Lex Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Keith Richards thinks Berry is awesome. That's good enough for me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hollywood Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 So why this paradox: gorge rises when listening to CB, but most, maybe all favorite bands are in column 1; BD sounds great, but no fav bands in column 2? Ok, I know why: Bo Diddley was already awesome. CB -- not. The Beach Boys might not agree. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid1 Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Ok, I know why: Bo Diddley was already awesome. CB -- not. I would say the Diddley riff was neither as malleable nor as easily digested. Listening to some old, original Diddley singles is a rough and bruising affair. Tougher cross-over. (There are of course some famous rock songs which use the Diddley riff.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lex Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Maybe not the most recognizable for some but the synthesizer hook in is killer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hollywood Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Mike Ness has some good openings in some of his and Social D's stuff. He does have a Berryish tendency to rehash the same stuff however. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ivan Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Keith Richards thinks Berry is awesome. That's good enough for me. I like Keith Richards just fine, but I doubt I like everything he likes. Like I said, CB recordings make my gorge rise. I can't help it. Nothing personal to CB, I'm sure he's a fine man and musician. But apparently an entire army of very accomplished rockers have been improving on his one riff for 40 years. This is one case where the imitators sound better to me than the original. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid1 Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Maybe you should stick to reading the lyrics. They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale... Not as easily copied. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ivan Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Sure, but it's a package deal, and we're talking major slippery slope. If I give an inch on the lyrics or the pedigree, before you know it I'll be looking favorably upon that goose-step thing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ghostrider Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Chuck Berry is a difficult case. The guitar figure which opens "Johnny B. Goode" (and, with minor variation many other songs, is as distinctive a calling card as any in music). But it is not the riff. Many of Chuck Berry's up-tempo songs have a very similar riff: a guitar player can give better details, but there are two basic chord positions, the change being made by a very simple movement of the small finger. I've said it before. Chuck Berry's only got one song but he's got it down cold. When Keith Richards was out on his own with the X-Pensive Winos, he said in an interview that he (speaking of himself) only knew 3 songs & everything he did was just a variation on them. Regardless, for some classic Keef riffs search out the Winos on YouTube or the Live at Hollywood Palladium album. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mongo_jones Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 no "johnny b. goode"=no "johnny hit and run paulene". therefore chuck berry is god. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ivan Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 I don't buy it. The equation might be true, but so is this one: no X = no JHARP. And so is this one: no X (and other CB followers) = we're stuck with Chuck Berry to the end of time as the be-all and end-all of rock music, which is fine for most people, but not for me. Look, I'll say only nice things about him at the funeral. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mongo_jones Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 i was being facetious. but i don't share your initial premise anyway. i like chuck berry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ivan Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 That's good, because he appears to be underappreciated in this thread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ivan Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Wait -- what about Little Richard? Do we agree on Little Richard? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mongo_jones Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 little richard, chuck berry, bo diddley, jerry lee lewis: all great. on the "let it bleed" tour, the stones had berry opening for them for some of the shows (ike and tina for others). at most shows he would play his big hits for the stones crowd. apparently, there was one show where some kid asked for a blues song. he did a double take, and proceeded to do an entire blues set. the moral of the story is that we remember him only for the "johnny b. goode" riff, but he's more than that--he fused all kinds of things together. the people who followed him got that. it's not just "satisfaction" that comes out of berry, it's also "faraway eyes". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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