Rock-tober 11, 2017

I had a music professor at South Alabama, Dr. Wermouth, whom you've met before in the scandalous post from Rock-tober 27, 2015. When our class talked about music of the Baroque Period, the discussion inevitably came around to Bach. I've mentioned previously my fondness of the Baroque period of classical music and how most of my favorite composers came out of this era - Vivaldi, Pachelbel, and Mr. Baroque himself, Johann Sebastian Bach. The entirety of Bach's life was lived in the Baroque era, and his compositions are definitive representations of the style. Towards the end of his life, while his contemporaries started to experiment with different musical characteristics, Bach stayed the course, continuing to hone aspects of his form until the features of his compositions became the definitive style list of Baroque music. It's no coincidence that the year of his death, 1750, is considered the end of the Baroque era.

Yup. I know, this is Rock-tober. Bear with me.

Chuck Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 18, 1926, and he died this year on March 18 at the age of 90. Like Bach and the Baroque, Berry saw the ascendancy of a new genre. He was there at the dawn of rock and roll and was in the first class inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He lived long enough to see his style of music grow as the 2nd generation of rock took the stage and diverge into a myriad of styles from pop, punk and grunge to psychedelic, outlaw, and metal. He is Mr. Rock and Roll.

Influenced by blues musicians during his youth, Chuck honed his craft and created his own definitive sound. Musical success came early as his very first single, "Maybellene," went all the way to the number one spot on the R&B charts in 1955. Over the course of his career, the trail of singles he recorded are like signposts charting the way through rock's early years. "Roll Over Beethoven," "Johnny B. Goode," and "No Particular Place to Go" along with 1975's "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" still get air time today. Much like Bach in days of yore, he showed he and his sound were still relevant amidst the plethora of his musical descendants.

"Johnny B. Goode" was released on March 31, 1958, and helped bridge the racial divide of the time by peaking high on both R&B and Hot 100 charts. It's always enumerated in the top 100 of any music magazine that covers the rock and roll scene. Speaking of scenes, it got a second and third life by being featured in the soundtracks for "American Graffiti" and "Back to the Future." It's been covered by different artists representing different genres, with my favorite being the reggae release by Peter Tosh. Still, it's hard to beat the original. Thank you, Mr. Berry, for being an integral part of the history and vanguard of rock and roll.