Chuck Berry's immortal "Johnny B. Goode" tops Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" … A decision I'd have to agree with. Berry's licks have been ripped off more often than probably any other guitar player's in the history of rock but still crackle every time they pour through the speakers.
I saw Berry perform (with Little Richard) at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Thurs., Oct. 25, 2001 (yep, still have the ticket stub) and Berry blew me away (Richard not so much that night). Backed by a three-piece pickup band, Berry turned in a 60 minute set of pure bliss that included dirtier lyrics than the ones he recorded for '50s radio, those titanic guitar riffs and he even busted out the duck walk. I smiled from start to finish.
1 "Johnny B. Goode"
Chuck Berry (1958)
"If you want to play rock & roll," Joe Perry told Rolling Stone in 2004, "you have to start here." Recorded 50 years ago, on January 6th, 1958, at the Chess Records studio in Chicago, Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was the first great record about the joys and rewards of playing rock & roll guitar. It also has the single greatest rock & roll intro: a thrilling blast of high twang driven by Berry's spearing notes, followed by a rhythm part that translates a boogie-woogie piano riff for the guitar. "He could play the guitar just like a-ringing a bell," Berry sings in the first verse — a perfect description of his sound and the reverberations still running through every style of rock guitar, from the Beatles and the Stones on down. "It was beautiful, effortless, and his timing was perfection," Keith Richards has said of Berry's playing. "He is rhythm man supreme." Berry wrote often about rock & roll and why it's good for you — "Roll Over Beethoven" in 1956, "Rock and Roll Music" in '57 — but never better than in "Johnny B. Goode," a true story about how playing music on a guitar can change your life forever.
Click here to continue reading the list.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2008.