After Chuck Berry, rock music would forever be a gumbo of competing and complimentary source points, but his first-person flights of fancy still represent its most undiluted potential.
It's not important whether or not Chuck Berry "invented" rock 'n' roll, and the crucial thing isn't that he perfected it. It’s that we call rock 'n' roll would sound much different and be a lot less unique and ecstatic if not for the template he provided. As large as Berry looms in American music history, getting a handle on the immensity of his importance has, until now, been somewhat difficult. Certainly, the Matryoshka Principle…
