Bo Diddley is Dead
June 2, 2008News just broke that Bo Diddley, one of the more influential American purveyors of blues and rock and roll, died today at 79.
A lot of people remember Diddley as the guy who played second fiddle to Bo Jackson in those “Bo Knows” Nike ads of the early 1990s. Those were funny and all, and to be honest my age means that those ads were the first I myself had ever heard of Bo, but his musical legacy is a lot more than a few silly shoe commercials.
Diddley was known in some circles as “the Originator,” which is a pretty strong testament to the unique sounds he was able to bring out of a guitar. A lot of it might seem kind of cliched today, but I, for one, have a hard time imagining what hearing “Roadrunner” for the first time in 1962 would have felt like. Much like a band like Black Sabbath, or Led Zeppelin, or even someone like Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley’s art is best understood (and appreciated) if you place it in the context of what else was happening around it.
But he wasn’t just a timepiece. A paragraph from Diddley’s wikipedia entry also shows how widespread and lasting his influence has been:
The Bo Diddley beat has been used by many other artists, notably Elvis Presley (”His Latest Flame”); Bruce Springsteen (”She’s The One”); U2 (”Desire”); The Smiths (”How Soon Is Now?”); Roxette (”Harleys And Indians (Riders In The Sky)”). Dee Clark – A former member of the Hambone Kids (see above) (”Hey Little Girl”); Johnny Otis (”Willie and the Hand Jive”); George Michael (”Faith”); The Strangeloves (”I Want Candy”); Guns N’ Roses (”Mr. Brownstone”); David Bowie (”Panic in Detroit”); The Pretenders (”Cuban Slide”); The Police (”Deathwish”); Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders (”The Game of Love”); The Supremes (”When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes”); Jefferson Airplane (”She Has Funny Cars”); The White Stripes (”Screwdriver”); The Byrds (”Don’t Doubt Yourself, Babe”); Tiny Letters (”Song For Jerome Green”) and The Stooges (”1969″). The early The Rolling Stones sound was strongly associated with their versions of “Not Fade Away” and “I Need You Baby (Mona)”.
Other songs that Bo wrote which others made popular include “Before You Accuse Me,” “Who Do You Love?,” and “I’m a Man.”
It’s also pretty cool to note that the first time The Clash toured the U.S., Diddley was their opening act. Time-stamped, dated music my foot.
Anyway, I probably can’t say much more that won’t be said better elsewhere, but I’ll leave you with a few clips of Bo performing, mostly in a time when rock and roll was still something that encouraged spontaneity and not something that was planned out at every turn.
Bo Diddley, like all great rock and roll legends, did not set out to be famous; unlike too many wannabes of today in an ill-fated American Idol period, Bo, an incredible musician and vocalist with an fantastic, no frills, ‘let’s get right down to business’ stage show, just made great records. The legendary Chess Records of Chicago knew this; label heads Leonard & Phil Chess captured Bo at what he did best, singing and playing his heart out. Bo’s early recordings for Chess Records on the Checker label had a distinctive sound, complimented by the musician’s unique playing style that simply could not be duplicated. You did not have to know the name of the song in order to tell that was THE Bo Diddley playing on the record—whether it be his, on the instrumental guitar battle duet lp with label mate Chuck Berry (Checker), or even the wonderful Latin-tinged, sweet guitar picking on the extremely rare 78 rpm “Billy’s Blues–Part One” (Argo) credited to another label mate, the immortal Billy Stewart—all of it was just Bo, just pure talent. As the music styles of the 50’s changed, so did Bo’s musicianship, which had never stopped growing. The 60’s found Bo still rocking but able to incorporate some R & B: check out his “Oh Baby (I Love You)” where he is joined with then future pop star, Minnie Riperton on background vocals. It is common folklore of how Bo Diddley influenced many guitar players, especially those coming from the British Invasion, which would all but kill classic artists of Bo’s era from TV, radio and records but, nonetheless, Bo pressed—and played—on, for decades, right up to the very end, Bo gave his audience everything he had in performance. Bo, as I gently lower the tone arm down right now on one of your great 78s, I know only your physical body left this plane. You will live on forever—-in our hearts. Play a little loud at that heavenly Bo Diddley concert so I can hear a little of it down here. My deepest love goes out to the Bo Diddley family—Mark Matlock/Andromeda International Records androintl@earthlink.net
Bo Diddley did things that nobody else could do. I have never seen anybody play the guitar like it was a drum before. It was just one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. I hope the best for his family and friends, and we will always miss the dancing of Bo Diddley.
Bo Diddley was a great man and will always be remembered for his guitar playing and dancing abilities. Nobody else was quite like him. I will always miss BO Diddley
He was pretty much the coolest guy on the planet. We lost three great talents within a week of each other. Thusly, the world is left less cool and less talented.
When the world I inhabited consisted of Howdy Doody, Dwight Eisenhower and Wonder Bread, Bo came to our small town with Jerome Green (maracas) and Cliff James (drums). He was the first rock and roller I had ever seen live, and he was only six feet away from where we were standing, transfixed, hanging on to the apron of a small stage.
Tsunami, express train, god knows how to describe what came rolling off that stage that night in 1957 or so, but it picked me up by my shirt front and deposited me in another place altogether.
Over the years I followed Bo’s performances, and when my youngest turned nine, I took her to see him in New York and she experienced the same flip-out. He was very kind to both of us, and she called him in Florida (at the number he’d written down for us!)one evening, and they chatted about how important school was for a young girl of her age.
Chuck Berry gave us pioneering rock and roll guitar and great tunes, Little Richard (bless him) is the archetypical rock and roll personality, and Fats Domino brought R&B to the masses, but Bo provided some serious gris-gris to us at a time when we didn’t even realize we needed it. He was like a spiritual figure, a guiding uncle to me.
So, so, (I’ve been told), Bo Diddley put the rock in rock and roll.
May we all gather by the river.
Rest in Peace, Gunslinger.
Oh no ! I was just flying through WordPress
and I saw this. My heart is broken ! Thanks
for the info, and your tribute is really nice.
(And informative, I never knew he opened for
“The Clash”). Cool !
Bo Diddley was cool and I;m sure he’ll be missed,however;why put Clint Eastwood on top of his page with a gun like he needed to be killed by dirty harry? Now,I don’t like harry anymore and I feel like Bo Diddley has been disrepected. The disrepect that goes on in this country is absolutely phenominal.Remove the gun unless you wnat your mom’s to have Shaft over top of your death notice online. Attention NAACP!
Keith – this is my blog, where I write about things I like. Bo Diddley is something I like. Dirty Harry is something I like. That is all.
Two of the most scraggly rock albums of all time are Bo’s. One is ‘Have Gun, Will Travel’; the other, ‘Bo Diddley’s Beach Party.’ The latter, released in 1963, is an explosion. The single microphone that recorded it all must’ve been inside Bo’s home-made amp whilst on fire. It’s hard to find, but if you want a powerful buckshot of microphony, this is one you’ll have to get. You don’t have a choice in the matter. In it you’ll find his number “I’m All Right,” which I’ve dropped into my last five-thousand mix CDs. You’ll also find that the Rolling Stones ripped it off and took credit, renaming it “I’m Alright.” Happened to Bo quite a bit, but Bo’s were always better. Always.