Which song is better Jailhouse Rock or Johnny B Good.?

[DanCa]

Poll question: Which song is better Jailhouse Rock or Johnny B Good.?

I was just wondering which RnR standard you like better.

[Deja Q]

1. Jailhouse Rock is incredibly dim and dimwitted.

Johnny B Goode is a classic. Came from a guy who helped pioneer Rock'n'Roll and not 'borrow' from it like Elvis had.

Elvis helped make R&R popular and mainstream to whitey, but the real inventors remained in the shadows for a long time.

Our society owes a LOT to African Americans. Right down to slavery; they were the infrastructure.

And many of the slaves, like many of the working class, remain in line out of fear.

History never changes. And the same mistakes are made.

We are technologically better off than our ancestors 280 years ago... But in many ways we're not psychologically superior. and in terms of evolution, we're slidin' back down.

Who here is content to live as a slave, to be summarily discarded like the cheap toaster made in China? And, sadly, I am one of those people. It's a life, regardless.

[ForrestGump]

3. Wrong

Elvis 'pioneered' it before Berry did.

And Berry was basically a country performer who went rock. No more in touch with the roots of rock 'n' roll than was Elvis...in fact, to say that he was and have no other reason but his color is essentially racist -- let me remind you that rock 'n' roll was not solely founded in traditionally black musical forms but a mixing of black and white music (country was as big a part of it as was the blues and both black and white gospel influences).

Elvis was white. He was a pretty boy. But he was an authentic pioneer. And crossing that race barrier like he did in the '50s was not a safe thing for him to do. It's easy to miminize or dismiss that now, and there is also the backlash common in the US against commerically successful performers, but listen to the Sun session songs and tell me that he wasn't building his contribution to rock 'n' roll (and other msucial forms) from scratch, from the ground up, drawing on his eclectic musical influences and a knowledge of some genres (blues and gospel perhaps most of all) that was truly impressive for a poor 19-year-old kid from Memphis.

Listen to the two side-by-side...apart from the fact that so many of Berry's songs sound almost exactly the same, there's a soulfulness in Elvis' voice that is utterly absent in Berry's. Kind of makes you understand why so many assumed Elvis was black when he first began getting airplay.

[Deja Q]

4. Fascinating.

And you are correct; while Berry was good, I do recall a similarity in his tunes. I thought it was his 'signature'.

[mitchum]

9. Since Presley COULDN'T WRITE SONGS and had to use material...

by a number of songwriters, it stands to reason that his material would sound more diverse.

And you are correct about Berry; the "sameness" in his material is his signature. That is the mark of a true artist.

[ForrestGump]

10. Huh?

That sameness is the hallmark of a true artist?

Really?

That's as big a load of crap as the tired contention that people like Elvis, who didn't write their own songs, are somehow less worthy than those who do. I listen to singers because I like the way they sing...if you want to listen to a bad singer who writes really well -- and no, I'm not putting down Bob Dylan here -- then knock yourself out with it.

Edited to add that the diversity of Elvis' sound was not a result of using different sources for his material -- that is as circular as an argument gets -- but the diversity of his own musical talent and his influences. He could sing just about everything, convincingly, from blues to Neapolitan opera. Very few others have ever, ever approached that level of musical diversity: off the top of my head, I can name Ray Charles as another and Jackie Wilson also came close.

[mitchum]

11. Not sameness, but a signature compositional style...

like Beethoven, Ives, Copland, Bach, Glass, Berry, etc...

Presley's "versatility" can also be interpreted as...uh...well...what is expected of a hack

[ForrestGump]

13. Elvis was a hack?

News to me.

News to a lot of people. News to a legion of pop-culture and music historians and commentators.

News, also, to many of his peers and those he influenced, including Chuck Berry, who said this: "There just ain't no words to describe him. Elvis was the greatest who ever was, is or ever will be."

[mitchum]

14. I never said that he WAS a hack...

just as I never said that he was worthless because he didn't write his own material. You infer too much, dear Forrest :)

I actually do enjoy Presley's work (particularly the Sun years)
And I find him particularly and singularly phenomenal in that, unlike his peers such as Little Richard, Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc..., he didn't hone his craft in front of an audience while working as a professional musician. He put it all together in his bedroom. He didn't have to learn from audience feedback. His incredible "Elvis-ness" was solely a product of his own taste. And that is incredible.

[mitchum]

2. "Johnny B Goode" by the REAL King of Rock and Roll

Berry may be a bad man, but he is THE man.

[guinivere]

5. No contest -- Johnny B Good is way better. nt

[rockymountaindem]

6. I like Johnny B. Goode better of those two but

I reserve comment on which of those two artists was the godfather of Rock 'n Roll, however I think Forrest Gump made a good point in this thread.

[Ron Green]

7. "Jailhouse Rock" is a better song,

whether or not Elvis or Chuck Berry is the more authentic pioneer. While both "Johnny B. Goode" and "Jailhouse Rock" are 12-bar blues, the latter, by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, is a unique tune with a powerful intro, instantly recognizable even today. "Johnny" gets done by every bar band, because it's easier to play, but I believe if you check out all the cover versions, "Jailhouse" emerges as the more durable tune.

[last_texas_dem]

8. I like "Jailhouse Rock" more

It's too tough for me to say which one is the "better" song, but I'm partial to "Jailhouse Rock" as a song. "Johnny B. Goode" is fun, but I've heard it a little too much. It's weird 'cause I know "Jailhouse Rock" was the higher-charting hit at the time, but I've grown up (child of the eighties/nineties) hearing "Johnny B. Goode" a lot more on the oldies stations. (Of course, now you don't hear either as most oldies stations seem to have decided that fifties songs are too old to be "oldies"...)

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. Stuff like this reminds me of

the scene in "Dead Poets' Society" where teacher Robin Williams instructs his poetry class to rip out the pages of a textbook that provides a scale for telling how great a poem is.

How do you measure one song against another? Art is in the eye, or ear, of the beholder. Just enjoy it... or don't.

:shrug:

[Burma Jones]

15. The Intro to Johnny B. Goode is the REAL National Anthem....

imho

[Metta]

16. Jailhouse Rock has a better beat, for dancing.

Much like Rock Around the Clock. JBG is just too fast for my comfort.