Recommendations of the Editorial team
Bo Diddley’s music is gigantic. Moving. The gay, sexual power of Africa is in there. And all kinds of secrets. People hear his records and think: “Oh, you just play bonk-de-bonk-bonk, de-bonk-bonk, and you already have a Bo-Diddley beat.” But it’s not that simple.
He played incredibly simple things with incredible authority.
I heard him for the first time on an album of the Rolling Stones, on her cover of “Mona”. It was such a great song. I looked at the credits and there was “Ellas McDaniel”. I thought, “Who is the hell?” But when I started the song letter, he opened my eyes.
I had no special voice, knew only a few handles on the guitar and looked for a possibility – and there he was, who wrote very complete, very catchy songs without a large brimborium. They weren’t that overloaded. It never annoys with unnecessary chord changes, as is common in heavy metal. The sound is hypnotic.
And Bo Diddley embodied this setting: head up, chest out! He was a bull and he demonstrated this attitude in everything he played. He reminds me of the deepest delta blues: Muddy Waters in urban disguise. And his voice is so damn loud.
Bo Diddley’s hands were long from the wrists to the fingertips
Then there is the way he played guitar. His hands were long from the wrists to his fingertips. Thanks to them, he always had his instrument under control. His rhythm was unique. The line was exceeded with Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix used his hands and a fuzzbox for his sound. Today, many guitarists only need a fuzzbox.
Bo Diddley had a powerful influence on the sixties rock. The Stones covered Bo Diddley, the Yardbirds made “I’m a man”, and the Pretty Things covered his song “Pretty Thing”. My band in the high school, the Iguanas, played a few of his songs, “Road Runner”, for example, and you can also listen to the Stoges a bit. And that Jack White studied his records is flawless.
The influence is unmistakable
I personally met Bo a few times. Once I played with him in Las Vegas, and in the eighties and nineties we often sat in the same aircraft – he always always in the first class, always alone, always with his police cap and the sheriff star.
I think Bo and Chuck Berry have been trivialized because they have been covered too often. The influence is unmistakable, but their own careers could have tolerated a little kick. Any car or jeans that incorporate a piece of him into their advertising so that the young guys say: “Wow, that really rocks!”