{"id":2650,"date":"2008-06-03T05:09:22","date_gmt":"2008-06-03T10:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2011-11-06T15:49:39","modified_gmt":"2011-11-06T21:49:39","slug":"you-dont-know-diddley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2650","title":{"rendered":"You Don’t Know Diddley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bo Diddley is dead of apparent complications from a stroke:<\/a><\/p>\n

Bo Diddley<\/span>, a founding father of rock ‘n’ roll whose distinctive “shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.<\/p>\n

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.<\/div>\n

The legendary singer and performer, known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat, was an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/span>, had a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and received a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the Grammy Awards<\/span>. In recent years he also played for the elder President Bush and President Clinton.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The 1988 inauguration, indeed, featured the memorable lineup of Diddley, Sam and Dave, and Lee Atwater.<\/p>\n

Diddley appreciated the honors he received, “but it didn’t put no figures in my checkbook.”<\/p>\n

“If you ain’t got no money, ain’t nobody calls you honey,” he quipped.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Working in radio as a kid, I was aware <\/em>of Diddley bright and early – but I didn’t really know <\/em>Diddley until he toured with The Clash, around 1979-80.<\/p>\n

His first single, “Bo Diddley,” introduced record buyers in 1955 to his signature rhythm: bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp, often summarized as “shave and a haircut, two bits.” The B side, “I’m a Man,” with its slightly humorous take on macho pride, also became a rock standard…Diddley’s influence was felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Buddy Holly<\/span> borrowed the bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp rhythm for his song “Not Fade Away.”<\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones<\/span>‘ bluesy remake of that Holly song gave them their first chart single in the United States, in 1964. The following year, another British band, the Yardbirds<\/span>, had a Top 20 hit in the U.S. with their version of “I’m a Man.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s not forget Warren Zevon’s “Bo Diddley’s a Gunslinger” and, best of all, Springsteen’s “She’s The One”.\u00a0 The NYTimes has a list of songs that reference the signature beat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Diddley was also one of the pioneers of the electric guitar, adding reverb and tremelo effects. He even rigged some of his guitars himself.<\/p>\n

“He treats it like it was a drum, very rhythmic,” E. Michael Harrington, professor of music theory and composition at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., said in 2006.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Diddley’s influence was always very underrated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bo Diddley is dead of apparent complications from a stroke: Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock ‘n’ roll whose distinctive “shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79. Diddley died of heart failure at his home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[172],"class_list":["post-2650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memoriam","category-music","tag-springsteen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24256,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions\/24256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}