Chuck B. Goode

 

Chuck Berry is to popular music what Shakespeare was to the English language: an unavoidable giant that single-handedly helped mold rock and roll and, beyond, much of what we know and listen to to this day. And no, that is no exaggeration: born in the Midwest in the 1920’s, he was one of a distinct few pioneers who effectively operated the transition between the blues and what has now come to be known as rock and roll. His 1957 hit “Rock and roll music” has something to do with that…

Along with Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry was indeed one of the earliest stars of that new musical genre. More to the point, and perhaps only similarly to Diddley in that regard, he personally crafted guitar hooks and riffs that were highly distinctive and eventually became synonymous with rock and roll music at large. His signature intro, for one, is an absolute musical classic that inspired everyone from Bod Dylan to Jimi Hendrix, not to mention both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And that’s a rare feat…

That said, however, the man came with a darker side to him. Rising through the ranks of popular music in the 1950’s, Berry and others routinely got paid in cash. He insisted on that well into his career when, in the 1970’s, he was effectively part of the “nostalgic” circuit. That did not sit well with the IRS, which eventually got him on trial — and sentenced — for tax evasion. This was not his worst offense, though: throughout his career, Berry was routinely accused of predatory behaviour towards (young) women, which also landed him in jail in the early 1960’s, not to mention later accusations of assault and lurid behaviour. He may not have been the only star musician of his era to behave in such a way, that does not make it any less reprehensible.

All in all, Chuck Berry was therefore both a towering musical figure throughout most of the 20th century — as well as a human being whose actions were highly questionable. For that is all the complexity of reality, which comes with both good and bad…