I grew up in Rock and Roll culture. Watching a television show about the personal interactions between people in the Black and White communities in the old (mid-20th Century) South, I realized that the culture I grew up in has more in common with Black culture in America in the 50s than White culture in America in the 40s, though the America of Rock and Roll and the Space Program was also a completely new thing.
Something completely new that came in no small part from people like Chuck Berry and Miles Davis, Ray Charles and John Coltrane.
In that show, the White community was so formal, so formal and uptight and keeping-up-appearances.
The Black community, on the other hand, was open, and genuine, free with friendship and with emotion, unafraid of the little rough spots of life.
So much better, and so much like the Rock and Roll culture I grew up in, the American culture that we still know to this day.
This is why people like Chuck Berry and the old Blues masters are so revered in Rock and Roll.
Rock and Rollers don't steal from Black musicians.
They pay tribute.
Just look at how much people like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, Ray Charles, and Robert Johnson are revered in the Rock and Roll community.
These are our idols, our heroes.
The ones that started it all, the ones that started the magic.
Dylan himself learned so much about songwriting and presence as a performer from Robert Johnson's recordings.
All hail the original and never fallen Kings of Rock and Roll!
We're your biggest fans! And I don't just mean Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson! I mean all of you!
God loves you! Thank you for the music!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson