RIP Chuck Berry

TheBlueWolf

A very sad loss

Johnny B Goode was the first song I learnt by ear, aged 13. I'm still learning from that Saturday afternoon.

Sambostar

Woah

martinw

Ally said:

Have I got my memories wrong?

 ......but can't help feeling he should have faced some kind of justice before death.

Yes.

He did face justice, he was charged, convicted and imprisoned.

Also you make him sound like a Savill-style paedophile, whereas in fact he had sex with a 14 year old who was working at a night club. If every rock star who'd had sex with a girl under 16 went to prison......well, that would be all of them I'd guess.

But he was black and famous, and made the mistake of taking her from one state to another = federal case.

Not condoning it, but lets keep things in proportion.

RIP Chuck. Like many others, made me want to pick up the guitar.

Dominic

Rock and Roll Inventor
except perhaps "my ding - a- ling "

koneguitarist

I think you only have to google chuck berry and a whole host of unsavoury incidents come out. Most involving hookers etc, but also filming women in the toilet in his club. Should have gone to prison, but he had to compensate every woman. 
My mate did PA for him about 15-20 years ago, the rider was two plane tickets, chuck and guitar, return flights same day. Two hookers in a limo to drive him around until showtime. 
Band would not meet him until he gets on stage and his instructions are when I stamp my foot we stop. 
Wrote the book on rock and roll guitar, I know I copied so much off his guitar playing. I also thought he wrote some of the greatest rock and roll songs that identified with teenagers ever. 
School days, You never can tell, Sweet little 16 and No particular place to go are amazing without Johnny B Goode and the rest of his classic stuff.
Sometimes especially in the UK we build stars up so much as wonderful artists, but guys like Chuck Berry are still nasty pieces of work. 

Drew_TNBD

Nowt wrong with hookers.

RobDavies

Drew_TNBD said:

Nowt wrong with hookers.

...or putting a camera in the bog.  

IvisonGuitars

koneguitarist said:

I think you only have to google chuck berry and a whole host of unsavoury incidents come out. Most involving hookers etc, but also filming women in the toilet in his club. Should have gone to prison, but he had to compensate every woman. 
My mate did PA for him about 15-20 years ago, the rider was two plane tickets, chuck and guitar, return flights same day. Two hookers in a limo to drive him around until showtime. 
Band would not meet him until he gets on stage and his instructions are when I stamp my foot we stop. 
Wrote the book on rock and roll guitar, I know I copied so much off his guitar playing. I also thought he wrote some of the greatest rock and roll songs that identified with teenagers ever. 
School days, You never can tell, Sweet little 16 and No particular place to go are amazing without Johnny B Goode and the rest of his classic stuff.
Sometimes especially in the UK we build stars up so much as wonderful artists, but guys like Chuck Berry are still nasty pieces of work. 

I played the 100 Club a week after he last did it in 2008. The promoter said it was an incredible gig but the rider was demanding. In addition to handing Chuck the full fee in cash on the night before he went on stage, he had to supply the Band (who don't know the set list, what key the songs are in and are expected to know his entire back catalogue), 2 matching Fender Dual Showman amps and a limo from the airport to be ready to take him back the moment he came off stage....

Modern music would VERY different if it wasn't for Chuck. The Guitar Hero's Hero.

 

IvisonGuitars

Let It Rock
Roll Over Beethoven
Johnny B Goode
Maybellene
Little Queenie
Brown Eyed Handsome Man
Come On
Carol
Talkin' About You
Run, Run, Rudolph
You Never Can Tell
Memphis, Tennessee
Sweet Little Sixteen
Too Much Monkey Business

How many of these titles do you see mentioned in the autobiography's of legendary musicians as influences....

 

Neil

Very sad but he led a good long life and his influence was immeasurable.

Saw him many years ago and loved his show.

RIP Chuck.

richardhomer

Back to The Future wouldn't have been quite the same without him, would it?

57Deluxe

but I keep having to remember he was a rather unpleasant and bad tempered individual... remember the clip with him berating Keith Richards who was his biggest fan until then..? But, still sad that such a leg-end has left us.

vale

he played rock & roll & he lived rock & roll. he was the real thing & that inevitably means risk.
a rebel & a boundary pusher. 'a man's character is his fate' (heraclitus 500bc).

he got due respect for his monumental achievements & due punishment for his failures (as society deemed them to be).

the rest is (was) a matter for him & his conscience.
i think he lived life like he loved it. a man of real passion.

rip chuck.

http://streamd.hitparade.ch/cdimages/chuck_berry-sweet_little_sixteen_s_3.jpg

richardhomer

@Vale - great post.

dindude

@vale spot on. He was a flawed human being but he invented rock'n'roll and some of the behaviours that we associate with it.
When I see modern bands like the Artic Monkeys chuck a microphone on the floor at the Brits and think they are being rock starts, it makes me chuckle.

Drew_TNBD

HAL9000

57Deluxe said:

but I keep having to remember he was a rather unpleasant and bad tempered individual... remember the clip with him berating Keith Richards who was his biggest fan until then..? But, still sad that such a leg-end has left us.

Are you saying he wasn't a particularly Goode individual?

TheBlueWolf

Spot on @vale ;

No, Chuck didn't live life as a monk and he *was* bought to justice for his indiscretions. Constantly berating someone for their sins, especially after their death, isn't particularly nice either. He got caught and paid for what he did wrong. End of

fandango

Philly_Q said:

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

RIP Chuck.

And one I'm still learning ...

Ally

Thanks for the responses and tolerance folks. Glad you took the time.

I'm kind of regretting wading into a RIP thread, and from what you've said, I think I'll go and read his autobiography.