Bob Seger may have once called us all Chuck's children. But ever since the British invasion 40 years ago, there have been those who were just as inspired by Bo Diddley. But even in rock 'n' roll, parents just don't understand.
"That was sick," Bo Diddley says. He is recalling 1979, when he was hired on to be the opening act for a leg of the Clash's first U.S. tour. "I can't explain it when I say it was sick. But they just played too loud. You see, I am about professionalism and knowing what to do on the stage, not about getting up there and trying to blow people's eardrums out."
Or, ask Bo Diddley what he thinks about Warren Zevon's brilliant vamp on "Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger" and the man cuts you off with: "No! No! No! I don't know nothing about that. A lot of things went down back in the '60s and '70s where I didn't get paid for stuff, so I don't know. When you get paid you know about it."
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Bo Diddley only had a few hits, but his influence on rock has been greater than almost any other artist. His signature beat became one of rock's foundations and his guitar stylings demonstrated the immense range of the instrument. If you haven't heard these samplings, then you don't know Bo.
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Of course, at Chess records, Diddley recorded a handful of songs backed by Jerome Green's maracas and that distinctive beat which have become immortal, starting with his brilliant 1955 debut single "Bo Diddley" / "I'm a Man." His other oft-covered classics quickly followed, including "Who Do You Love?" "Diddley Daddy" "Mona" and "Pretty Thing." But at Chess, Diddley felt cheated by the music business, and as a result, has even less interest in discussing his heyday recordings than in reflecting on the effect the songs had on other musicians. "I won't get into that, because it's nasty," is all he says.
In fact, though he is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is a direct influence on everyone from the Rolling Stones to the White Stripes, Bo Diddley says he never listens to rock. "I listen to a lot of country." Still, despite his loathing for the business side of the music he helped create, Diddley has been touched and surprised by his status as an icon. "It's weird, but it's great that I am still here doing my thing," he says. "I've been blessed."
Now well into his 70s, Diddley also is aware that his peers are few and dwindling quickly. Interviewing him on the day of Ray Charles' funeral, Diddley reflects, "Ray was a great man. He was a real person. We've lost a great man."
Regardless of his age, Diddley is still writing, recording and touring. "I am working on a new thing. I am trying to revive the original Bo Diddley beat and make it more forceful." Though he won't say much more about the new songs, Diddley does offer this: "I've written a song and now I am trying to get a girl to sing it. It is called 'Leave.' It is a bad tune, strictly for a girl to sing. A man could sing it too, but it was written for a woman to sing." So, whom does Bo Diddley hear singing this new one? "I've got my granddaughter singing it. I don't know how it is going to sound. But it is a hot number."
After all his negative experiences in the world of rock, why is Diddley bringing another generation of his family—one of his daughters is already part of his band—into the business? "I teach 'em how to stay away from the crooks. You got to get a bunch of lawyers to watch things, and then you better hope you don't get a crooked lawyer. I mean, if they're straight, they're straight. But you got bad ones. It's like cops."
Just one more lesson to be learned if you are a child of a legend.