The Rule of 72: How Six Ancient Rockers Will Kick The Bucket

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Here are a couple guys who had to struggle to get where they are these days. Booze and drugs hit The Who hard and often. Drummer Keith Moon died in 1978 after taking thirty tablets of an anti-alcohol withdrawal medication. Townshend left the band for a time while in the midst of a heroin addiction, and John Entwhistle, the pipe smoking bassist, fell victim to a cocaine induced heart attack in 2002. Both surviving members have had health problems and Townshend had legal issues involving a stray peek at some Internet child porn. Notwithstanding, the duo entered 2010 still discussing the possibility of touring again as The Who. While Townshend tries to deal with partial deafness and tinnitus, Daltrey is hitting the road solo in the US as this is being written. This fact conjures a vision of Pete and Roger’s shuffle from the mortal coil. The site is London in June of 2016 and the occasion is the 90th birthday celebration of Queen Elizabeth II. After all small set including “God Save The Queen”, the boys break into “My Generation” for an encore. When Roger sings “Hope I die before I get old”, Pete snaps. He shouts, “Too late you bloody bugger!” and slams his guitar over Daltrey’s head. Seeing what he has done, Townshend collapses in a heap. The kids were alright, all right, and the Queen knights both men posthumously.

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It’s altogether possible that you don’t know who Chuck Berry is. After all, he is 83 years old and his heyday was the fifties. He still straps on the guitar once a week near his Missouri home. If you don’t know who he is by name, you certainly know him through music. Berry is a true father of rock. Ever hear of” Johnny B. Goode”? How about “Maybelline” or “Roll Over, Beethoven”? OK, now we’re cookin’. Every previous name on this list will tell you they owe their careers in some part to the brown eyed handsome man. Springsteen played in a band which backed Berry once during the sixties, and Richards is the object of Berry’s ire in a film called Hail, Hail Rock’n’Roll!. Chuck is shown complaining of how much money Richards and the Stones made off of his music. There is truth to this, but Berry is not a very sympathetic figure. He has served time for transporting a minor across state lines, and twenty years later for tax evasion. The latter charge owed to Berry’s method of touring. He required a backing band be furnished wherever he went. There were no rehearsals-Berry expected the musicians to know his tunes and when the gig was done, Chuck would turn on his heel and leave without a word to anyone except the guy who was paying him, almost always in ca$h. So Chuck Berry is an asshole, but as long as he’s alive, he’s still the king. Our rule of 72 may not apply here, but it doesn’t matter. I’m betting that if you turn up on a Wednesday at the Blueberry Hill restaurant in St. Louis fifty years from now, you will still find Chuck duck-walking and playing that guitar. In the words of another aging rocker, Neil Young, rock and roll will NEVER die.

Author: Nick the Knife — Copyrighted © roadtickle.com