Over 50 years ago, Bo Diddley helped create rock 'n' roll, along with Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Though just as influential and every bit as talented, Diddley never caught on with a mass audience in the way Berry and Richard did. His sound was always far weirder than his contemporaries, a hypnotic blend of fuzz tones, reverberation and tribal beats. The Bo Diddley beat (think ""I Want Candy"") is the quintessential sound of rock music, influencing and being ripped off by everyone from the Rolling Stones to Captain Beefheart to the New York Dolls. Wednesday night ""The Originator"" comes to Madison, reminding us that rock 'n' roll's spare and simple sound is as thrilling and relevant as ever. Diddley talked with The Daily Cardinal about his music, being ripped off and Muddy Waters.
The Daily Cardinal: So you've been touring for upward of 50 years. A lot of bands stop touring after a decade or two. Why do you keep doing it?
Bo Diddley: I feel good about it. My age does not bother me. I just get up and go do it. I like to still be able to roll with the punches as we call it. I'm 77 and to me that's just a number. I still like performing. Looking at people, making people happy and having a good time and stuff like that. I don't do no drugs, I never have, and I still can't figure out what's the attraction of this crap. With people who are killing themselves, destroying their families and everything else, you know. I don't do none of that. All I do is rock 'n' roll, and if that makes you high, great.
DC: How does it feel to have helped create rock music, something that is in almost everyone's life these days?
BD: Rock 'n' roll today, with the kids and what they're playing and calling rock 'n' roll, is not rock 'n' roll. I don't know what the hell it is. I'm not talking about rap, I'm talking about rock 'n' roll where you got a lot of screaming guitar and fuzz tones and all sorts of shit, it's not like me or Chuck Berry or Fats Domino, the Shirelles. Groups that sound like that, they didn't have any of the screaming guitars. So what was that [that changed things] between then and now? Rock 'n' roll kind of took a recess for now, and I survived that mess.
DC: Is that music going to come back?
BD: Oh yeah, it ain't went no where. One of the things is, DJs aren't really playing the [older] stuff to the point that it's noticeable every day. A lot of the records are out of print, and the companies ran off with people's money, like mine. I never got paid. A lot of people wonder how that could happen, but it's very easy when you got a word called trust. A paper contract don't mean nothing, they proved that to me, that's one of the reasons I'm still working. I got to work. I gotta get my booty out and go, 'cause I never got what was in the agreements. And I hope somebody feel sorry for me and do the right thing. I mean, the people that did the rippin' off, they're mostly all dead now, you know, and the kids is running whatever they left. And the kids don't know what their parents did. We came out of an era where it was okay to rip off whoever you could.
DC: What could be done to rectify this?
BD: The people that owe me money need to go to the bank and get the interest on it and give the money to me. They got it, but it's mine. I figure the government should do something, [But one problem is] I don't think that the guys paid money on the taxes that they stole. [Laughs] You dig? But we need to wake 'em up, if you shake 'em the right way they gonna wake up. They should do something but you can't get Uncle Sam to do nothing until you get something. And then they want some of it. They ain't gonna help you with it, but they want some if you get it.
DC: How does modern rock compare to the '50s in terms of quality?
BD: Rock music is still flourishing a little bit, but it's also fighting this rap. I don't necessarily dislike rap—every generation's got its own little tricks. I'm waitin' to see what this next one's coming up with. I happen to be lucky enough to still be here and paying attention to what the hell's going on.
DC: You have such a unique sound, a far weirder sound than anything Chuck Berry or Little Richard was doing. How did you come up with that?
BD: I tried to play like Muddy Waters when I started playing, but I couldn't do it so I had to create my own thing. I don't know man, it just happened. I just tried to play something I heard him play, I think it was ""Rollin' and Tumblin.'"" I think it was 1949. I wanted to get that sound but I couldn't do it, so I had to create my own thing.
DC: Can we expect an album from you anytime soon?
BD: I hope so, if I can find a company that wants to sell something by Bo Diddley. I'm starting my own website and I might sell that stuff over my website—because I ain't finished yet, baby.
—Interview conducted by Joe Lynch
