Johnny Not Be Good?

Yeah, people "lose it" when they age - and everyone expects someone his age to have lost some of the flame they had while younger.........but.....We still like to go see the great ones perform, first just to see them in person, and second to pay tribute to everything they've given us over the years.

CB has to be one of the most under-rated artists who ever lived. Maybe some self-sabotage contributed to that - but people just don't realize he was one of the really first/original rock and roll artists -

(maybe why he's lived so long - a major consolation prize).

Keep on Rockin' Chuck Berry!

Many claim the Beatles and/or Stones as being the most influential musical artists of all time, but let's not forget that Chuck influenced them, and many others.

Another one who's legacy will remain no matter what happens to them physically.

Thanks == that was a blast I needed right now.

One of my fav musical clips with John lennon explaining Chucks' place in music history and the son performing Johnny B. with Chuck.

Chuck Berry is great! I love Johnny Be Good. I am glad he is still out there having fun... but it is quite sad.

Saw him live about 1974.....watched from 20 feet away...awesome show....
Sadly he has changed....

But the years have a tendency to do that...

I don't run that fast.....anymore....))

What are you talking about? 87 and still rocking?! Looked good to me. My father never even made it to that decade, never mind world-tour rocking stages.

Chck Berry invented rock and roll guitar. His style has been copied by so many, I think at times we forget just how innovative he really was. His style and songs were so popular, he didn't even tour with his own band. He'd just play with local musicians because "everyone" knew Chuck Berry songs, saving him the expenses of traveling with a band.

I listen to alot of guitar music from this era and no one played guitar like CB before CB.

He was also a big fan of Nat King Cole and worked hard to enunciate his words fully when singing.

CB said he wasn't allowed to listen to country music growing up, so he'd listen to the blues radio station during the day, then at night when his parents went to sleep, he'd turn on the country radio station.

But it's not only his playing. It's also his showmanship. He was the first guitar player that became the "leader of the band" and made electric guitar the focus of rock and roll.

Maybellene was actually an updated version of an old country song called Ida Red, which was released by Bob Willis and the Texas Playboys in the 1930s.

If I were to create the Mt. Rushmore of Rock and Roll, it would have Elvis, The Beatles, The Stones and Chuck Berry on it.

Even though he's lip syncing and his guitar isn't even plugged in, this may be my favorite CB video...he's just soooo cool!



Meanwhile...I was still thinking...

Here's a rare instrumental from CB:


Chuck Berry plays The Blues:

The very first Check Berry video I ever saw - I was 8:

I cannot support Chuck Berry! He got his sound from a fluke phone call at a high-school dance...

He should have been thanking his cousin Marvin at every performance for that phone call.

Without it, he would have never had his sound and he would have been a nobody.

While every player is influenced by those that came before, and CB was definately a fan of T-Bone's, Chuck combined blues and rockabilly and c/w and took it to whole new level.


BTW, if you're going to post a T-Bone Walker song to try to make a point, you should pick one that actually sounds a little closer to CB, something like Guitar Boogie.

And, as I posted before "Maybellene" was created directly from Bob Wills' Ida Red, just changing the lyrics and instraments:

Take T-Bone and The Texas Playboys, mix it up and give it a rock beat and that's Chuck Berry. Here's the original version of Maybellene:

yeah kurt ROCK-a-billy - i remember dat.

but please - chuck berry is a ROCKER. billy or roll!
he was a cowboy! i just can't put him with C&W in my mind - cowboy is as close as i can spit it out. (i know you are the expert tho')

(and by the way your original video @ the top makes me really sad. it took a while to sink in - the implications - if he really doesn't realize what is happening?) i was thinking he was just being ornery for the first few hours after watching it. like purposely teasing - never really giving people what they wanted to hear?

but then my mother is about to turn 90 and she can seem spaced out like that at times (mostly from being over-doped by MDs), and ever the dictator. so is anybody saying he has symptoms of dementia, senility, or Alzhiemers?

I think that all credit for Chuck Berry's music should go to Ludwig Van Beethoven, why not.

Yeah, ol chuck may be getting a bit older and crustier but man...to be having fun, doing what you love and helping people enjoy life more at 89 years old. Pretty awesome.

Go Chuck Go.