Editing Chuck Berry (section)

==Legacy==

{{quote box|width=30%|quote=While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, "Maybellene".|source=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<ref>{{cite news|url=http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry/bio/|title=Chuck Berry Biography|publisher=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|access-date=June 2, 2010|archive-date=April 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406155340/http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry/bio/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7735698/chuck-berry-rock-n-roll-teenagers-inventor |title=Yes, Chuck Berry Invented Rock 'n' Roll -- and Singer-Songwriters. Oh, Teenagers Too |date=March 22, 2017 |magazine=Billboard |access-date=February 22, 2021 |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227211939/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7735698/chuck-berry-rock-n-roll-teenagers-inventor |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

A pioneer of rock and roll, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as "[[Maybellene]]" (1955), "[[Roll Over Beethoven]]" (1956), "[[Rock and Roll Music (song)|Rock and Roll Music]]" (1957) and "[[Johnny B. Goode]]" (1958), Berry refined and developed [[rhythm and blues]] into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high school life, and consumer culture,<ref name=Britannica/> and utilizing [[guitar solo]]s and [[Guitar showmanship|showmanship]] that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.<ref name=Campbell2008p168/>  Thus Berry, the songwriter, according to critic [[Jon Pareles]], invented rock as "a music of teenage wishes fulfilled and good times (even with cops in pursuit)."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html |title=Chuck Berry, Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer, Dies at 90 |first=John|last=Pareles |authorlink=Jon Pareles|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 18, 2017 |access-date=March 21, 2017 |archive-date=March 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320195947/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html |url-status=live }}</ref>  Berry contributed three things to rock music: an irresistible swagger, a focus on the guitar riff as the primary melodic element and an emphasis on songwriting as storytelling.<ref>{{cite news |first=Joe|last=Lynch |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chuck-berry-didnt-invent-rock-n-roll-but-he-turned-an-attitude-changed-world-987198 |title=Chuck Berry Didn't Invent Rock 'n' Roll, But He Turned It Into an Attitude That Changed the World |newspaper=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=March 18, 2017 |access-date=March 19, 2017 |archive-date=August 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823205015/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chuck-berry-didnt-invent-rock-n-roll-but-he-turned-an-attitude-changed-world-987198 |url-status=live }}</ref> His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll. In addition to the [[The Beatles|Beatles]] and the [[The Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]], a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs.<ref name=Britannica/> Although not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive—he incorporated electronic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists and drew on the influence of guitar players such as [[Carl Hogan]],<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Miller|date=1999|title=Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947–1977|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|location=New York City|page=104|isbn=0-684-80873-0}}</ref> and [[T-Bone Walker]]<ref name=Britannica/> to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitarists would acknowledge as an influence in their own style.<ref name=RSBIO/> Berry's showmanship has been influential on other rock guitarists,<ref name="WilkinsRubie2007">{{cite book|last1=Wilkins|first1=Jack|last2=Rubie|first2=Peter|title=Essential Guitar |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialguitarf0000wilk_f2l7 |url-access=registration|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=2007|publisher=[[David & Charles]]|location=Newton Abbot, England|isbn=9780715327333|page=[https://archive.org/details/essentialguitarf0000wilk_f2l7/page/68 68]}}</ref> particularly his one-legged hop routine,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Mark |last2=Chappell |first2=Jon |title=Guitar for Dummies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvNSyI6C3hEC&pg=PA1|access-date=February 6, 2014 |date=May 23, 2011|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|isbn=9781118054734|page=1|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144246/http://books.google.com/books?id=jvNSyI6C3hEC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref> and the "[[Duckwalk|duck walk]]",<ref>{{harvtxt|Gulla|2009|p=31}}.</ref> which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk."<ref>{{harvtxt|Berry|1988|p=6}}</ref><ref>[http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/berry_c.htm Chuck Berry biography] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204113442/http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/berry_c.htm |date=December 4, 2008}} at Thomson Gale</ref>

On July 29, 2011, Berry was honored in a dedication of an eight-foot, in-motion Chuck Berry Statue in the Delmar Loop in St. Louis right across the street from Blueberry Hill.  Berry said, "It's glorious—I do appreciate it to the highest, no doubt about it. That sort of honor is seldom given out.  But I don't deserve it."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Daniel Durchholz |first=Daniel |date=July 29, 2011 |title=Chuck Berry Statue Unveiled in St. Louis |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/chuck-berry-statue-unveiled-in-st-louis-247875/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=October 1, 2018 |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003100811/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/chuck-berry-statue-unveiled-in-st-louis-247875/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rock critic [[Robert Christgau]] considers Berry "the greatest of the rock and rollers",<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/berry-76.php|title=Robert Christgau: Chuck Berry|website=robertchristgau.com|access-date=February 18, 2010|archive-date=March 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317092237/http://robertchristgau.com/xg/music/berry-76.php|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[John Lennon]] said, "if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://chuckberry.com/about/quotes/|title=QUOTES&nbsp;– The Official Site of Chuck Berry|access-date=September 18, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314233239/http://chuckberry.com/about/quotes/|archive-date=March 14, 2015}}</ref> [[Ted Nugent]] said, "If you don't know every Chuck Berry lick, you can't play rock guitar."<ref>{{cite book|title=Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time!: From the Pages of Guitar World Magazine|last=Kitts|first=Jeff|editor=Brad Tolinski|year=2002|publisher=[[Hal Leonard]]|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|isbn=0-634-04619-5|page=191|oclc=50292711|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg838EcECUwC&pg=PT196|access-date=February 1, 2011|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216231952/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg838EcECUwC&pg=PT196|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Bob Dylan]] called Berry "the [[Shakespeare]] of rock 'n' roll".<ref>{{cite news|title=Rock 'n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry dead at 90|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-chuckberry-idUSKBN16P0UL|date=March 19, 2017|access-date=March 19, 2017|first=Bill|last=Trott|work=[[Reuters]]|archive-date=March 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318223739/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-chuckberry-idUSKBN16P0UL|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Bruce Springsteen]] tweeted, "Chuck Berry was rock's greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock 'n' roll writer who ever lived."<ref>{{cite news|title=Tributes To Chuck Berry Pour In: 'One Of My Big Lights Has Gone Out'|first=Laurel|last=Wamsley|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/19/520721943/chuck-berry-dead-tribute-bruce-springsteen-mick-jagger-keith-richards|date=March 19, 2017|access-date=March 19, 2017|website=[[NPR]]|archive-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319181245/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/19/520721943/chuck-berry-dead-tribute-bruce-springsteen-mick-jagger-keith-richards|url-status=live}}</ref> When asked what caused the explosion of the popularity of rock 'n roll which took place in the 1950s, with him and a handful of others, mainly him, Berry said, "Well, actually they begin to listen to it, you see, because certain stations played certain music. The music that we, the blacks, played, the cultures were so far apart, we would have to have a play station in order to play it. The cultures begin to come together, and you begin to see one another's vein of life, then the music came together."<ref>Chuck Berry, 1972, interview by Charles Osgood, re-broadcast, ''CBS Sunday Morning'', September 25, 2016</ref>

[[File:Chuck Berry 2000.jpg|thumb|upright|Chuck Berry wearing the Kennedy Center Honors, 2000]]

Among the honors Berry received were the [[Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award]] in 1984<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/ |title=Lifetime Achievement Award |publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |access-date=June 4, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206071832/http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/ |archive-date=February 6, 2010 }}</ref> and the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entity_id=3699&source_type=A|title=Kennedy Center: Biographical Information for Chuck Berry|publisher=kennedy-center.org|access-date=February 18, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323230000/http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=3699&source_type=A|archive-date=March 23, 2015}}</ref> He was ranked seventh on ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/3961025/10-greatest-guitar-players/|title=The 10 Greatest Electric-Guitar Players|magazine=Time|date=August 14, 2009|access-date=March 18, 2017|archive-date=November 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120155423/http://time.com/3961025/10-greatest-guitar-players/|url-status=live}}</ref> On May 14, 2002, he was honored as one of the first [[Broadcast Music Incorporated|BMI]] Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates [[Bo Diddley]] and [[Little Richard]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233284|title=BMI ICON Awards Honor Three of Rock & Roll's Founding Fathers|first=Rob|last=Patterson|website=bmi.com|date=June 30, 2002|access-date=October 2, 2010|archive-date=September 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925212455/http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233284|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2014, Berry was made a [[laureate]] of the [[Polar Music Prize]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/26/chuck-berry-wins-polar-music-prize |title=Rock'n'Roll Pioneer Chuck Berry Wins Polar Music Prize in Sweden |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=August 26, 2014 |access-date=August 28, 2014 |first=Mark|last=Brown |archive-date=August 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827102917/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/26/chuck-berry-wins-polar-music-prize |url-status=live }}</ref>

Berry is included in several of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's "Greatest of All Time" lists. In September 2003, the magazine ranked him number 6 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/ |title=The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=May 5, 2008 |access-date=October 7, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417042507/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time |archive-date=April 17, 2010 }}</ref> In November his compilation album ''[[The Great Twenty-Eight]]'' was ranked 21st in [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/|title=The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|year=2003|access-date=October 7, 2011|archive-date=February 7, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207075704/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth on the list of "The Immortals– The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". [[Joe Perry (musician)|Joe Perry]] wrote in tribute, "As a songwriter, Chuck Berry is like the [[Ernest Hemingway]] of rock & roll. He gets right to the point. He tells a story in short sentences. You get a great picture in your mind of what's going on, in a very short amount of space, in well-picked words... kids today are playing the same three chords, trying to play in that same style. Turn the guitars up, and it's [[punk rock]]. It's the [[Ramones]] and the [[Sex Pistols]]. I hear it in the [[White Stripes]], too. People will always cover Chuck Berry songs. When bands go do their homework, they will have to listen to Chuck Berry. If you want to learn about rock & roll, if you want to play rock & roll, you have to start there."<ref name=immortals/><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/chuck-berry-20110420 |title=Chuck Berry |first=Joe|last=Perry |authorlink=Joe Perry (musician)|date=March 24, 2004 |access-date=February 27, 2014 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-date=March 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301010616/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/chuck-berry-20110420 |url-status=live }}</ref> In December 2004, six of his songs were included in "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time]]": "[[Johnny B. Goode]]" (No. 7), "[[Maybellene]]" (No. 18), "[[Roll Over Beethoven]]" (No. 97), "[[Rock and Roll Music (song)|Rock and Roll Music]]" (No. 128), "[[Sweet Little Sixteen]]" (No. 272) and "[[Brown Eyed Handsome Man]]" (No. 374).<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs |title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=December 9, 2004|access-date=May 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417042040/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs |archive-date=April 17, 2010 }}</ref> In June 2008, his song "Johnny B. Goode" was ranked first in the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/ |title=The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=June 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605032031/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/ |archive-date=June 5, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2023, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked Berry at number 96 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=1 January 2023|title=The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/chuck-berry-13-1234643051/|access-date=15 June 2023|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>

The journalist [[Chuck Klosterman]] has argued that in 300 years Berry will still be remembered as the rock musician who most closely captured the essence of rock and roll.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/which-rock-star-will-historians-of-the-future-remember.html+Picks&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=http://www.nytimes.com/&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=Collection&region=Marginalia&src=me&version=spotlight&pgtype=article|title=Which Rock Star Will Rock Historians of the Future Remember?|last=Klosterman|first=Chuck|authorlink=Chuck Klosterman|date=May 23, 2016|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 26, 2016}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ''Time'' magazine said, "There was no one like Elvis. But there was 'definitely' no one like Chuck Berry."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Cliff|last=Richards|authorlink=|title=Chuck Berry Rock 'n' Roll Icon|magazine=Time|date=April 3, 2017|page=19}}</ref> ''Rolling Stone'' called him "the father of rock & roll" who "gave the music its sound and its attitude, even as he battled racism—and his own misdeeds—all the way", reporting that [[Leonard Cohen]] said, "All of us are footnotes to the words of Chuck Berry."<ref>Mikal Gilmore, "Chuck Berry 1926-2017," ''Rolling Stone'', pp. 23–24, April 20, 2017</ref> Kevin Strait, curator of the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] in Washington, DC, said that Berry is "one of the primary sonic architects of rock and roll."<ref>Kevin Strait (July 6, 2017). ''[[PBS NewsHour]]''.</ref>

According to Cleveland.com's Troy L. Smith, "Chuck Berry didn't invent rock and roll all by his lonesome. But he was the man who took rhythm and blues and transformed it into a new genre that would ever change popular music. Songs like 'Maybellene,' 'Johnny B. Goode,' 'Roll Over Beethoven' and 'Rock and Roll Music' would showcase the core elements of what rock and roll would become. The sound, the format and the style were built on the music Berry created. To some extent, everyone who followed was a copycat."<ref>{{cite web|first=Troy L.|last=Smith|url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/06/50-most-important-african-american-music-artists-of-all-time.html|title=50 most important African American music artists of all time|date=June 25, 2020|website=cleveland.com}}</ref>

"Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the [[Voyager Golden Record]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html|title=Voyager Interstellar Mission: The Golden Record|publisher=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]|access-date=July 6, 2015|archive-date=July 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720053223/http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2020, the [[International Astronomical Union]] named [[Berry (crater)|a small crater]] on [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] after Berry.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Planetary Names|url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15937|access-date=2023-07-05|website=planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov}}</ref>