10 Greatest Rock Anthems Of All Time
3. Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry
Long before the Beatles and the Rolling Stones came along, rock and roll didn't really have a name. While you would see some sort of forceful tune coming in the form of something like Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley, the term rock and roll wasn't something that hit the music scene until the late '50s. Though Elvis Presley may be known as the King of Rock and Roll, its origin got started the minute you heard Johnny B Goode's opening lick.
Compared to the more bluesy records coming out of the South like Muddy Waters and BB King, Chuck Berry's rapid fire guitar lick blew open the doors for every other rock act to follow afterward. From the way he chugs along on the riff to the story of a young man who wants to do nothing else but play his guitar, Berry practically wrote the life story of every kid who was drawn to the sound of an amplified guitar.
This proved to be only the opening shot though, with Berry becoming a prominent influence on everyone from Keith Richards to John Lennon to Angus Young in the rock world. To this day, Johnny B Goode still manages to shake that same feeling in your gut as it did when it started the genre 70 years ago. As long as there is still rock and roll, Johnny B Goode will still be as essential as the electric guitar.