It’s time to put away all of our lame excuses and give honor to Chuck Berry as the father of Rock N Roll. While we’re at it-let’s make St. Louis the official home of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Sorry Cleveland, nothing personal-Chuck Berry is a giant and his hometown deserves the respect.
Alan Freed , a WJM disc jockey is given credit for coining the term “rock and roll. It doesn’t hold water. Freed was nowhere near the first to label it rock and roll. He promoted the term and since he was in Cleveland that’s the connection. I’ve heard of his Moondog Coronation Ball which was sold as the first major rock and roll concert. We should give him credit for being a great marketer, along with Sam Phillips and Colonel Tom Parker for placing Elvis in the picture.
Ahmet Ertegun you got the cities wrong and I would go out on a limb and say with your musical accumen you probably knew that-but didn’t have the power to correct it.
If you’re talking about defiance, musical artistry and creativity no one comes close to striking a pose, as do the author of “Johnny B. Goode”and “Maybellene.”
How can you top worldly classics like “C’est La Vie-you never can tell”, “Run Rudolph Run” “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Move Over beethoven?” You can’t. They will remain forever.
Some readers are saying ‘you really can’t put Berry in the Rock and Roll Category because he enlisted Blues and Soul music into his act. I counter, there are a lot great Rock groups in the hall of fame who borrowed heavily from Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James, one of my all time favorites. The Stones, The Who and don’t forget about David Bowie, just to name a few.
Even the great Beatles’ John Lennon acknowledge the influence Berry had on rock and roll: “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.
The Beatles wrote great songs, and lyrics that will stand the test of time. They were the right group for the sixties which brought about major changes. The key word here is group.
Chuck Berry stood alone when it came to Style, which is exhibited in his guitar playing and moves on stage. He was an innovator and master showman, his songs are quite a bit different from other blues guitarist. It wasn’t singing at a juke joint about why my baby left me and I still love her. His was more about escapism, rebellion, politics and cars.
By placing Berry at the top of the pecking order doesn’t take anything away from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Robert Plant or Roger Daltrey. They were super frontmen for their respective groups.
Chuck Berry did it his way or the American way prior to voting and civil rights became the law of the land. His is not just a southern story or an American story, but a universal story.
He brought Rock and Roll to the forefront.
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