Rock & Roll Music - Beach Boys/Beatles/Chuck Berry (4/22/23)

Three Great Decades. Three Great Artists. One Great Song!

In 1957, Chuck Berry recorded and released what was arguably his best song: "Rock and Roll Music." At the very least, the song helped define the early Rock and Roll era. Hey, the title says it all!

Tthe song spent several years on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 500 Songs of All Time, and it's on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's list of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock & Roll!

For the record (so to speak), the song originally reached #6 on Billboard's Hot 100.

(TRIVIA: The song was originally released on 45 and 78 RPM vinyl.)

In late 1964, The Beatles were all tied up taking the world by storm, and didn't have time to write a lot of original songs for their second album, "Beatles for Sale." They decided to record some covers to fill the album, and with John Lennon singing lead, they recorded a great version of "Rock & Roll Music" that was released as a single in Europe and elsewhere (but not the US.). Before long, it was #1 in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Australia. In Germany, it reached #2.

Finally, in the summer of 1975, The ever-fragile Brian Wilson returned to the studio to help the Beach Boys record a synth-heavy version for their "15 Big Ones" album.

Mike Love's nasal vocal sounded a bit like Chuck Berry himself, and combined with Brian's funky keyboards and some classic Beach Boy harmonies, their version of "Rock and Roll music reached #5 in the US and #11 in Canada."

It was their last Top 10 hit until "Kokomo" in 1988.

"Rock & Roll Music" by Chuck Berry in the '50s, The Beatles in the '60s, and The Beach Boys in the '70s: Three Great Decades. Three Great Artists. One Great Song!

Beach Boys ('76): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS3h5oGEuqk

Beatles ('64): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRF6nmqcbxo

Chuck Berry: ('57): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu5_6HxDeLI

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