The Art: Johnny B. Goode
The Artist: Chuck Berry
The Work:
Today is Harmony Day here in Australia. It’s a day on which we celebrate cultural diversity, but perhaps even more importantly, a day we celebrate what unites us.
It’s also two days since we heard the news that rock pioneer Chuck Berry died at the age of 90. With a guitar style that would permeate through the ages, influencing everyone from the Beach Boys to The Clash, and his eccentric duck walk that managed to look simultaneously odd, and utterly cool, Berry is an icon who continued to perform in his final years.
Berry wanted to make music for anyone who would enjoy it. ”I made records for people who would buy them,” he once said. “No colour, no ethnic, no political – I don’t want that, never did.”
He understood that his art, like all art, was a great unifier. In doing so, he brought people of all backgrounds together in harmony, and set the stage for so many other bands that would do the very same.
So let us remember Chuck Berry this Harmony Day. Let us remember that difference must be respected, and similarities cherished.
RIP Chuck Berry
1926-2017