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Originally Posted by NYSPORTSFAN
What about the people who played on Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley records?
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Elvis was backed by Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass. Chuck Berry was backed by Willie Dixon on bass and Johnnie Johnson on piano. All legends in their own right.
Scotty Moore His style is close to other guitar players at the time that did fingerpicking, and he is modest when talking about his playing ability. Scotty Moore got paid up front for the Sun Sessions and didn't receive any royalities for his part on those recordings, not even a dime. And it goes without saying how much money Elvis made.
If you ask people to recognize how revolutionary The Beatles were, then the same thing should be pointed out about Elvis and even taking note of the talent of his backup band of Scotty Moore and Bill Black. Just listen to Blue Moon - you'll have to admit 1.) it was just as revolutionary for its day as The Beatles were for theirs and 2.) that George Harrison's guitar playing style (on early Beatle songs) sounds awlful close to Scotty Moore's playing (and goes without saying George was influenced by Carl Perkins).
Bill Black played stand up bass on Elvis' early recording and the drummer is really missed with Bill's doghouse bass slapping technique. He had some success with his own band, The Bill Black Combo. They had hits with Smokie Part 2 (#17 on the pop charts) and White Silver Sands (#9 on the pop charts) - all together a total of eight Top 40 hits.
Willie Dixon There can't be enough said about him.
List of songs written by Willie Dixon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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His songs were covered by some of the biggest artists of more recent times, including Bob Dylan, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Foghat, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Megadeth, The Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, Aerosmith, Grateful Dead,[3] Styx and a posthumous duet with Colin James.
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Johnnie Johnson played piano for Chuck Berry. Johnson was talented musician and he helped Chuck with arrangements on a couple of his songs. He is inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
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Originally Posted by NYSPORTSFAN
Compared to Elvis and their mentors they had the whole package. Elvis was just a vocalist not a songwriter or musician in the caliber of any of the Beatles. The Beatles songs in terms of melodic and chordal content goes way further than someone like Chuck Berry and 50's rock and roll in general. The Beatles not only had classic singles but a album run of Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, White Album and Abbey Road that none of their mentors could approach.
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It's pretty much a shell game. If I mention that Elvis is a stronger singer then you say he didn't write songs eshewing any comparison where The Beatles don't come up on top (like singing ablity).
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Originally Posted by NYSPORTSFAN
Rubber Soul and Revolver combined Eastern, country-western, soul, and classical motifs with trend-setting covers, breaking any mold that seemed to contain "rock and roll." In both albums, balladry, classical instrumentation, and new structure resulted in brilliant new concepts just hinted at in earlier works like "Yesterday" and "Rain." Songs such as "Tomorrow Never Knows," "Eleanor Rigby," and the lyrically surreal "Norwegian Wood"
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There were plenty of mold breakers before The Beatles. Robert Johnson was know for playing Irish jigs on guitar but unfortanetly none of those songs were ever recorded. Why? Because he broke the mold for what Blues guitar player should play back then.
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Originally Posted by NYSPORTSFAN
made use of sophisticated recording techniques. .
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Well.... Les Paul single handedly invented the multi track recording studio along with all those techinques you boast about The Beatles using like Tape Looping, Phasing, and even Flanging, direct line in* etc etc.
*I read where Paul McCartney was the first to directly plug his bass into the recording console which thus became a recording standard, because it was a Belates first, but I'm sure Les Paul was doing something similar with his guitar a decade earlier.