Since Chuck Berry's collapse this weekend there have been a few "Chuck Berry is relevant" articles on the web and other places. Now as most of you know I am an America Roots style musician. I owe a lot of my style to Mr. Berry. As a matter of fact, EVERY guitar player on the planet no matter the style has either been influenced either directly or indirectly by him.
But Chuck Berry is a prick as a person. A total dick who does not respect anybody. He doesn't respect his fans who pay money to see him perform. He plays out of tune, berates the back up band and doesn't even bother to play an entire song. In the movie 1987 movie/documentary "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" the real Chuck Berry is reveled. His conduct is so bad that the eternal rock star badass Keith Richards pulls him aside to chew Berry's ass out. And lets not get into the fact that in two of his restaurants he installed hidden cameras in the women's restrooms. There are other incidences of this behavior that border on urban legend, except they DID happen.
Without a doubt Chuck is a musical legend. Where would Rock 'n' Roll be without him? His song writing while seemingly simple is pure genius. His guitar playing and licks, being inspired without a doubt by T-Bone Walker are a basic fabric of Guitar 101. Let's give him that and applaud him, but as person, lets also not forget his douche-baggery.
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