the REAL King of Rock n Roll?

[opiate69]

Buddy Holly
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pribHw93OPc&feature=related

Or maybe it was Chuck Berry?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sGgObQR_a9c

I think one could make a strong case for either one.

[CreekDog]

1. I can't decide

but some doofus said Chuck Berry was overrated a few days ago. :spank:

[opiate69]

2. No way????? Overrated?? holy shit.. now I've heard it all..

[ForrestGump]

5. Overrated

Now you've heard it again... :P

[opiate69]

6. D'oh! If I wasn't sick, I'd have to slam a bunch of the beer I have in my fridge

and drunkenly light your ass up! :P

[DaDooRonRon]

9. The whole British Invasion cut its teeth on Chuck Berry and black R&B

Just sayin... :)

[ForrestGump]

12. Um...and Elvis

I'm sure you've seen the quotes from the Beatles and others.

John even traded his gold record for Abbey Road for some of Elvis' Sun singles.

[DaDooRonRon]

14. Nobody was covering Elvis singles

I think, however, that more than a couple of bands put a Berry tune or two on an LP.

No disrespect, but early on the "task" for Elvis records was to make black r&b "acceptable".

He did it brilliantly, I may add, but that's what he did. It sure as hell morphed into rock and roll, however.

Chuck Berry DEFINED rock and roll from the beginning.

I love 'em both, but if they build a statue to rock and roll the guy on the pedestal is gonna be duck-walkin'. :)

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. 'If you tried to give rock 'n' roll another name

you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."

—John Lennon

[Joe Fields]

15. "Before Elvis, there was nothing." -- John Lennon.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. Confused, wasn't he?

[Joe Fields]

23. I think John Winston was all shook up.

[Oeditpus Rex]

24. Maybe he had the rockin' pneumonia

Needed a shot of rhythm and blues. :D

[ForrestGump]

4. It's still Elvis

No matter how you cut it or how iconoclastic you wish to be.

Not that he liked being called that. Those are the best kinds of Kings.

[Oeditpus Rex]

7. ...

:rofl:

[opiate69]

8. Buddy and Chuck both wrote their own music.. Elvis didn't..

Therefore, Elvis is the king of karaoke, and nothing more. QED. ;)

[ForrestGump]

11. An old, tired saw, that one

Nobody matched Elvis for the entire package: influence and historical significance, a natural flair for melding disparate musical forms based on a very eclectic appreciation of different musical traditions, charisma, showmanship, and commercial success. But if I had to pick just one thing that differentiates him from many others -- the Chuckster, for damn sure -- it'd be the diversity of his output and his ability to do (and do very well, and convincingly) different types of music, as well as mix it all up so effectively that trying to differentiate the musical 'genre' is a pointless exercise. I think only Ray Charles and Elvis took it to the max in that respect, back in the early days of rock 'n' roll and rock 'n' roll-informed pop.

To my mind, who wrote the song is essentially irrelevant to the sound I hear coming out of a speaker...I listen to singing, not lyrics, first and foremost. A bad singer doing great lyrics is never going to appeal to me as much as a great singer singing the most inane thing. Elvis may not have formally written songs, but he did an awful lot of songs better than anyone else could have. Where the words he sang came from never really mattered to me in an immediate sense. The ides that only singer-songwriters are worthy, or whatever, is not one that was around before the '70s, and undoubtedly the legions of obnoxious hipper-than-thou rock critics who (sadly) proliferated then did much to implant this particular piece of snobbery in the minds of people interested in pop culture.

Besides, it sounds to me like Chuck Berry only really wrote about one and a half songs and just kept changing the lyrics...Elvis criticized his '60s 'travelogue' movies as basically being GI Blues remade over and over, only with different sets and scenery, and that's sort of how CB's music seems to me, other than the genius that is (not) "My Ding A Ling."

[opiate69]

13. Is a person who does paint-by-numbers well an artist?

Is my boss a luthier because he can take a pre-cut guitar kit and assemble it in his wood shop?

[HuskerDU]

36. Chuck Berry is the most influencial RnR artist of all-time. But it

was Elvis who was the proto-type rocker. Give me a guy sneering in a leather jacket and playing Chuck Berry riffs and you've got MY king of rock-n-roll- Mister Johnny Thunders!

Still, Elvis is the overall King. He will still be known as such long after we're all gone.

[mitchum]

10. It's Chuck Berry...

but they are both treasures

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. Chuck and Buddy are Gods. Elvis is King. n/t

[opiate69]

18. Hmm... I think I can live with that assessment

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Some watery tart threw a sword at him?

:shrug:

[Nevernose]

25. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government

[flvegan]

20. Run DMC, y'all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fumgOJLFSHw

[stuntcat]

44. .

:headbang:

[pokerfan]

21. Buddy did it in 18 months

That's his entire career. Imagine what he could have done had he lived.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XheL2qKCDuI

[cloudbase]

22. Rip it up.

[Ishoutandscream2]

35. There ya go

Can't mention rock and roll without Richard, honey. Whooooooooo

[Lars39]

26. Carl Perkins needs a mention.

[opiate69]

29. True true.. as well as Little Richard, like the poster above mentioned..

[HuskerDU]

27. Even though almost all of my fave bands come from the Chuck

Berry school of rock-n-roll, I still say Elvis is the King. I just love his early work.

[LostInAnomie]

28. Chuck Berry was the ACDC of his era.

By that, I mean that almost all of his songs over his whole career are completely interchangeable. Same guitar, same rhythm, almost the same lyrics.

I think you should have to be creative to be called the king.

[Kucinich4America]

42. Ac/Dc are direct descendants of Chuck Berry

Musically speaking, of course. Not his actual children as far as I know. Keith Richards is another. Which is probably why the Stones & Ac/Dc are good friends and occasionally share the same stage.

Although not necessarily playing Chuck Berry tunes...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gCPPOPPIoM

[Tikki]

30. Rock and Roll is a sound that is suppose to be leaderless, lordless and loud...

and ultimately piss off your parents enough to kick you out of the house.

By that definition this would be my King of Rock and Roll..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct4sVVqeoUE
Tikki

[JeffR]

31. Marc Bolan n/t

[Robeson]

32. Les Paul.

[Orsino]

33. "The King ain't down!"

</costner>

[Burma Jones]

34. The Intro to Johnny B. Goode may be the most recognized little bit of Rock n Roll ever

And where's the love for Jerry Lee Lewis?????

[Deja Q]

37. Britney Spears.

Just joking. I mean Madonna.

Oi, she got in the mishmash hall of fame. For all we know, Patsy Cline invented rock and roll...

[Joey Liberal]

38. Elvis n/t

[Amerigo Vespucci]

39. It's still Elvis.

There's a "must-see" moment in the movie "Hail Hail Rock & Roll" in which Chuck Berry, Little Richard & Bo Diddley talk about their music getting played on the radio via white musicians.

They didn't like it, and yet they saw that their music was being played on white stations. In the 50s, that's how it was done.

But Elvis did something else that backs up the John Lennon quote "before there was Elvis, there was nothing."

See, Chuck Berry and Little Richard had showmanship. Lots and lots and lots of showmanship.

But Elvis gyrated his hips and hissed and snarled and howled and rolled around on the stage like he was fucking it and he basically was every mother's worst nightmare.

He was the King of Rock & Roll. Period.

:toast:

[DBoon]

40. Bill Haley

Country Swing band doing a cover of the R&B hit "Rocket 88" in 1951 gets my vote for first rock and roll recording ever

[ghostsofgiants]

41. Chuck Berry was my first reaction.

[no name no slogan]

43. Ike Turner

the composer of "Rocket 88", considered by most to be the FIRST rock and roll song

[Metta]

45. That would be Chuck Berry followed by Little Richard.

Everyone who followed held their coats no matter what else they did.

[mentalsolstice]

46. Roy Orbison! nt