A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

FOR PEOPLE WHO ONLY NEED A BEAT. In junior high, I had the opportunity to take an elective on the history of rock and roll. I figured the class would begin with an analysis of a group like Bill Haley and the Comets. Imagine my surprise when instead the first class focused upon a guy I had scarcely even heard of at the time – Bo Diddley. Why were we studying a guy who had had only one Top 40 hit in his entire life (1957’s “Say Man”, which hit #20)? It was then that I learned about his importance in music history. Bo Diddley died yesterday at the age of 79. His passing saddens me.

Diddley played a key role in the creation of rock and roll, particularly its transition from the blues. He pioneered the use of more insistent, powerful rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound.

Perhaps most importantly, Bo Diddley crafted the beat that bore his name. In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:

"One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and..."

Many of his compositions, such as "Hey Bo Diddley" (CLICK ON THIS LINK!) and "Who Do You Love?" have no chord changes. As a result, the beat produces the thrill, rather than having the excitement arise from the melody or harmonic tension.

A blog on allmusic.com summarizes his considerable influence:

That oversized, swaggering beat quickly became widely imitated, with Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” and Ronnie Hawkins’ version of “Who Do You Love” being the first inkling of the tidal wave of Diddley-inspired rocking to follow. As the ’60s rolled on, band after band rode Bo’s train: the Rolling Stones’ recorded “Mona” and gave Muddy Waters’ “I Just Want To Make Love To You” a Bo Beat, the Pretty Things took their name from one of his singles, the Who’s “Magic Bus” was fueled by Diddley, the Yardbirds covered Bo’s “Here ‘Tis” and “I’m A Man” picking up on the wild modernity of his recordings, while Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band tapped into his flat-out weirdness in their cover of “Diddy Wah Diddy.” … the Clash had Bo open for them on an American tour, while two Georges – Michael and Thorogood – brought the Bo Diddley beat into ’80s with their hits “Faith” and “Bad to the Bone,” while the man himself was part of a Nike ad campaign in the early ’90s, around the time Paul McCartney revived “Crackin’ Up” ….

Let me add to that list the Strangeloves' 1965 hit "I Want Candy" (another link not to be missed!), a song that has been covered by many other artists including Bow Wow Wow.

Diddley was renowned for his creative guitar work. He created many special effects on the electric guitar and other innovations in tone and attack. Bo Diddley’s guitar work and music influenced the “chugging” and riffing that has since defined hard rock and metal.

In 1987, Bo Diddley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the late 1980's he teamed with Bo Jackson in Nike’s infamous “Bo Knows” commercials featuring his pithy line "Bo, you don't know Diddley!"

You can read much more about Bo Diddley here, here, and here (parts of this piece are taken from those websites).

Possibly the best of his many compilations CDs is this one.

The Jesus & Mary Chain have a song called “Bo Diddley is Jesus.” That pretty much sums it up.