ArnieZ Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 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
Steve Haynie Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 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.
marc61 Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 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
Steve Haynie Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 Ted Nugent just posted a video of himself playing Johnny B. Goode. Every night he plays, Ted always names Chuck Berry when he talks to the audience.
G Man Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 Probably lived longer than he should of, but definitely left his mark and paved the way. RIP Mr. Berry
Rockola Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 Brown Eyed Handsome Man /kinda pervy, but aren't we all. Thank Ted ours is gear related.
crunchee Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 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.
tomteriffic Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 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.
Michael_B Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 The man who started it all. He wasn't a saint, he was a god.
crunchee Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 9 minutes ago, 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. You weren't one of the members of his many touring back-up bands, were you?
SteveB Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 1 hour ago, 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 well to be fair he pulled everything from T-Bone Walker. But Chuck made it his own.
Caddie Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 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.
LucSulla Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 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.
BTMN Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 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.
ARM OF HAMER Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 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.
tomteriffic Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 1 hour ago, crunchee said: You weren't one of the members of his many touring back-up bands, were you? 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. 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'.
crunchee Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 15 minutes ago, 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. 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'. 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!
The Shark Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 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.
sixlicks Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 Chuck Berry`s music made my life more enjoyable .
mc2 Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry" ......... John Lennon I always wondered what Chuck Berry thought of this ingenious scene from "Back to the Future." www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykNKCg64H7g R.I.P. Chuck.
zorrow Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 A musical icon is gone. He was a true guitar hero --arguably the first ever. Entertaining, engaging and influential, his music stood the test of time. I will pay him homage today by playing some of his songs. RIP!
Jakeboy Posted March 19, 2017 Posted March 19, 2017 I think Bob Seger says it best at every gig he plays: "All Chuck's children are out there playing his licks." I still am. So are Richards and Perry. I took from them as they took from Berry. King of the double-stop riff.
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