a solid argument that he was the first guitar hero in rock though. 

 
R.I.P. Mr. Berry. Thanks for igniting a fire in many a hand! I have enjoyed many of the riffs that have sprang from your fingers and because of those riffs.



 
                                                           Sorry to hear of his passing.................his reputation of having it HIS way was well known.Talent was huge but so was his ego............................I knew some people long ago that had played with him in one of those pickup bands you mention,he was all business and no B.S., he did not suffer fools gladly................ get the $$$$ do the gig and I'm on my way so get out of my way.he influenced a TON of guitarists.Another legend gone.

 
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crunchee said:
You weren't one of the members of his many touring back-up bands, were you?   B)
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Chuck didn't have touring back-up bands, he had pick-up bands he had never met wherever he was playing.  You don't have to look far for the horror/humor stories. 

No, I was roped in to doing a little recording work during a period of time when, aware of the damage pickup band shows were doing to his reputation, he was trying to put together a steady band.  The real musical brains behind Chuck, Johnnie Johnson, was on the outs with Chuck at the time so it was up to Chuck to do the leg work. Local legend Billy Peek eventually got the nod.  For a while.  While Chuck was casting about, he tapped a band I was doing FOH sound for and "road managing".  The recording work was really a series of auditions, but we didn't know that.  Chuck and the leader/keyboardist of that band had an immediate ego clash and, since I also played keys, I was thrown into the gap.

Needless to say after a lot of false starts and pissing around, nothing ever came of it.  There's a saying around St. Louis that probably persists to this day.  It says that you aren't really a musician unless you've played with Chuck enough to call him an asshole. :lol:

To the man's credit, he continued to perform at least once a month at a local showcase club up until quite recently.  And friends and relations back there tell me he mellowed quite a bit in his old age.  And he was a very good player, not just in his genre.  He could pull out a 40's or 50's jazz or pop standard and do it justice.

Still, the influence is undeniable and I've lost count of how many big-deal concerts in the 70's closed with Johnny B Goode. Smooth sailin'.

 
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tomteriffic said:
Chuck didn't have touring back-up bands, he had pick-up bands he had never met wherever he was playing.  You don't have to look far for the horror/humor stories. 

No, I was roped in to doing a little recording work during a period of time when, aware of the damage pickup band shows were doing to his reputation, he was trying to put together a steady band.  The real musical brains behind Chuck, Johnnie Johnson, was on the outs with Chuck at the time so it was up to Chuck to do the leg work. Local legend Billy Peek eventually got the nod.  For a while.  While Chuck was casting about, he tapped a band I was doing FOH sound for and "road managing".  The recording work was really a series of auditions, but we didn't know that.  Chuck and the leader/keyboardist of that band had an immediate ego clash and, since I also played keys, I was thrown into the gap.

Needless to say after a lot of false starts and pissing around, nothing ever came of it.  There's a saying around St. Louis that probably persists to this day.  It says that you aren't really a musician unless you've played with Chuck enough to call him an asshole. :lol:

To the man's credit, he continued to perform at least once a month at a local showcase club up until quite recently.  And friends and relations back there tell me he mellowed quite a bit in his old age.  And he was a very good player, not just in his genre.  He could pull out a 40's or 50's jazz or pop standard and do it justice.

Still, the influence is undeniable and I've lost count of how many big-deal concerts in the 70's closed with Johnny B Goode. Smooth sailin'.
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I remember hearing about the pick-up bands now, I think that was what I had originally meant to refer to, though I was kinda hoping that wasn't always the case.  Thanks for the clarification!   :)

 
When they got him for tax evasion, I bought a "Free Chuck Berry" shirt with him duck walking behind bars when I was in Charleston South Carolina for a family wedding.  I was told the proceeds were going to his appeal.  I wore it my senior year in high school and was told it was "racist" and I couldn't wear it anymore.  Some things never change.  I wore it at band gigs for years with a blazer.

I loved Chuck Berry.  Frank Marino at the Lakeland Civic Center told the audience that Johnny B. Goode was the best song ever written.  True story. 

 
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