Few artists can claim to have created their own style of music, but that is only one of the accomplishments of Bo Diddley. Say “play a Bo Diddley beat” to any knowledgeable musician, and they will know exactly what you are talking about. Many of his most famous songs stay with one chord throughout the entire song; all of the excitement and focus is on that rhythm. Immortal original tunes like “Who Do You Love?” and “Bo Diddley” are but two examples. And just so you don’t think that Bo was a one trick pony, check out the riffmaster of “Roadrunner” or the freakin’ groove of “I Can Tell” which is as deep as the Grand Canyon.
Born Ellas Bates (he later took the name Ellas McDaniel, from his mother’s cousin who adopted and raised him), Bo became one of the biggest artists on the legendary blues/rock record label Chess Records (along with Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.) He is hailed as an innovator on several fronts: as a music innovator (the Bo Diddley rhythm pushing rock music forward), as a guitarist, as a guitar designer, and as a songwriter (contributing such tunes as “Bo Diddley”, “I’m a Man”, “You Don’t Love Me”, “Who Do You Love?” and “Roadrunner” to the rock canon).
For me, it is “Who Do You Love?” that stands as his crowning achievement. The perfect example of his patented Bo Diddley beat/rhythm, over which Bo raps (yes, ‘raps’ way back in 1956) as if he were some hoodoo master hybrid of his Mississippi roots transplanted to the stark Southwest with references to “47 miles of barbed wire”, “a brand new house made from rattlesnake hide” with “a chimney made out of human skull” and “cobra snake neckties”. It is a remarkable tune of mesmerizing and pulverizing rhythm, with barbed wire guitar leads and vocal boasts that sound as much tribal as they do rock and roll.
Today we lost one of the last living fathers of rock and roll. There are only a handful left from the days of the music's birth, and Bo Diddley was one of the greatest of the greats. A true gentleman and intellectual from those days, as he helped to design his distinctive rectangular-shaped guitars that he made so famous.
For a good overview of his music, I would suggest grabbing His Best: the Chess 50th Anniversary Collection.
ABOVE: Crank this video up to 11 and just groove out to this kick-ass performance from Bo Diddley. Decked out in his black leather glory, he rocks this audience of hippies into a frenzy by jamming on his patented rhythm for about 4 minutes. Awesome.
RIP Bo Diddley.
5 comments:
Imagine, the sheer brilliance of thinking to design a rectangular guitar. He's like a circa 1907 Picasso of guitar design.
That was an amazing clip. I kept waiting for the song to begin, but in the whole number there were only incomprehensible syllables, two chords (if that), and an alarming amount of guitar humping. Reminds me a lot of some Dave Long/Southern Exposure shows I've seen in the past.
What a life. I mean, right? What a life.
He is brilliant. He also did the electronics, etc. too in his early guitars, not just the shape. I read somewhere that he made the rectangular guitar to make his guitar humping moves easier. Seriously.
I picked that clip over others for the sheer energy of it. But it does not do him justice in a certain sense in that he was also a great rock songwriter too. As you point out, the entire clip is of him saying "yeah", jamming on his rhythm and dancing around while the crowd goes nuts. But the energy there is remarkable. But the dude actually did write great songs with great lyrics and riffs and multiple chords. Some of his songs are amongst the most covered in rock, such as "I'm a Man" and "Who Do You Love?"
And I agree, it is now clear where Dave Long copped some of his stage moves.
I heard on the radio that he designed the rectangular guitar, because he racked himself pretty good one time and he thought the rectangular design was safer for his manhood.
I consider myself a rock fan, but I can make it to about the 1:03 mark of that clip and then I have to turn it off because my head hurts. Psychedelic drugs -- lots of them -- are the only possible way that audience could have been so excited by that.
Sorry.
You were raised on REM.
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