Chuck Berry, who with his indelible guitar licks, brash self-confidence and memorable songs about cars, girls and wild dance parties did as much as anyone to define rock ‘n’ roll’s potential and attitude in its early years, died on Saturday. …
While Elvis Presley was rock’s first pop star and teenage heartthrob, Mr. Berry was its master theorist and conceptual genius, the songwriter who understood what the kids wanted before they knew themselves. …
‘Johnny B. Goode’ is on golden records within the Voyager I and II spacecraft, launched in 1977 and awaiting discovery.
(New York Times, March 18, 2017)
I like Chuck Berry’s music well enough. But I’m hardly a fan. I never bought any of his records. I never attended any of his concerts.
Yet I know enough about his pioneering role in the music industry to appreciate why he is hailed as “the father of rock ‘n’ roll.” But, with all due respect to Elvis, I suspect Berry would rather be hailed as “the king” – not least because rock ‘n’ roll has nearly as many founding fathers as the United States, including Bill Haley, Sam Phillips, Little Richard, and Fats Domino.
All the same, in keeping with current trends, Berry’s death unleashed an outpouring of tweets from other famous people. What’s more, your appreciation of his significance is probably limited to their tweets; that is, unless you’re a Luddite like me – who opted for traditional obits in the mainstream media.
But I’m not sure how much their tweets honor him. After all, there’s only so much one can say in 140 characters. Worse still, everyone – from Barack Obama to Mick Jagger, Bill Clinton to Bette Midler, Brian Wilson to Bootsy Collins, and Steven King to Arnold Schwarzenegger – sent tweets of condolences composed of platitudes that any twit could write.
It started with Chuck Berry. He inspired us all. The 1st album I bought was Chuck’s ‘Live at the Tivoli’ and I was never the same.
— Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) March 18, 2017
I had a distinct sense of déjà vu reading their tweets, which flooded the mainstream media, masquerading as worthy tributes. Because, if I did not know better, I would’ve sworn I read the same platitudes, by the same people, when Bo Diddley died in 2008.
Except that these famous people can be forgiven this apparent recycling because Berry and Diddley’s careers bore uncanny similarities. In this vein, the following excerpt from “Bo Diddley, Rock ‘n’ Roll Pioneer, Is Dead,” June 5, 2008, is instructive.
__________________
Like so many other (black) pioneers, Diddley got little credit and even less in royalties from these rock stars [eulogizing him] who pilfered his music so unabashedly. Not to mention the crooked (white) managers who paid themselves from his earnings as if they not only wrote his songs but performed them too.
‘I opened the door for a lot of people, and they just ran through and left me holding the knob. … Have I been recognized? No, no, no.’ (Bo Diddley to the New York Times in 2003)
[T]he highlights of his career include being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and receiving a Grammy lifetime achievement award. Remarkably, he never won a Grammy for any of his pioneering songs.
I suspect few of you even know who Bo Diddley was. But suffice it to know that if you like the music of Chuck Berry, Little Richard or BB King, you’re going to love Diddley’s.
__________________
Remarkably, like Diddley, Berry never won a Grammy for any of his pioneering songs. Therefore, he too could only point to being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and receiving a few Grammy lifetime achievement awards (for sticking around) as the highlights of his career.
Of course, many other notable performers never won a Grammy during their lifetime. They include Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, and David Bowie, whose posthumous album Blackstar was, by far, his most successful – complete with four Grammy awards.
But what does it say about the music industry that the father of rock ‘n’ roll never won its highest honor. Frankly, it says that the artists he sired – from the Rolling Stones to Bruno Mars – are self-centered, self-serving, ungrateful bastards. Only this explains them honoring him in death in ways they never did in life.
On the other hand, when it came to the sex and drugs associated with rock ‘n’ roll, Bo didn’t know Diddley. Berry put him to shame.
Specifically, the scroll of Berry’s legacy includes both statutory rape and a drug raid. But he padded it with other rocker lore – including charges for armed robbery, tax evasion, and secretly filming dozens of women in a lavatory. Not to mention having a notoriously pugnacious temperament, which had him kicking backup musicians off stage and striking out at fellow headliners like Keith Richards.
No doubt, as mitigation in this respect, Berry would cite the fact that his long-suffering wife, Themetta, saw enough redeeming good in him to stick around for 68 years.
That said, I hope for his family’s sake that, just like Bowie, Berry enjoys greater success in death than he did in life.
Don’t get me started on his self-professed fans taking to social media to share how much his music meant to them. After all, if just a fraction of them had actually purchased his music, Bowie’s last hit single would not have been ‘Let’s Dance’ … over 30 years ago. Mind you, he probably couldn’t have cared any less.
Ironically, apropos of hits, that is bound to change with the timely release, just two days before he died, of Blackstar, his requiem/farewell album. It’s trending; therefore, millions of social-media twits must have it.
(“David Bowie, Gender-Bending Performing Artist, Is Dead” The iPINIONS Journal, January 12, 2016)
In this sense, Berry’s death was timely, especially given this:
[F]ans worried that the rock legend’s recent death would complicate plans for the release of his first album of new music in nearly 40 years can lay those fears to rest.
According to a statement released by Berry’s estate following his death, the new LP — titled Chuck and announced last year on the guitarist’s 89th birthday — is still very much in the works. Citing the ‘many inquiries’ they’ve fielded from fans and media, Berry’s surviving family issued strong assurances that Chuck’s on its way — and we’ll be hearing our first samples very soon.
(Ultimate Classic Rock, March 20, 2017)
And this:
Audio plays of Berry’s classic tunes are enjoying an uptick.
On Spotify, less than 2 million monthly users usually follow the musician. Sunday, the music sharing site showed over 45 million users had listened to his 1958 ground-breaking single, ‘Johnny B. Goode.’
(New York Post, March 20, 2017)
Ka-ching!
Of course, a Grammy or two for Chuck would do – too.
So here’s to Berry’s mercenary spirit helping family members fight (white) producers and distributors for their fair share of the profits from this posthumous album. Which would be entirely consistent with the way he spent most his career fighting everyone – from concert promoters to radio stations – for his fair share from every stream of revenue he generated.
Berry died at his home near St. Louis, Missouri. He was 90.
Farewell, Chuck.
Related commentaries:
Bo Diddley…
David Bowie…