Photo by Barry Morris
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 6, 2008
Rest in peace, Bo Diddley, one of the true inventors of rock ‘n’ roll, an original and ingenious guitarist and about the hardest groovin man ever to walk the earth.
I saw Bo Diddley in about 1991 at the Madison Rib Fest- not a venue worthy of a living legend, but it was a great, great show. The swagger, the groove, the humor, the machismo- all the qualities one normally associates with Haydn were on show in a blistering set. I met him briefly afterwards- he seemed like nice guy and ready to go another fifteen rounds after a set that had exhausted the young crowd listening.
The New York Times obit rightly mentions that Bo Diddley was, to say the least, not fairly compensated for his contributions to music history. He was one of many legendary black genius musicians whose ideas, songs and riffs were simply stolen by unscrupulous and racist managers and record company executives who repackaged his, Chuck Berry’s and Little Richard’s music behind a sanitized gang of white performers and raked in the cash while the men who created the sound that change the world were pushed into obscurity. The history of American music in the 20th century is one of white musicians and businessmen getting rich on the ideas and innovations of black musicians from Scott Joplin to Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington to Miles Davis to Bo Diddley to Jimi Hendrix. Elvis and Pat Boone should have been paying Bo royalties every day of their careers.
On my turntable now is the Super Super Blues band album with Bo, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. RIP Bo- the Bo Diddley beat goes on….
A masterclass in rock- Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry show all the crackers who made millions off their work how it’s done… Elvis schmelvis.
PS
Just after I published this appreciation of Bo, this comment came in. I never approved it because I’m not keen on giving miserable old grouches a platform, but here it is:
From “Frank: disjecta71”
I was combing the internet for some information on stereotypes and misconceptions in music history and came across this page that fits the bill perfectly.
Thank you for posting a succinctly ignorant post. Like all ideas which have an agenda the reality is sometimes quite different.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to discuss your broad statement of black music influence on 20th Century music including country, folk and classical however in relation to rock music I direct you to any number of popular music histories by Greil Marcus, Peter Guralnick, Nik Tosches etc.
Yes I saw the legends that both Diddley and Chuck Berry are back in the 80s but to denigrate Elvis is such a way is facile.
By the way Elvis was recording “rock” music at Sun records before both Diddley or Berry ever released a record…on your logic they should be paying him royalties.
Lets hope your music is more considered and innovative than your thoughts on music history.
Normally I wouldn’t be so strident in my response but your post is particularly strident in its vitriol and egoistic in its certainty.
Rough and groovin – this is the kind of BD performance I just love