Chuck Berry was undoubtedly one of the pioneers of Rock and Roll. A fellow DJ I worked with always referred to him as “The Granddaddy of Rock and Roll.”
If you were to compile a list of the greatest hits of Rock’s first decade, there would be plenty of Chuck Berry songs to make that list! His songs influenced many future artists including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Pete Townsend, Bruce Springsteen and more!
His songs were covered by those I just mentioned as well as ELO, Nina Simone, AC/DC, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Johnny Rivers and Jimi Hendrix! The list of people who covered his songs is impressive – you can see it here:
https://www.chuckberry.com/698
Bruce Springsteen said, “Chuck Berry was rock’s greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock ‘n’ roll writer who ever lived.”
John Lennon said, “If you had to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.”
The Rolling Stones said this after Chuck passed away, “He was a true pioneer of rock & roll and a massive influence on us. Chuck was not only a brilliant guitarist, singer and performer, but most importantly, he was a master craftsman as a songwriter. His songs will live forever.”
It was on this day in 1987 that he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The celebration coincided with the premiere of his biopic, Hail, Hail Rock & Roll.
It is hard for me to pick one favorite song from him. There are too many great ones. So I took Sweet Little Sixteen, turned the record over and picked a B-side.
Reelin’ and Rockin’ is a fairly simple song. A guy and his gal are dancing the night away at a rock and roll dance. What makes me chuckle is why the guy checks his watch so many times.
He checks it at 9:21, 9:32, 9:43, 9:54, 10:05, 10:26, 10:28, and 10:29! He checks it twice more before the song ends. It starts with him checking every 11 minutes but at the end it’s like every 2 minutes. What’s the deal with that? Lol
Oh well, who am I to question Rock and Roll’s granddaddy?
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
what a talent!
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Legendary!!
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I love his song You Never Can Tell, from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack!
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Yes!!! That’s a fantastic song. Bob Seger covered it as well, And there’s no denying that his version was heavily influenced by Chuck’s!
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Oh I’ll have to take a listen.
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My husband had a cd of Chuck Berry doing slow blusey songs – most people know him for his more rockin’ songs. Personally I love all the times Keith Richard tried to tell Chuck Berry how to play Chuck Berry songs – or that time, famously, when Chuck Berry punched Keith Richards for touching his guitar. Gotta laugh – trying to school the master – no way Keith!
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Keith Richards was one of a few feuds that Chuck had. He and Jerry Lee Lewis got into it a few times as well
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One of the many of his great songs. He should had a boatload full of number 1s…
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It truly is sad that his only number one song was My Ding-A-Ling
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I know! It’s almost an insult…
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I’m reading a book called ‘But What if We’re Wrong’, which I will review when finished. Anyway, it sort of looks at what might be remembered from our culture in the future, and he puts forward an idea that Berry might be the one Rock & Roll artist remembered and studied in a century or two since A) he influenced a lot of other artists later, B) rock is supposed to be about rebellion and he spent time in prison, C) it’s generally a rather basic, simple art form and he was the master of simple two minute songs and D) it was originally kind of primal and sexy and his biggest hit was about ‘playing with his p****’ What could be more rock & roll than that? But then again, the author also suggests maybe Elvis or Dylan would be remembered and not Chuck.
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Interesting…. I will await your review
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Johnny B Goode is my ‘go to’ karaoke song!
( I was lucky enough to see him play in Glasgow back in 1981. Managed to get a couple of photos from right above the stage – really close! (I’ll post on my blog some day. ;) ) Half the set was pretty much bluesy stuff, which didn’t go down too well with the Glasgow Teds (Teddy Boys) who’d come for a night of pure Rock n Roll – but it was a terrific night all the same. :)
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Wow, that would have been neat to see.
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1980, not ’81. 😀
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Chuck Berry influenced sooooo many musicians. Thanks fir thr info.
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There’s a great live version too. Much longer with some much naughtier lyrics!
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