Rock ‘n' Roll Superstar Who Caught the Teen Spirit
The Week UK|March 25 2017

Chuck Berry didn’t invent rock ’n’ roll – no one person could claim credit for that.

Rock ‘n' Roll Superstar Who Caught the Teen Spirit

Chuck Berry 1926-2017

As Phil Everly once put it, there were “four or five avenues rolling toward one another” in the 1950s. But with his “indelible guitar licks, brash self confidence and memorable songs”, he was certainly one of its defining figures, said Jon Pareles in The New York Times. While Elvis Presley was rock’s first heartthrob, Berry was its conceptual genius: the songwriter who picked up on the spirit of teen rebellion in postwar America before the teenagers had felt it themselves, who understood that the lyrics could matter as much as the music did. Leonard Cohen once noted that “all of us are footnotes to the words of Chuck Berry”; Bob Dylan called him “the Shakespeare of rock ’n’ roll”; and John Lennon said that “if you tried to give rock ’n’ roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry”. As for Keith Richards, he admitted, quite simply, that he’d “stolen every lick” Berry played.

Berry’s influence is hard to overstate, said Jon Caramanica, in The same paper. The Rolling Stones’ first recorded song was a cover of his Come On; The Beatles played a “streamlined, sweetened” version of Roll Over Beethoven at their first US concert. The Beach Boys reworked his Sweet Little Sixteen into Surfin’ USA (Berry sued them and won a writing credit). Dylan’s rapid-fire Subterranean Homesick Blues drew heavily on Berry’s Too Much Monkey Business. These artists brought Berry’s sound to a new audience in the 1960s; but while they increased his fame, they also helped push him into the shadows, by creating a version of rock ’n’ roll “that no longer required him, or his blackness. So, if for the remainder of his very long career he was a bit flinty, could you blame him?”

Denne historien er fra March 25 2017-utgaven av The Week UK.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra March 25 2017-utgaven av The Week UK.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA THE WEEK UKSe alt
His Only Crime Was Coming Home
The Week UK

His Only Crime Was Coming Home

As Western-backed forces push Islamic State out of Mosul, its militants are laying minefields in their wake – aimed not at soldiers but at ordinary people who have come back to rebuild their lives. Colin Freeman went on a tour of Iraq’s new killing fields

time-read
9 mins  |
March 11 2017
The Modest Dutch Designer Who Made Millions From Miffy
The Week UK

The Modest Dutch Designer Who Made Millions From Miffy

Dick Bruna, who has died aged 89, created one of the most instantly recognisable characters in children’s literature, said The New York Times: the sparsely drawn white rabbit known in English as Miffy.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 11 2017
Trump's conflict of interest: how will he deal with it?
The Week UK

Trump's conflict of interest: how will he deal with it?

Donald Trump ran, and won, on a promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington corruption, said Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post. But so far, he seems intent on deepening it. The president-elect owns or has stakes in around 500 companies, at least 111 of which do business overseas. This creates a massive and unprecedented conflict of interest. One of Trump’s biggest lenders, for example, is Germany’s Deutsche Bank, currently negotiating a multibillion-dollar settlement with the Justice Department over abuses that contributed to the 2008 market crash.

time-read
2 mins  |
December 03 2016
What the scientists are saying...
The Week UK

What the scientists are saying...

What the scientists are saying...

time-read
3 mins  |
December 17 2016
Cricket: Kohli hammers England
The Week UK

Cricket: Kohli hammers England

The end was “swift” and brutal, said Vic Marks in The Guardian. On the final morning of the fourth Test, in Mumbai, India needed less than half an hour to take England’s last four wickets. They thrashed the visitors by an innings and 36 runs to seal a 3-0 series victory, with the fifth Test still to be played.

time-read
2 mins  |
December 17 2016
Keeping The Press Under Control
The Week UK

Keeping The Press Under Control

Press freedom is under threat – at least according to recent newspaper reports. What are they so worried about?

time-read
4 mins  |
January 21 2017
The Society Photographer Who Married A Princess
The Week UK

The Society Photographer Who Married A Princess

The Earl of Snowdon 1930-2017.

time-read
5 mins  |
January 21 2017
Exhibition Of The Week War In The Sunshine, The British In Italy 1917-18
The Week UK

Exhibition Of The Week War In The Sunshine, The British In Italy 1917-18

For most of us, the story of the First World War is defined by the “mud, gas and trenches” of the Western Front, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times.

time-read
2 mins  |
January 28 2017
Rock ‘n' Roll Superstar Who Caught the Teen Spirit
The Week UK

Rock ‘n' Roll Superstar Who Caught the Teen Spirit

Chuck Berry didn’t invent rock ’n’ roll – no one person could claim credit for that.

time-read
5 mins  |
March 25 2017
The Ruthless Ira Commander Who Helped Broker Peace
The Week UK

The Ruthless Ira Commander Who Helped Broker Peace

On 27 August 1979, the Provisional IRA murdered Lord Mountbatten while he was on a family holiday in Sligo, said Henry McDonald in The Guardian.

time-read
5 mins  |
March 25 2017