RIP Chuck Berry

fretmeister

just announced in BBC.

shaunm

such a shame, he is without doubt one of the most influential musicians of the last 100 years.

fretmeister

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39318602#

Moss

A true legend

96 is a damn good innings, though

Octafish

Not a bad old age. Saw him live in 1990, amazing performance.

Octafish

Moss said:

A true legend

96 is a damn good innings, though

He was 90, but still a good innings.

Teetonetal

Massively influential. Enough said.

koneguitarist

Brilliant writer and guitarist of his time that influenced every guitar player. 
But a nasty piece of work that ain't done a decent thing since the 60's. 
Would love to have seen him in his heyday, must have been awesome. 

scrumhalf

A giant amongst 20th century musicians, and one of the century's finest poets. His lyrics were wonderful.

proggy

That's a shame. RIP Chuck Berry.

DulcetJones

Sad to hear this but he sure had a full life.  He was among the large pool of guitarists that made me want to pick up a guitar.

Octafish

koneguitarist said:

Brilliant writer and guitarist of his time that influenced every guitar player. 
But a nasty piece of work that ain't done a decent thing since the 60's. 
Would love to have seen him in his heyday, must have been awesome. 

He was pretty awesome at the age of 63 when I saw he live. Sure he hadn't written anything decent for decades, but he was really sharp on stage and still played, sung and danced like a man half his age. His backing band were really tight (local pickup band) and he just shouted the songs to them as he went along.

The venue was a 2000 seater theatre type and towards the end those at the front were getting up and dancing, which did not please the security guys who starting making people sit down. Chuck Berry saw this happening and stopped the band mid-song, and angrily told the security guys to leave the audience alone, then helped a load of them up onto stage and then carried on playing. The local paper reported sightings of him boarding the last train to London that evening with guitar case in hand, such was his dislike of any unnecessary expenses.

mudslide73

His influence is massive via Beatles, Stones , Clapton etc. As I've mentioned a few times on here I particularly love the lyrics in his songs especially. 

Flink_Poyd

DulcetJones said:

Sad to hear this but he sure had a full life.  He was among the large pool of guitarists that made me want to pick up a guitar.

Yes, apparently he also punched Keith Richards in the face. I hope to follow in his footsteps

artiebear

been reading some of the comments on the BBC site. What a vacuous .ill informed place we live in. Idiots talked about George Michael as a Messiah but don't realise that Chuck gave us much of rock'n; roll as we know it, and the basis of every riff that a 13 year old kid is currently trying to nail in a bedroom on first guitar. Sad day

Evilmags

Saw him at 64. He was awesome. Played with the better guys who were regulars at the Preservation hall IRRC

Ally

Have I got my memories wrong?

Did he not have two cases of abuse of minors against him that he traded (pleaded to a lessor charge) or bought his way out of? Also a known abuser in general.

Good music no doubt, but can't help feeling he should have faced some kind of justice before death.

Harsh? Keen to know thoughts. Not looking for arguments here as I might be misrembering things here, and could do with some views. 

Philly_Q

Johnny B Goode was one of the very first songs I failed to learn to play properly.

RIP Chuck.

tone1

Bloody Hell..I was only playing Johnny b Goode this afternoon..RIP

EricTheWeary

Ally said:

Have I got my memories wrong?

Did he not have two cases of abuse of minors against him that he traded (pleaded to a lessor charge) or bought his way out of? Also a known abuser in general.

Good music no doubt, but can't help feeling he should have faced some kind of justice before death.

Harsh? Keen to know thoughts. Not looking for arguments here as I might be misrembering things here, and could do with some views. 

He had at least three prison sentences for various things. I think what happened in 1960 he pleaded guilty to marijuana charges in place of a transporting a minor charge but it came up again (I'm slightly confused by this process I'll admit) and he went to prison in 1962 for the transporting charge. Chuck maintained his innocence, there was no charge of assault as such (as I understand it) and a white judge , white jury, prominent black guy and a southern state might have added up to a miscarriage of justice. I think later on he was found guilty of taking illicit photos of women in his restaurant toilet. Chuck made very little money out of music and made ( and often lost)his money in real estate and restaurants. 

Regardless of his personal behaviour he was a huge influence on western popular music heavily influencing the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, ACDC and pretty successful in his own right. Chuck was heavily influenced by Muddy Waters and T Bone Walker as well as jazzier guys like Louis Jordan. However, Chuck brought these influences over to a wider audience and is a link between black American music and it reaching a wider audience. 

Edit: nearly forgot RIP Chuck. I highly recommend his autobiography BTW.

not_the_dj

Just packing up from tonight's gig and heard the news about Chuck Berry....without him a hell of a lot of what I played tonight wouldn't have been written. 

He was the foundation of the mighty wall that is Rock'n'roll.