At age seventy-nine, Bo Diddley did just about everything you could do with the guitar. In more ways than one, he was the bridge between blues and rock n’ roll. His inspiration came from John Lee Hooker, but his sound came from the streets he worked on. He was known for his rectangular guitar, “The Twang Machine”, which was not only custom made, but became a signature part of his act. To this day, many consider him the main progenitor of rock n’ roll.

Diddley was a real musician and one of the last legends of his time to leave. And although he was born a Mississippi native, he passed away in the balmy Florida wastelands, where he had been recovering from a massive stroke and heart attack. With such a striving career, time finally caught up.

Bo Diddley, we salute you!

Added by Zarik…

I’m not sure where to start, but how about his place in musical history? I think it’s pretty unfortunate that this man never got the reverence, admiration, and more importantly, compensation received instead by those who directly ripped him off, such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and the Rolling Stones. Then again, you can argue that Bob Dylan ripped off Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger ripped off Leadbelly, so it’s not as if this is anything new. But after you listen to the signature “Bo Diddley” riff from the song of the same name—the riff that arguably invented Rock N’ Roll—the impact and influence of Diddley on pretty much everyone that you can think of as a “rock legend” is undeniable. Yes, he got some recognition in the late ‘90s and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but you really have to wonder if it was too little, too late. He always commented that the honors were nice, but they didn’t do anything for him financially, and it’s cited as one of the reasons he had to tour so late in his life.

The biggest thing to me about Diddley is that he was arguably one of the last truly original musicians alive. Regardless of whether you feel “being influenced” by an artist is just a euphemism for “ripping them off,” it’s significant that you simply cannot find a musical sound that pre-dated Diddley that he “used” to construct his own style. It seems that after the ‘50s, rock and roll musicians, even in the smallest way, started to heavily use the sounds of their predecessors in their own music, and this is a trend that continues today. I’m not saying this is bad or wrong or anything, but rather it goes to show you just how truly creative the pioneers of twentieth century music were. To illustrate—Coldplay are influenced by Radiohead, who in turn are influenced by R.E.M., who in turn were influenced by the Velvet Underground, who were influenced by Bo Diddley…and after Diddley you just can’t go further back. It is an exercise in failure to try and find an influence of Diddley’s, because at the time (and before his time), there was nothing like him.

I won’t say much more, but this is a sad day for the rock world. He’ll never be remembered as much or as well as Johnny Cash, for example, but his legacy will last just as long—whether any of us realize it or not.

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