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THE BATTALION
Friday, April 26, 2002
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By Thomas Phillips
THE BATTALION
Bo knows music. Bo knows life,
le is Bo Diddley.
| what he did not know was how big
I star he would become and how
nuch influence he would have on
tther musicians.
“I thought I was just a little
Chicago thing, you know,” Bo
Diddley said. ”1 had no idea I was
going to be known all over the world.”
In 1955, Bo Diddley cut his first
record on the Chess Records sub
sidiary label Checkers. His works
have influenced The Rolling Stones,
Eric Clapton, Run DMC and a hall of
fame full of other performers. They
have all grown familiar with his “Bo
Diddley beat.”
“The people told me I was pretty
good,” Bo Diddley said.
And did he believe them?
“Yeah, I’m still here,” he said.
Growing up in rural Mississippi
and Chicago’s south side. Bo Diddley
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PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.ROLLINGSTONE.COM
wandered his way through violin and
drums before settling on the guitar as
his instrument. He now plays an odd,
square-shaped electric guitar that has
been customized and tweaked.
As for instruction in how to be a
star, he had little help along the way.
“Nobody gave me any advice,
except my mother told me to try
to be the best that I could be,” he
said. “You can only try, try to be
as good as your brain will carry
you.”
Bo Diddley has loads of
advice. At the age of 73, some
might call it wisdom.
“Stay away from drugs, get a
good education and play your
instrument,” he said. “Make peo
ple like you; don’t
make people dislike
you. I try to make peo
ple like what I do, and
" it’s easy to write good
songs. You don’t have
to write dirty lyrics
and all that kind of
stuff.”
In March, Bo
Diddley received the
National Association
of Black-Owned
Broadcaster’s Pioneer
in Entertainment
award for his innova
tive musical and per-
formance styles. The ceremony,
held in Washington D.C., also
honored performers Janet
Jackson and the Isley Brothers.
“It means a lot to me,” Bo
Diddley said. “It was a long time
coming, but good things come to
those who wait.”
As a black musician with
staggering popularity during the
civil rights era. Bo Diddley said
music played a “good role” in the
fragile relationship between the
races.
“The hippie generation move
ment, or whatever you want to
call it, it brought people together,” he
said. “People stopped looking at who
was considered the black man and the
white man and the yellow man or the
Chinese or the Japanese or the
Germans or the Puerto Ricans and all
this. I didn’t see any of that old racial
crap. All I saw was people loving one
another, and that’s the way it should
be.”
Bo Diddley said love is one of the
most important parts of getting along
with people, and those who do not
agree are part of the problem.
“If you got a lot of people that
frown on people that get along, that’s
what I call the habit gene, the gene
that causes nothing but crap,” Bo
Diddley said. “It’s a lot of them still
running loose, and
they need to be cor
ralled and start think
ing about love and
not hate.”
When questioned
about the future and
any end to the long
road he is traveling.
Bo Diddley gets a
little uncomfortable.
He said he hopes to
be remembered for
his talent, but does
not want to be just a
memory any time
■ soon.
I try to make peo
ple like what I do y
and it’s easy to write
good songs. You
don y t have to write
dirty lyrics and all
that kind of stuff.
— Bo Diddley
“I ain’t going nowhere. I have no
plans to go anywhere,” he said. “But
we all got to leave here, though.
That’s a trip you’re going to take.”
But he is still here and still tour
ing in his eighth decade on this rock
‘n’ roll planet. But just what should
young impressionable college stu
dents know about Bo Diddley?
“Well, I tell you what. When you
see me, you will know that I am the
mighty Bo Diddley. Okay?”
Bo Diddley will be perform
ing Saturday, April 27, at Wolf
Pen Creek Ampitheater. Gates
open at 6:30 p.m.
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