(Credits: Far Out / Tidal)
Tue 23 December 2025 21:00, UK
No revolution is undertaken alone, and Chuck Berry might have been the defining guitar hero of rock and roll’s emergence back in the 1950s, but he certainly wasn’t the only figure transforming R&B into the bold, hip-shaking new world of rock rebellion.
Trying to pinpoint the exact origin story of rock and roll is a needle in a haystack – provided the haystack extended over a period of multiple decades, and the needle in question was of debatable existence. Like virtually every musical genre and movement, after all, rock emerged as an amalgamation of different influences, stretching from country to age-old blues and R&B, often performed by woefully underappreciated artists who never achieved much in the way of mainstream attention.
Even when rock and roll hit the mainstream, it never had one true inarguable ‘leader’, even if some performers were more popular than others. Seemingly, no matter how overinflated the egos of rock stars are liable to become, very few of them could ever truly claim to be the main progenitor of the entire genre, even if – like Chuck Berry – they certainly had a stake to claim.
Humility was in short supply during those early days, and Berry was always guilty of having an ego. Then again, when you’ve had as much of an impact on the entire landscape of rock and roll as Chuck Berry, ego is virtually inevitable. Nevertheless, once the dust had settled on the rock explosion, the guitarist did adopt a much more open-minded, well-rounded view of rock’s first emergence.
During one interview, for instance, Berry was asked who the true founding fathers of rock and roll were. “It’s not for me to say,” he replied, “but I’m surely a cog in the wheel, as my pop used to say.”
Alongside himself, the guitarist also gave a rundown of a few other essential figures, listing, “I’ll say [Fats] Domino and I’ll say Louis Jordan, Elvis Presley, and even Fats Waller because Fats played basic music.”
“Little Richard, he was great in the beginning, Bill Haley was, you know,” Berry trailed off. “We’re all just, I think, a cog in the wheel, we all got the ball rolling.” It is difficult to dispute that point, as each of those figures had an inarguable impact on the early years of rock’s revolution – even if there are a few notable individuals, the likes of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, for instance, who were omitted from his summary.
Berry’s inclusion of Elvis Presley and Bill Haley is particularly diplomatic, as both of those figures came under heavy criticism from prominent black artists back in the 1950s, for essentially hijacking a style of music that black artists had been playing for years and packing it up as if it was their own original creation.
Seemingly, Berry could still appreciate the likes of Haley and Presley for their essential role in popularising rock to the masses, even if their musical contributions might have paled in comparison to the likes of Fats Domino, Fats Waller, or Louis Jordan.
Either way, Berry’s founding fathers of rock and roll are pretty undeniable. Each and every figure his listed, including himself, played an utterly essential, unforgettable role in the development and popularisation of rock and roll during the early years.
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