One of the true originals has died at 79. Let us pause and remember him with the beat that defined him:
bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp
It’s a beat and a riff so essential that it helped fuel the careers of both Buddy Holly and The Rolling Stones. Quicksilver Messenger Service practically built an entire career on it. Bo was also instrumental in inventing the use of tremelo and vibrato. A Rock God in other words. For a good obituary, go here.
Along with Chuck Berry’s signature intro, rock and roll was built on this beat. Show any musician of a certain age this album cover and they’ll get all misty-eyed. They all learned to play from hearing it.
His influence was so deep that even actors wanted to pay their respects; Dan Ackroyd put Bo in both ‘The Blues Brothers’ and ‘Trading Places’, where Bo memorably lorded it over the pawn shop.
Bo’s live show was centred around Jerome Green his maraccas player and The Duchess on bass. Want to see how good they were? Here’s Bo doing “Road Runner”:
Why was that riff so damn good? Because it was made for dancing:
Buddy Holly lifted The Beat for “Not Fade Away”, but he was cool enough to give props by recording “Bo Diddley”.
Of course, Buddy wasn’t so cool that he wrote the song – Bo wrote it as his first single. (Nothing like advertising your own brilliance.)
The Animals weren’t content just to cover a song about Bo Diddley – they wrote one of their own. “The Story Of Bo Diddley” is the kind of history lesson they should teach in school.
Bo Diddley aka Ellis McDaniel – born Dec. 30, 1928, died June 2, 2008
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I would also add (or elaborate) that Bo Diddley probably can be the first to be credited with the "Name" song (the above mentioned, Bo Diddley), where an artist writes a song with their name in it, which could probably be linked to any songs of bragging about oneself that would follow through out the next 50+ years in rock and hip hop.
I can only think of songs like "Motorhead" by Motorhead as an example, off the top of my head or the more recent "Mike Jones" by Mike Jones.
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My friend Steve Conte sent this email today:
What a guy, what a loss...
I feel lucky that i got to spend some time with the legend in the studio when we were making the New York Dolls record "One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This" back in 2006. On that session Bo played his guitar through a synthesizer that made steel drum and "Seinfeld slap-bass" sounds, told long jokes, and kept offering to buy my 50's airline resonator guitar, which i would not sell (but i did get him to autograph my '59 danelectro guitar!)
Bo kept telling me he had a song for the Dolls to cover - it was called "I'm A Bad Seed". When I went to see him play @ BB King's the next day he announced from the stage "this next song that is gonna be covered by a rock & roll band...and one of them is out there in the audience tonight...." and he performed "Bad Seed", not remembering my name or the name New York Dolls...but he was sure it would happen. Still could...I remember the tune!
Attatched is a pic of the 1st time Bo & I met @ little steven's underground garage show on randalls island in 2004...
to read Bo's story & obituary the new york times copy & paste this long-ass url into your browser ...
http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Obit-Diddley.html&OQ=_rQ3D1&OP=69973153Q2FQ27dztQ27Q5EeN4TeeaSQ27Q20Q3CeBg.BzQ27Q20Ta4Q27_kDQ3Dt.aDQ22.Q5EQ5EgzQ7CrRaVg
LUV- Steve Conte
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Robin - The thought of The New York Dolls and Bo Diddley in the same room is quite mind blowing. I just remembered that The Clash had him as support on a US tour. And Little Steven... Interesting who remembers/ed this fire starter and made sure they got to "know Diddley".
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i like your phrase, man. "know Diddley" has a nice ring to it and a kick-ass beat!
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What else is there to do but to listen to the music? Play on, Bo.
Thanks Jonh for this very nice write-up.
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Do you think you could also credit Bo for the custom guitar madness that other rockers adopted, like Rick Neilsen from Cheap Trick. The man is just a wealth of firsts...
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How so, contrabandwidth?
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Bo Diddley was hardly the first guitarist to make his own instrument, or to have one made for him. The Les Paul (designed and built by Les Paul) is a legend with few peers, and Django's (also not a first) custom-made Selmer/Maccaferri guitars became pretty famous. Double-neck guitars go back to at least the 1890s.
The man was full of firsts, but that one doesn't belong to him. I wouldn't even go so far as to say that he even popularized the custom guitar. Because as long as there have been options on guitar building, there have been guitarist who wanted them, even if they hadn't been done yet. There is usually a luthier around somewhere who's willing to try something new.
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Oh I am aware of Les Paul's contribution to the guitar world, I was kind of thinking more along the lines of the flamboyance end of it. In the NY Times obit they talked about how he had Star shaped guitars (on I remember, but haven't found a pic of).
I guess I was just kind of adding that so much of his style was mimicked, I wouldn't be surprised by Bo inspiring other future guitarists in outlandish guitars.
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Well, it's an interesting point to bring up. I'm still not sure I would credit Bo Diddley solely (or mainly) with that contribution, but I do know he at least inspired Billy Gibbons to have his flamboyant guitars made.
Remember the Texas-shaped Gibson, and the fur-covered guitars? Oh, and the "Billy-Bo" Jupiter Thunderbird (?) Gretsch that both Billy and Bo played? There's at least one well-known guitarist ,who was known for his crazy git-fiddles, who was inspired in that way by Bo Diddley.
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Ooh, I forgot about the furry guitar. That must of smelled real good after a concert or two. Like a wet muppet or something. yuck.
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There was probably a fur roadie, whose only responsibility was to clean and groom the fur for the next show.
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hehe I wonder if they just stuck the fur to the guitar with velcro, or something, then laundered it once in a while.
Or maybe the guitar was a genetically modified cat, and it cleaned itself after every show...
meow
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We'll always know the answer to the question, "Who put the Bomp?" He just won't be around anymore to say, "Me!"
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Great MOG here.
The outpouring and love for this man has been amazing.
Here's a picture that I took for a friend of my - just two weeks ago.
Have never stopped thinking about the Bo.
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Thank you for sharing a wonderful review on the life of Rock Royalty!
My father shared with me that he had met Bo Diddley years ago in Italy and wondered who he was from afar because he did not recognize him. Once they started talking my Dad could not believe that he had met Bo Diddley. They both enjoyed talking to each other and seeing brown faces in Italy that they exchanged phone numbers. Bo Diddley lived in Gainsville, FL and he even invited my father over to play sometime whenever he was in FL for my father travels to Florida a lot. We were sad to hear of Bo's passing but we know his memory will live on forever.
Thanks for sharing!
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Serenity, that's a great reminiscence. Just showa that the truly great are humble at heart. I hope your father took him up on the offer.
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Unfortunately my father and Bo never saw each other again but my Dad was so grateful for Bo extendeding his friendship to him. That was a real highlight for my father for my Dad is a few years younger than Bo for he grew up with his music. You are so right that Bo was humble at heart!