So, there were all sorts of things I was planning on writing about tonight... and then the news came across the wire that Chuck Berry had died at the age of 90. Elvis may have been crowned as "The King" of Rock & Roll, but Chuck Berry was one of, if not the founding fathers of what became known as rock and roll. His influence stretches from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones up through Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix, and continues right on through today. Indeed, everyone who has strapped on a guitar owes a debt to Chuck Berry.
I remember buying an album of his hits as a kid. It ended up being the songs he re-recorded in the 60's, not the original versions he did for Chess Records, but those riffs still jumped out of my speakers and drove me to want to play more guitar. Once I was older, and had a bit more knowledge and a bit more time under my belt, I went searching for the best collection of the original recordings I could find. The Great Twenty Eight was unanimously held up as that collection. Too bad for me, though, it was out of print. Still, I held that notion in the back of my mind for years, and every time I ducked into a record shop, I would look for (and not find) The Great Twenty Eight.
Imagine then, my surprise, when one day during my times in DSM, I ducked into Half Price Books on a whim, and found, just like it had been waiting there for me, a copy of that collection on CD. I don't remember what else came home with me, but I definitely remember clinging to that disc as I made my way through the store, and I'll be darned if the riffs didn't have more life to them when I dropped it into the CD player on my way home.
Chuck was an innovator, he was a first rate guitar player, a great songwriter, and a legend, without whom the face of music as we know it today would be very different. Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll!
I remember buying an album of his hits as a kid. It ended up being the songs he re-recorded in the 60's, not the original versions he did for Chess Records, but those riffs still jumped out of my speakers and drove me to want to play more guitar. Once I was older, and had a bit more knowledge and a bit more time under my belt, I went searching for the best collection of the original recordings I could find. The Great Twenty Eight was unanimously held up as that collection. Too bad for me, though, it was out of print. Still, I held that notion in the back of my mind for years, and every time I ducked into a record shop, I would look for (and not find) The Great Twenty Eight.
Imagine then, my surprise, when one day during my times in DSM, I ducked into Half Price Books on a whim, and found, just like it had been waiting there for me, a copy of that collection on CD. I don't remember what else came home with me, but I definitely remember clinging to that disc as I made my way through the store, and I'll be darned if the riffs didn't have more life to them when I dropped it into the CD player on my way home.
Chuck was an innovator, he was a first rate guitar player, a great songwriter, and a legend, without whom the face of music as we know it today would be very different. Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll!
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