Johnny B. on a Rocket

Duck walkin'!

After marking the passing of Little Richard yesterday, I realized we had never noted the passing of another early rock 'n roll pioneer, Chuck Berry. While Little Richard is certainly one of rock's architects, Chuck Berry is the one person who comes closest to claiming the title of its inventor. He put rhythm and blues guitar, country twang, a swaggering stage presence, and teen-friendly lyrics in a cauldron and pulled out a whole new style of music.

Berry died in 2017 at the age of 90, and in that time not only recorded a slew of songs that became part of the bedrock of American pop music, but also inspired almost every rock band who came after him to follow in his duck-walking footsteps. His genius was such that in just a three-year period, from 1955-1958, he wrote "Maybellene," "Johnny B. Goode," "Roll Over Beethoven," and "Sweet Little Sixteen." Not bad for a guy who was convicted of armed robbery at age 18 and after three years in a reformatory, spent several years working in a car factory before he even started performing music with a group!

Although Chuck Berry has now left our mortal plane, he lives on in the songs he left us and the inspiration that musicians still take from his artistry. And he lives on intergalactically too--his tune "Johnny B. Goode" was the only rock song included on the golden records launched aboard the Voyager spacecrafts in 1977. Somewhere out there, in a galaxy far, far away, an alien might be rocking out to "Johnny" right now for the very first time!

The Chuck Berry song we'll hear today is a Halloween-worthy number called "Trick or Treat" off his 1963 album Chuck Berry on Stage. It's a sweet number about getting all smoochy with your beloved on the best night of the year. Nothing like a full moon on Halloween night to stoke up some romance!

Although Chuck Berry inspired some of the most influential acts of our time, like Elvis, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, he also duck-walked into the sounds of several lesser-known artists. Here's a cover of "Trick or Treat" by one of my favorite (and sadly defunct) horror-obsessed punk bands, the Groovie Ghoulies, off their album of Chuck Berry covers called Berry'd Alive. Trick or treat, what a sweet delight!