1950’s Rock and Roll pioneer and legend Chuck Berry turns 86 years old today. Chuck Berry was the man. He wrote the blueprint for Rock and Roll. He may not be as famous as Elvis Presley, he may not have sold as many records as Elvis Presley but he was greater than Elvis Presley. If there were a Mount Rushmore of the greatest acts in Rock and Roll Chuck is on it [with The Beatles and Bob Dylan…unsure of who I’d put as the 4th act}
“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.”
— John Lennon
Berry was not only a great performer but a great songwriter. He is one of my favourite songwriters and probably my favourite guitarist. This list of his great songs would fill a page, my advice is to buy “The Great Twenty-Eight” which is probably the best essential collection of the great songs by Chuck Berry.
Those who have crossed paths with Berry over the years describe him often as a bitter man. He has always felt he didn’t get his due, the others ripped him off. I think if he had been white he would have been bigger than Elvis. He feels he laid the groundwork for groups like The Rolling Stones and they just took what he did and made millions off of it. I don’t know, hard to judge it, I didn’t live in Berry’s shoes. Maybe he has a right to be bitter. The documentary made about 25 years ago about Chuck called “Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll” is excellent. Track it down.
slicethelife 
Happy Birthday Chuck and 4th act goes to Jimmi Hendrix or Buddy Hollly or all of Motown or – oh crap! There’s too many – —
Maybe Elvis?
Jerry Lee lewis, Bill Haley, Johnny Cash…
Don’t think Bill Haley belongs in such company.. Jerry Lee and JC awesome!
You’re right about Haley and yes JC is awesome. I’d take JC over Elvis any day. My heart lies with the likes of Janis Joplin and all things Woodstock and on. Chuck broke the ground, others ran with it.
I prefer listening to JC over Elvis too…but you can’t deny the huge impact Elvis had..
I would never deny Elvis! Just don’t care for him as I do for others.Truth be told I’d take Muddy Waters over both of them any day.
Love Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf.. Robert Johnson.
My heart lies with music from the soul. The Berry’s and Elvis acts of our time built on incredible sounds coming out of the south. African Americans were the ground breakers. That said, I could listen to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and die with a smile on my face. Have you listened to the soundtrack from Oh Brother Were Art Though? The opening track is a Mississippi chain gang, sends shivers up my spine. As I wrote in my post on protest songs – music unites and speaks for a generation.