• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

Chuck Berry vs Keith Richards

Stumbler

Active member
Joined
Jul 29, 2002
Messages
2,947
That is amazing ... Chuck and Keef going at it ... Chuck giving Keef a lesson and reading him the riot act. Telling him he's got to get it right.
 

MadStork

New member
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
185
I had always heard Chuck had a huge ego & something of an attitude problem, but in watching this I felt he was wholly in the right for demanding Richards perform the song correctly. :salude and Richards whining about it later ... poor baby, being dressed down by one of the Original Guitar Gods ... :dude
 

Cooltone

New member
Joined
Aug 1, 2003
Messages
334
This was from the "Hail Hail Rock and Roll" documentary. It was a labor of love for Keith. He wanted to pay tribute to his hero. It was an outstanding film. That exchange seemed pretty tense, but Keith knew how important the film was and wanted the best possible recording. Chuck was being Chuck and wasn't gonna budge!! I guess they were both right.

The one on one interviews with Chuck Berry show what a genius that guy is.
 

bluespckr

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
2,073
Good stuff. Love these sorts of clips and things.

It has always amazed me how Chuck would travel about and do all these gigs every year, mostly with pickup bands to back him up. One band tonight, another one tomorrow, a different one the night after that, as he went from town to town. That's a hard thing to do, and we all know how inconsistent that might be to work with. He's an amazing guy ....

Oh -- and I even understood most of what Keith was mumbling ... I think.
 
Last edited:

RocknTommy

New member
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
911
Cooltone said:
This was from the "Hail Hail Rock and Roll" documentary. It was a labor of love for Keith. He wanted to pay tribute to his hero. It was an outstanding film. That exchange seemed pretty tense, but Keith knew how important the film was and wanted the best possible recording. Chuck was being Chuck and wasn't gonna budge!! I guess they were both right.

The one on one interviews with Chuck Berry show what a genius that guy is.

Great Film.
The best is they ran a line out to a Mesa Boogie down in the basement to record the shows. Keef said he was too damn loud and sounded like crap on stage. So that is why he ran that line....pretty funny.
 

bluespckr

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
2,073
I can't believe I've never seen this film, but I just did a search at Amazon and discovered it is being released in a 2-disc and 4-disc DVD package in June. I guess the DVD versions will include a lot of interviews and backstage/onstage stuff that was not included on the VHS tape. Should be cool.
 

Bradster

New member
Joined
Dec 8, 2003
Messages
631
When I try to access the secnd link it says "This video has been removed by the user.".
 

MadStork

New member
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
185
So it has been ... well, it was similar to the first link, except that it had a few moments of Keith mumbling something at the end. I couldn't tell what he was saying because I was trying to hear it through the PC speaker at work ... but his expression was funny as hell ... :hippy
 

bramley

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
408
bluespckr said:
Good stuff. Love these sorts of clips and things.

It has always amazed me how Chuck would travel about and do all these gigs every year, mostly with pickup bands to back him up. One band tonight, another one tomorrow, a different one the night after that, as he went from town to town. That's a hard thing to do, and we all know how inconsistent that might be to work with. He's an amazing guy ....

Oh -- and I even understood most of what Keith was mumbling ... I think.

I was in one of those bands a long time ago.... I just remember Chuck yelling "gimme an E .....gimme a B... One two three four" !!! That was it, no rehearsal, never met the man in my life before. It rocked though.
 

Cooltone

New member
Joined
Aug 1, 2003
Messages
334
I was in one of those bands a long time ago.... I just remember Chuck yelling "gimme an E .....gimme a B... One two three four" !!! That was it, no rehearsal, never met the man in my life before. It rocked though.
Cool, bramley!
I had the same experience with Screamin' Jay Hawkins at the Palomino, in No. Hollywood one Halloween night back in the late '80's.
He showed up 5 minutes before showtime, told us that he'd shout the chord changes and that we'd do just fine. Fortunately, the bass player from Sha Na Na was in the audience and offered to play bass..he knew all the tunes and was a huge help.
After the show, Screamin' Jay walked back stage, stuffed a huge wad of cash in his pocket and told us 'so long and have a good night'.!!
 

bramley

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
408
The cash bit also sounds familiar!!!

Another "Chuck -ism" was to work the crowd to a frenzy, screaming for an encore and then while waiting to go back on demand more cash from the promoter , "otherwise I'm outa here"...

What a great character, he's definitely a national icon.
 

keef

Active member
Joined
Jan 27, 2002
Messages
5,006
I am in the opposite camp. Chuck is my hero, but I his attitude pisses me off bigtime.

Since decades it is not about the music or about the fans, only about the $$. Musically he is often an embarrassment onstage - and Chuck couldn't care less.
 

sidekick

New member
Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Messages
3,060
keef said:
I am in the opposite camp. Chuck is my hero, but I his attitude pisses me off bigtime.

Since decades it is not about the music or about the fans, only about the $$. Musically he is often an embarrassment onstage - and Chuck couldn't care less.
You are probably right......but I think Chuck's attitude has come about over time and because he was ripped-off by record company contracts and taxes etc.,
 

marika

New member
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Messages
186
in the 2nd clip Keith tells the story where Chuck had earlier landed a fist to his jaw after a concert. apparently keith touched Chuck's shoulder after the show and chuck turned around and let keith have one. Keith said he was real proud that he did not go down. very funny stuff. will have to get the dvd reissue this summer. thanks for sharing this. (my guess keith was not feeling much pain anyway).
 

Cooltone

New member
Joined
Aug 1, 2003
Messages
334
You are probably right......but I think Chuck's attitude has come about over time and because he was ripped-off by record company contracts and taxes etc.,
Him and a lot of his contemporaries fell victim to scams, bad management deals, etc. For example, many non artists (Leonard Chess, Alan Freed, etc.)were able to con/convince artists to allow them to share or take full credit for songwriting/ publishing royalties..bilking them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars..(millions in today's figures)
It must have hurt even worse to see the young, white kids 'borrowing' their music a decade later and making more money from it then they did.
 

Grand Toad

Formerly Old Believer
Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
1,411
I remember seeing that on TV a few years ago. Chuck yells a key change in the middle of the first song, Keith stops it from happening. I saw Chuck Berry back in the Eighties, he was worse than the Stones are in 2006. And I'm a huge fan of both.
 
Top