danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
The Beachboys made a career out of just playing a Chuck Berry solo when a solo was required.
RIP Chuck Berry.
- Thread starter xsunnysuex
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hash tag
Lighting the blue touch paper
And me! I took my first lead spots armed only with a handful of Chuck Berry licks. They worked for everything I was interested in playing back then.
Sorry danny la rouge, that slipped my mind for a minute, though not sure you want to be admitting to being inspired by his licks
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
The intro to Fun Fun Fun is pretty much a direct lift from Johnny B Goode. The Beach Boys did have a couple of other strings to their bow though tbf.
newbie
undisambiguated
cheers for that, I'd just got round to wondering when it was. They all seemed very old and venerable but then put on a great high energy show.
RIP, thanks for the music.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Plagiaristic mutha stole his best tune from Marty McFly!!! 
1%er
Well-Known Member
There were two court cases about this, during the first trial race became an issue so that conviction was overturned, he was then retried and given a 3 year sentence and a fine. As you mention the child involved was 14, according to his biography "brown eyed handsome man" the trial transcript strongly points to Berry having sex with Janice Escalanti, she said he did but he never admitted it in Court.
Being one of the fathers of Rock & Roll doesn't excuse these acts. I wonder if Gary Glitter one of the fathers of Glam Rock will be eulogized in this way if he reaches 90 years old.
maomao
普費斯
There is quite a lot of talk of him having an extensive collection of porn, including a lot of underage stuff, a lot of it home made. The case was dropped when he settled out of court and admitted a lesser charge of possession of marijuana. That would be on a level with Glitter. I find it hard to link from my phone but there's stuff on Vice and other sites. It's not hard to find.
The singer David Mcalmont mentioned that scene in his tribute - it hadn't occurred to me before that it's a bit dodgy attributing genuine innovation by a black man to a time travelling white man, but he's totally right:Plagiaristic mutha stole his best tune from Marty McFly!!!
Even Hollywood tried to wrest the Rock n Roll legend from him, by orchestrating "a joke" in Back to the Future (1985). Marty McFly time travels to a place where he plays Johnny B Goode, and Berry's cousin Marvin is present. He phones his cousin, holds up the phone towards where McFly is playing and says "You know that new sound you're looking for? Listen to this!" It was supposed to be funny. It isn't.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
I guess the big difference is that Berry didn't get caught.
Not to mention the fact that public attitudes towards paedophile sex tourists like Glitter are, for better or worse, somewhat different from those towards artists who opportunistically have sex with 14 year olds.
I hadn't actually known exactly what the nature of the allegations against Berry were (and, then again, hadn't exactly fallen over myself to find out), but was vaguely aware that there were murky things in his past. And maybe I'm prepared to cut him more slack because his music was far more influential on me than Gary Glitter's was - he always had a "wrong 'un" vibe about him that Chuck Berry didn't have, even if he turns out to have been as much of a wrong' un as Glitter.
This was the song I was going to post earlier, brilliant track, one of his best imo.
Always reminds me of the film American Graffiti and the weeks following seeing it walking around with our cig packets shoved up our t-shirt sleeves.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
It can sometimes be hard to separate the artist from the art. It needs to be remembered that what people are praising is the music, the songs, the guitar playing. These were life-affirming, iconic, and influential, in that order.
These things are all true whatever the character of the man. The historic significance of his music is not altered. It had the effect it had.
I'm also a fan of Thomas Tallis's music. I know next to nothing about his character. He may have been a terrible person. But his music is wonderful.
These things are all true whatever the character of the man. The historic significance of his music is not altered. It had the effect it had.
I'm also a fan of Thomas Tallis's music. I know next to nothing about his character. He may have been a terrible person. But his music is wonderful.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
There's always Gesualdo, who murdered his wife and her lover, but wrote the most amazing music 
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
I think every blues solo I did for the first few years was something vaguely lifted from Chuck Berry, tooAnd me! I took my first lead spots armed only with a handful of Chuck Berry licks. They worked for everything I was interested in playing back then.
I've broadened now: I channel Clapton, too.
ffs i was gonna put him on my 2017 celebrity death list but he was pipped to the post by pete doherty
maomao
普費斯
I'm certainly not trying to prevent anyone enjoying his music or questioning his influence by mentioning anything about his personal life. On the other hand I think it is the time and place to mention it. He was a great musician and probably also did some pretty nasty stuff too.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Oh, I'm not saying it shouldn't be mentioned. I'm mainly thinking of people on social media who are saying things like "why are you giving Chuck Berry a pass", as if liking his music means you condone his lifestyle.
(I sometimes wonder how these people engage with music, and whether it is in a completely different way to the way I do. It seems that way).
Kaka Tim
Half Arsed and Slapdash till I Die
Probably one of the most important influences on popular music. Pushed electric guitar to the forefront of rock'n'roll. his songs are perfectly crafted stories whilst full of the excitement, flash and energy that set the template for what was to come. This was not the blues anymore. It was something totally new. A great showman - and If there was a noble prize for guitar licks it would be his (although he would probably have to share some of the prize money with sister rosseta tharpe).
Good point about how his was some of the first de-segregated music.
Good point about how his was some of the first de-segregated music.
Wilf
Slouching towards Billingham
I think it's pretty clear the 'transporting across a state line' thing (for purposes of prostitution,iirc) did actually involve him having sex with the girl as you say. In fact I heard somebody on tv or radio describe it as fact today. Also, the hidden camera in his cafe's toilets puts him in the category of outright abuser. It really would be wrong to use any other term. Whether that means you can't enjoy his music, I dunno? I'm instinctively a bit 'judgemental' when I hear about a musician or, say, novelist who has done something vile - to the point where I certainly won't buy any more of their stuff and will even struggle to listen/read it. But that really is at an instinctive level and wouldn't judge anyone else, unless of course they were seeking to excuse the noncery due to their artistic merit (which nobody on this thread is doing). It's all complicated - what it was, when it was, whether they showed remorse. I've been critical of JOhn Peel on here - and indeed of those who seemingly wanted to almost present the evidence of the new music he brought as mitigation. But then you'd also have to say that by that those criteria his sexual crimes were 'modest'. But equally, if this were a thread about the sexual abuse of children not many of us would want to put offences into a league table. Again, I'm not criticising anyone on this thread, just playing out my own reactions to Berry.
red & green
Well-Known Member
"Campaign shouting like a southern diplomat"
