bo did really good stuff all through the sixties, pretty different but gives Jerry lee a run for his money post-50's.1970 Bo:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ki6Fj4I6cc
― brio, Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:45 (ten years ago) link
yeah Bo's peak is probably between '58-'65 or so. and I love those ridiculous 70s funk albums he did but they're kind of a different beast.
― PLATYPUS OF DOOM (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:46 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdy_nZ7abZE
― PLATYPUS OF DOOM (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:47 (ten years ago) link
are there any recordings earlier than "Lucille" that have straight eighths played on the hi-hat + snare on the 2 and 4? it seems like the first example of something that has become Rock Drumming 101
― smhphony orchestra (crüt), Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:47 (ten years ago) link
always thought black gladiator wass kind of the cut-off for pure gold, but I haven't heard a ton of later stuff
― brio, Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:49 (ten years ago) link
also also also no one's mentioned Johnny Otis in the also-ran/excluded pile :( way underrated
― PLATYPUS OF DOOM (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:53 (ten years ago) link
as the proprietor of https://twitter.com/BoDiddleyBeat, i feel obligated to vote for bo.
plus, as mentioned more than once above, he is jesus.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:59 (ten years ago) link
I don't know about Ray Charles, he's like Johnny Cash - related and important to Rock N Roll but outside it
genre boundaries are extremely fluid and subjective things, though.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 1 May 2014 19:01 (ten years ago) link
Latest Bo I heard was 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll which I bought because Keith Moon is on it. Come to find out Moon only plays tambourine, and it's a pretty boring all-star session.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 1 May 2014 19:07 (ten years ago) link
Tempted to go w Fats bcz The Fat Man is v possibly the first rock song (though Louis Jordan's Saturday Night Fish Fry gives it a run for its money imo)No, this one from 1928:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wquFkHOhIL4
― Jazzbo, Thursday, 1 May 2014 19:17 (ten years ago) link
that song/recording is killer
― smhphony orchestra (crüt), Thursday, 1 May 2014 19:52 (ten years ago) link
my dad saw Bo Diddley in the late 50s and swears he ate a cigar onstage...best show he saw in 40 years of concert going
― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 1 May 2014 19:56 (ten years ago) link
Very hard choice, but went for Bosome of my faves already posted. Best insults on vinyl here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZdKCFFR3I
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Thursday, 1 May 2014 20:07 (ten years ago) link
Chuck Berry's singles discography is voluminous. Distinct classic after distinct classic. There would have to be some major deep cut realization with any of the other artists to make me vote for one of them.
― timellison, Friday, 2 May 2014 21:46 (ten years ago) link
It's probably not in the spirit of the poll, but I voted for Buddy Holly because, more than any of the others, he was a real bridge to the '60s. Had he lived, I suspect his best work was ahead of him.
― Hideous Lump, Saturday, 3 May 2014 04:42 (ten years ago) link
Hail, hail, it's Chuck for me.
― that's not my post, Saturday, 3 May 2014 06:47 (ten years ago) link
Shouldn't Link Wray be on this poll?
Couldn't really vote - lots of love for all in the list, including Eddie Cochran and Fats Domino who haven't been talked about on here that much.
Kinda love seeing so many of these guys' clips on youtube. I have spent the odd hour or two every now and then just flicking through those performances on decayed B&W.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 3 May 2014 09:23 (ten years ago) link
I think the poll choices are right- the likes of Link Wray, Wanda Jackson or Johnny Burnette didn't really have a big profile in the 50s, not like these guys. Elvis was an order of magnitude bigger culturally, though maybe not artistically. Vocal groups like Everly Brothers or Coasters didn't have the songwriting chops. Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Ike Turner feel like guys who recorded great rock songs, but were to the side of the genre overall. The guys on this list are the key ones who influenced the rock-era garage bands and beat groups.
Also, everyone in this group seems like they were a weirdo, which is essential. Weirdos who got careers out of it (though maybe not royalties.)
The long tail is very very long for early r 'n' r, and since it wasn't an album genre at that point, one fantastic track could make a performer feel legendary later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxt_7sD9znM&feature=kphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrOqqKO7tBE
― juggulo for the complete klvtz (bendy), Saturday, 3 May 2014 12:56 (ten years ago) link
Always loved Ray Smith from those Sun rockabilly comps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyTZ2Pkb9cA&feature=kp
― Jazzbo, Saturday, 3 May 2014 13:03 (ten years ago) link
That ain't rockabilly, BTW. This is closer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkh1eBUviKs
― Jazzbo, Saturday, 3 May 2014 13:04 (ten years ago) link
Just read Bendy's interesting post above. The choices for the poll are just fine--there's no formula that will generate a precise list. But for what it's worth, I would put Cochran and Vincent to the side of the other seven. I think of them as guys who became legendary largely because of dying young (really young in Cochran's case), because of one (Vincent) or maybe three (Cochran) songs, and primarily in England at that.
― clemenza, Saturday, 3 May 2014 14:38 (ten years ago) link
Some good posts yesterday and today, especially from Tim and Hideous Lump. Remember coming up being constantly surprised by hearing another cover of another as-yet-unheard Chuck Berry song and it being just as good as the ones I already knew. Will flack again for the documentary The Real Buddy Holly Story. in which Keith Richards talks about what a big inspiration Buddy Holly was because he had a self-contained unit, writing and playing the songs- "he had the whole package" I think is what he said. Also some nice stuff from the Everlys about their friendship with up.
― Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 3 May 2014 15:05 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSDMRjBjKIg
― Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 3 May 2014 15:14 (ten years ago) link
vincent and cochran should come after ricky nelson imo
― g simmel, Saturday, 3 May 2014 15:28 (ten years ago) link
I'm torn between Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis....but i think it has to be Jerry Lee for me. Playing the shit out of the piano like that in a time when everyone was picking up guitars, and making the piano sound dangerous and exciting -- and that voice!! still gets me jazzed whenever I listen to it. and i love his country stuff too, its really good. yeah. its the Killer for me.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 3 May 2014 15:49 (ten years ago) link
Gene's lead guitarist, Cliff Gallup, unjustly ignored itt
― Tom Waits for no one (outdoor_miner), Saturday, 3 May 2014 16:07 (ten years ago) link
You will get no argument from me on that.
― Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 3 May 2014 16:09 (ten years ago) link
Although you left out his honorific: "Galloping" or "Gallopin'" Cliff Gallup.
― Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 3 May 2014 16:11 (ten years ago) link
Great thread, love all the love. Recommend watching through the Hail Hail Rock & Roll clip crut posted and into the next chapter - long, poorly-told but wonderful anecdote from Bruce Springsteen.
This is Chuck for me for the sheer size of the 'stone cold classics' pile - not sure anybody else here can sustain a Great Twenty-Eight of perfectly hooky, earwormy songs - although I like everybody here quite a bit. Fats and Jerry are the only ones where I'd be 100% satisfied owning just a cheap shitty 10-track greatest hits.
Bo is maybe cooler than Chuck, but I'm not sure I'd say he's necessarily sonically more ambitious, just closer to lots of later ILM-friendly weirdo music. It's easy to forget that before Chuck Berry, rock and roll guitar didn't have a standard sound yet, and Chuck's songs weren't yet the default sourcebook for meat-and-potatoes bar bands. So I suspect both guys had to sound like equally bizarre, wonderful, where-the-fuck-did-this-come-from kinds of music. TS: Chuck Berry's "Maybelline" vs. Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" gets into all this a bit I think.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2014 23:09 (ten years ago) link
Is the Springsteen story about playing as Chuck's backup but nobody knowing the keys of any of the songs except one guy who was "the historian of the band"?
― Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 4 May 2014 00:45 (ten years ago) link
Yeah! And Chuck showing up minutes before showtime, by himself, just starting into his set and expecting the band to know what's up.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 4 May 2014 03:30 (ten years ago) link
Consistent with this practice I believe he is also in the 0.001% of guitarists who actually enjoy checking their instrument at the airport to let it fly in the hold and then upon arrival watching it arrive on the conveyor belt at the other end to see if it is in one piece.
― Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 4 May 2014 03:40 (ten years ago) link
Maybe the fourth or fifth gig I ever paid to see was Chuck Berry. The local pick up band played for a while, then out comes Chuck duck walking. Plays Johnny B. Good, Maybelline, a few others, on guitar. Waves at us and leaves the stage after twenty minutes, tops. Probably 17 minutes. Everyone clapped and chanted for him to come out, but after 10 minutes of that, it turned into a chant of "What the fuck Chuck". I think he was long gone by then.
― juggulo for the complete klvtz (bendy), Sunday, 4 May 2014 04:24 (ten years ago) link
Crazy great on guitar, that should have read.
― juggulo for the complete klvtz (bendy), Sunday, 4 May 2014 04:25 (ten years ago) link
xpost lol
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 4 May 2014 04:36 (ten years ago) link
I got to see Jerry Lee Lewis in 2007...he could hardly walk, and even just sitting at the piano looked like it was causing him considerable pain. I wasn't really sure what we were going to get when he came out but man, even while his whole body was betraying him & he had to sit practically rigid he played the shit out of every song, just the ultimate showman. I'm really glad I got to see him.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 4 May 2014 04:45 (ten years ago) link
I read an interview with Chuck where he said that his only instructions (or words of any kind) to his pick-up bands are, "When I put my foot down, start; when I put it down again, stop."
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 4 May 2014 04:59 (ten years ago) link
All of them were great and while I think Bo Diddley had more attitude, you got to go with Chuck Berry. The guy had just a huge catalog with songs and when paired with his guitar playing you pretty much have the foundation for nearly every rock band that followed. It's possible that Berry's bust and the odd turns and peculiarities of his attitude towards music might somewhat obscure what he did in a few short years, but the guy laid our the rock band DNA. Just his influence on the Stones and then the Stones shadow alone is pretty huge.
Bo Diddley definitely had the attitude, hell "Who Do You Love" might have invented metal and punk right there, but he doesn't have that body of songs like Chuck Berry. Bo and Link Wray never lost the attitude and made cool ass music whether the world bought it or not all the way home.
Buddy Holly was also a singer/songwriter on an electric guitar, but he didn't have the blues in the same way.
I think Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were much more dynamic performers but the sax/piano sound really didn't make it out of the 50s as "the" sound of rock and roll.
The other guys are great, but they just don't have quite the same profile.
― earlnash, Sunday, 4 May 2014 06:21 (ten years ago) link
Little Richard by a shriek over Chuck Berry.
Also love Bo Diddley, but I will play Little Richard more than the rest combined.
― nicky lo-fi, Sunday, 4 May 2014 14:16 (ten years ago) link
I love Chuck, but he sure had his share of throwaways too - and his biggest hit was maybe the worst goofy novelty song of all time.
Way upthread but btw I think this is unfair and maybe not accurate - highest chart peak yeah but surely some of the early ones were bigger hits in terms of sustained chart/jukebox presence? Dunno if I'd rate My Ding-a-Ling that low in the canon of goofy novelty songs anyway, and if you bring that in it's also fair to consider his 60s singles, several of which are substantial additions to the rock library (No Particular Place To Go, Nadine, You Never Can Tell...).
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 4 May 2014 14:26 (ten years ago) link
Would there ever have been Roxy Music, glam rock, or New Wave without Little Richard?
― ▴▲ ▴TH3CR()$BY$H()W▴▲ ▴ (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 4 May 2014 17:26 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link
Hard to call how ILX will go on this one - much solid championing of the first five and some of the underdogs here.
― brio, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:23 (ten years ago) link
It's between Bo and Fats for me. Will probably vote Fats just because he seems way underrated in this thread.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:49 (ten years ago) link
Bo will probably take it by a nose.
― brio, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:02 (ten years ago) link
Went Buddy over Chuck, but man , Chuck Berry ...
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:22 (ten years ago) link
the good thing is there really is no wrong answer here
― brio, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 18:39 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 15 May 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link
Should have voted for Eddie instead of Carl.
― Bo Diddley Is A Threadkiller (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 15 May 2014 00:04 (ten years ago) link
One of the earlier guys to do multitracking, always nice to the session men, at least according to Earl Palmer, wrote and performed some great, clever tunes, novelty or otherwise, mainly in that comedic 50s put-upon teenager vein.
― Bo Diddley Is A Threadkiller (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 15 May 2014 00:26 (ten years ago) link