Johnny B. Bad: Chuck Berry and the Making of Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’ Roll

by Stephanie Bennett, Keith Richards (Contributor), Helen Mirren (Contributor)

Thirty years ago, Chuck Berry starred in the seminal music documentary Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ’N’ Roll, which profiled the legend during a star-studded concert celebrating his sixtieth birthday. Now, on the heels of Berry’s death, comes the complete story behind one of America’s most enduring and embattled icons.

Compiled as an oral history by the film’s producer, Stephanie Bennett, Johnny B. Bad combines interviews from the film’s participants, including its music director― Keith Richards. These unique interviews and accounts paint a vivid and multifaceted picture of the artist. Berry was at once a witty, articulate genius, now widely considered the godfather of rock and roll; a shrewd businessman, who had no trouble endlessly renegotiating contracts and refusing to perform until additional cash was gathered up; and also a convicted criminal, who in addition to serving time in prison for transporting a minor across state lines for “immoral purposes” had also been accused of sexual assault and sued in civil court for installing cameras in the restroom of the Southern Air, a restaurant he owned in Wentzville, Missouri.

Genres: Music

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2019

About the author

As a teenager in the 1980s, Stephanie Bennett fell in love with romance novels after borrowing a friend's copy of Betray Not My Passion by Sylvie F. Sommerfield. She began a mail correspondence with Mrs. Sommerfield that lasted many years, and those letters of encouragement are just a few of the many reasons she chose to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an author.

Stephanie published several books under a different pseudonym before switching her focus to writing mainstream contemporary romance. She lives in the southern United States with her husband of 21 years and their two children. When she's not busy with her family, you can usually find her with a notebook and pen in hand, dreaming up new story ideas.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music,
any old way you choose it,
It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it . . . "
-- "Rock and Roll Music" by Chuck Berry (1957)

Film producer Stephanie Bennett gathers several of her associates (director Taylor Hackford, line producer Thomas Edelman, music director Keith Richards, et al.) from the crew of her 1987 concert-documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll to remember and reminisce about the turbulent, aggravating, and sometimes odd times when working with 'The Father of Rock n' Roll' Chuck Berry. Said film was made at the time to celebrate Berry's 60th birthdate, and the man certainly left an impression:

Johnnie Johnson, bandmate: " . . . I knew he had a chip on his shoulder. He was angry . . ."

Suzie Petersen, head of Universal/MCA Studios: "He was more bitter than a lot of people . . . "

Taylor Hackford, film director: "He was a diabolical character."

So Mr. Berry doesn't come off very well here, but it's argued / rationalized that part of his cynical and distrusting nature originated fairly early in his career, after being ripped off by club owners and music producers as well as for his three separate prison sentences (1944-1947 for armed robbery / car theft; 1962-1963 for Mann Act violations; and 1979 for income tax evasion). While I appreciate a lot of his 50's musical output he just seemed like a very unpleasant, difficult, and money-obsessed character. A telling moment was when the production staff visited Berry's house in Missouri, and Ms. Bennett relates "In the living room were two big TVs. One was playing scenes from [the concentration camp / prison] Auschwitz. On the other was the Playboy Channel . . . He ultimately kept them on the whole time we were filming at his house . . . that's all he ever played." What a ****ing weirdo!

[Gary Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock N Roll is an excellent 1987 concert documentary and tribute to Chuck Berry. This book tells everything that can be told about the making of this film, including pre- and post-production and technical aspects. The main focus of the book though is Chuck Berry himself as he approached this project on the eve of his sixtieth birthday. Chuck Berry was a genius, no doubt about it, but as a human, he was somewhere between difficult and "diabolical," to use a word from one of the filmmakers. On the other hand, this project's musical director, Keith Richards, comes across as a decent, hard-working guy. The book is repetitive in places, and as an oral history it doesn't fully work because it's hard to keep track of who is who. If you're interested in rock history, this is worth your time, but don't expect it to increase your admiration of Chuck Berry. There is a reason they waited until he was dead to publish this. For my own thoughts on Chuck Berry, I invite you to take at look at this blog post.

[Leonard Makin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly edited book - many anecdotes are repeated several times, factual errors, a repeat of the usual nonsense about Chuck Berry. He was first and foremost a business man - these people went to him, he didn't approach them - he was asked to give his time to their project ( the filming of Hail, Hail, Hail Rock 'n' Roll) and when he asked for more money from them, it was because his income came from touring, and time spent on the film was, for Chuck, an alternative source of income. Hence, the myth - first, and foremost, a business man, did they expect him to work for nothing.

[Deborah Cleaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been better but the focus was too narrow.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who ever knew that outstanding musician Chuck Berry was also such a nut job. Quite an interesting book although there seemed to be a lot of repetition.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

#8 of 120 books pledged to read during 2022

[Mike Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic movie and the story behind it. Definitely a read for film aficionados.