Johnny B Goode

Buck Norrris sings "Johnny B Goode" by Chuck Berry.
But Berry had bigger ideas; he yearned to make records, and a trip to Chicago netted a two-minute conversation with his idol Muddy Waters, who encouraged him to approach Chess Records. Upon listening to Berry's homemade demo tape, label president Leonard Chess professed a liking for a hillbilly tune on it named "Ida Red" and quickly scheduled a session for May 21, 1955. During the session the title was changed to "Maybellene" and rock & roll history was born. Although the record only made it to the mid-20s on the Billboard pop chart, its overall influence was massive and groundbreaking in its scope. Here was finally a black rock & roll record with across-the-board appeal, embraced by white teenagers and Southern hillbilly musicians (a young Elvis Presley, still a full year from national stardom, quickly added it to his stage show), that for once couldn't be successfully covered by a pop singer like Snooky Lanson on Your Hit Parade. Part of the secret to its originality was Berry's blazing 24-bar guitar solo in the middle of it, the imaginative rhyme schemes in the lyrics, and the sheer thump of the record, all signaling that rock & roll had arrived and it was no fad. Helping to put the record over to a white teenage audience was the highly influential New York disc jockey Alan Freed, who had been given part of the writers' credit by Chess in return for his spins and plugs. But to his credit, Freed was also the first white DJ/promoter to consistently use Berry on his rock & roll stage show extravaganzas at the Brooklyn Fox and Paramount theaters (playing to predominately white audiences); and when Hollywood came calling a year or so later, also made sure that Chuck appeared with him in Rock! Rock! Rock!, Go, Johnny, Go!, and Mister Rock'n'Roll. Within a years' time, Chuck had gone from a local St. Louis blues picker making 15 dollars a night to an overnight sensation commanding over a hundred times that, arriving at the dawn of a new strain of popular music called rock & roll.

The hits started coming thick and fast over the next few years, every one of them about to become a classic of the genre: "Roll Over Beethoven," "Thirty Days," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," "You Can't Catch Me," "School Day," "Carol," "Back in the U.S.A.," "Little Queenie," "Memphis, Tennessee," "Johnny B. Goode," and the tune that defined the moment perfectly, "Rock and Roll Music." Berry was not only in constant demand, touring the country on mixed package shows and appearing on television and in movies, but smart enough to know exactly what to do with the spoils of a suddenly successful show business career. He started investing heavily in St. Louis area real estate and, ever one to push the envelope, opened up a racially mixed nightspot called the Club Bandstand in 1958 to the consternation of uptight locals. These were not the plans of your average R&B singers who contented themselves with a wardrobe of flashy suits, a new Cadillac, and the nicest house in the black section. Berry was smart with plenty of business savvy and was already making plans to open an amusement park in nearby Wentzville. When the St. Louis hierarchy found out that an underage hat-check girl Berry hired had also set up shop as a prostitute at a nearby hotel, trouble came down on Berry like a sledgehammer on a fly. Charged with transporting a minor over state lines (the Mann Act), Berry endured two trials and was sentenced to federal prison for two years as a result.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Buck
• Norris
• Classic
• Country
• Oklahoma
• Chuck
• Berry

[kakadukenocs]

wow! very good!

[bucknorrismusic]

Thanks so much appreciate it.

[amhyams]

this is better than Berry's version! im serious...

[bucknorrismusic]

Thanks much.

[mrusa45]

wow buck that was gr8.buck you are gr8 just keep the music coming.

[bucknorrismusic]

Thanks so very much for the comment appreciate that.

[amhyams]

@JohnnyCash1Fan1 (sarcasm)

[JohnnyCash1Fan1]

@amhyams lol are you kidding me?

[fastback63]

I have listen to all your vids here......FIRST CLASS! Go on! Greets from Germany!

[seniorover65]

Professional equipment can make anyone sound good this guy can play however, his straight voice and country bee-bop takes away the true Rock sound of this great classic.. Get some Bravotto and than try singing, till than stay background .. Sorry!

[5871248]

buck - I know down deep in your heart- you were duckwalking to beat the band lol good job. old guy

[102oxley]

dont know if you have recorded any album but it would great to own one

[TheLovie999]

This rocks indeed, my good man.. keep it up.. .

[RyanLee1989]

an amazing country singer, you should go further!!

[Fabinator03]

RockenRoal :D 

[benbreizh29460]

Thanks for that !!