Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Encyclopedia
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll is a 1987 documentary film
directed by Taylor Hackford
that chronicles two 1986 concerts celebrating rock and roll
musician Chuck Berry
's 60th birthday. A soundtrack album was released in October 1987 on the MCA
label.
The two concerts were held on October 16, 1986, at the Fox Theatre
in St. Louis; among the artists performing with Berry were Keith Richards
, Eric Clapton
, Robert Cray
, Etta James
, Johnnie Johnson
, Steve Jordan
, Bobby Keys
, Julian Lennon
, Linda Ronstadt
and Joey Spampinato
. Along with concert footage, the film also features scenes from the rehearsals for the shows, interviews with Berry and members of his family, and "talking-head"-type appearances from a number of musicians, including Bo Diddley
, The Everly Brothers
, John Lennon
(archival footage), Jerry Lee Lewis
, Roy Orbison
, Little Richard
and Bruce Springsteen
.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Taylor Hackford
Taylor Hackford
Taylor Edwin Hackford is an American film director, and the current president of the Directors Guild of America.-Early life:Hackford was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Mary , a waitress, and Joseph Hackford...
that chronicles two 1986 concerts celebrating rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
musician Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
's 60th birthday. A soundtrack album was released in October 1987 on the MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
label.
The two concerts were held on October 16, 1986, at the Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre (St. Louis)
The Fox Theatre, a former movie palace, is a performing arts center located at 527 N. Grand Blvd. in St. Louis, Missouri. Also known as "The Fabulous Fox", it is situated in the arts district of the Grand Center area in Midtown St. Louis, one block north of Saint Louis University...
in St. Louis; among the artists performing with Berry were Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Robert Cray
Robert Cray
Robert Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.-Career:...
, Etta James
Etta James
Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
, Johnnie Johnson
Johnnie Johnson (musician)
Johnnie Johnson was an American pianist and blues musician. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.-Career:...
, Steve Jordan
Steve Jordan
Steve Jordan is the name of:*Steve Jordan , American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music producer from New York City*Esteban Jordan , American conjunto and Tejano musician...
, Bobby Keys
Bobby Keys
Bobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
, Julian Lennon
Julian Lennon
John Charles Julian Lennon is an English musician, songwriter, actor, and photographer. He is the son of John Lennon and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell. Beatles manager Brian Epstein was his godfather. He has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon. Lennon was named after his paternal...
, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
and Joey Spampinato
Joey Spampinato
Joey Spampinato was a founding member and bass player of NRBQ. He was also one of the band's lead singers and chief songwriters. Before NRBQ he played in several bands, including The Seven of Us, which in 1967 while in Miami, Florida, met another band, The Merseybeats USA. The bands merged to form...
. Along with concert footage, the film also features scenes from the rehearsals for the shows, interviews with Berry and members of his family, and "talking-head"-type appearances from a number of musicians, including Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
, The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
, John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
(archival footage), Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
and Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
.
Track listing
- "Come OnCome On (Chuck Berry song)"Come On" is a song written and first released by Chuck Berry in 1961. The Rolling Stones released a version as their debut single in 1963.According to the liner notes from the Berry compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight, the performers on the record were as follows:* Chuck Berry: Guitars and...
" (Chuck Berry) rehearsal at Berry’s home, Wentzville 8.-14.10.86 - "Carol" (Chuck Berry) rehearsal at Berry’s home, Wentzville 8.-14.10.86
- "It Don’t Take But A Few Minutes" (Chuck Berry) -rehearsal at Berry’s home, Wentzville 8.-14.10.86
- "I'm Through With Love" (Gus Kahn/Matt Malneck/Fud Livingston) rehearsal at Berry’s home, Wentzville 8.-14.10.86
- "Roll Over BeethovenRoll Over Beethoven"Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit single by Chuck Berry originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace classical music...
" (Chuck Berry) (with Robert CrayRobert CrayRobert Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.-Career:...
on guitar) - "Almost GrownAlmost Grown (song)"Almost Grown" is a song written and performed by Chuck Berry. It was released as a double a-side with "Little Queenie". The song is featured in the 1973 film American Graffiti...
" (Chuck Berry) - "Back in the U.S.A.Back in the U.S.A."Back in the U.S.A." is a song by Chuck Berry, which was first issued in 1959 as a single a-side and on Berry's 1962 album More Chuck Berry, . The song's lyrics were supposedly written based upon Berry returning to the USA following a trip to Australia and witnessing the living standards of...
" (Chuck Berry) (with Linda RonstadtLinda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
on vocals and Robert Cray on guitar) - "Sweet Little SixteenSweet Little Sixteen"Sweet Little Sixteen" is a rock and roll song written and originally performed by Chuck Berry, who released it as a single in January 1958. It reached number two on the American charts, Berry's highest position ever on the charts, with the exception of the suggestive number one hit "My...
" (Chuck Berry) - "No Money Down" (Chuck Berry)
- "NadineNadineNadine may refer to:* Nadine * Nádine , a South African singer* Nadine, the title of a Chuck Berry song* Nadine, the title of a Frank Black and the Catholics song* Nadine , a George Thorogood album...
" (Chuck Berry) - "Johnny B. GoodeJohnny B. Goode"Johnny B. Goode" is a 1958 rock and roll song written and originally performed by American musician Chuck Berry. The song was a major hit among both black and white audiences peaking at #2 on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.The song is one of Chuck Berry's...
" (Chuck Berry) (with Julian LennonJulian LennonJohn Charles Julian Lennon is an English musician, songwriter, actor, and photographer. He is the son of John Lennon and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell. Beatles manager Brian Epstein was his godfather. He has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon. Lennon was named after his paternal...
on vocals) - "Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee (song)"Memphis, Tennessee" is a song by rock & roll singer-songwriter Chuck Berry. It is sometimes shortened to "Memphis". In the UK, the song charted at #6 in 1963, at the same time Decca Records issued a cover version in the UK by Dave Berry and the Cruisers, who came from Sheffield, Yorkshire...
" (Chuck Berry) - "Little Queenie" (Chuck Berry)
- "Brown Eyed Handsome ManBrown Eyed Handsome Man"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" is a rock and roll song by Chuck Berry, which was originally released by Chess Records in September 1956 as the B-side to "Too Much Monkey Business". It was also included on Berry's 1957 debut album After School Session...
" (Chuck Berry) (with Robert Cray on guitar and vocals) - "Too Much Monkey BusinessToo Much Monkey Business"Too Much Monkey Business" is a song written and performed by rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry. It was released as Chuck's fifth single in September 1956 for Chess Records, and appeared as the third track on Chuck's first solo LP, After School Session in May 1957, as well as the EP of the same name...
" (Chuck Berry) - "No Particular Place To GoNo Particular Place To Go"No Particular Place to Go" is a song by American rock and roll icon Chuck Berry, released as a single by Chess Records in May 1964 and was released on the album St...
" (Chuck Berry) - "Wee Wee HoursWee Wee Hours"Wee Wee Hours" is a song composed and recorded by Chuck Berry in 1955. Originally released as the B-side of Berry's first single "Maybellene", it went on to become a hit, reaching #10 in the Billboard R&B chart....
" (Chuck Berry) (with Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
on guitar and vocals) - "Rock 'n' Roll MusicRock 'n' Roll MusicRock 'n' Roll Music is a compilation album by The Beatles that consists of previously released Beatles tracks considered by many to be quintessential "rock and roll"...
" (Chuck Berry) (with Etta JamesEtta JamesEtta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
on vocals, Robert Cray and Eric Clapton on guitars) - "School DaysSchool Days (song)"School Days" is a song written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry, released by the Chess record label as a single in March 1957, and released on the LP After School Session two months later . It is one of his best known songs and is often considered a rock and roll anthem...
" (Chuck Berry) (with Ingrid Berry on vocals, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray and Joe WalshJoe WalshJoseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
(uncredited) on guitars)
Bonus rehearsals on the DVD
- "It Don't Take But A Few Minutes" (Chuck Berry)
- "Guitar jam" (Chuck Berry/Keith RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
/Eric Clapton) - "Mean Old WorldMean Old World"Mean Old World" is a blues song recorded by T-Bone Walker in 1942. It has been described as "the first important blues recordings on the electric guitar"...
" (Walter Jacobs) - "Hoochie Coochie Gal" (Willie DixonWillie DixonWilliam James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
/Etta James)
The band
- Chuck BerryChuck BerryCharles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
- Guitar, vocals - Johnnie JohnsonJohnnie Johnson (musician)Johnnie Johnson was an American pianist and blues musician. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.-Career:...
- Piano - Keith RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
- Guitar, backing vocals - Chuck LeavellChuck LeavellChuck Leavell is an American pianist and keyboardist, who was a member of The Allman Brothers Band throughout the height of their popularity, a founding member of the jazz-rock combo Sea Level, a frequently-employed session musician, and later, the keyboardist for Eric Clapton and The Rolling...
- Organ - Bobby KeysBobby KeysBobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
- Saxophone - Joey SpampinatoJoey SpampinatoJoey Spampinato was a founding member and bass player of NRBQ. He was also one of the band's lead singers and chief songwriters. Before NRBQ he played in several bands, including The Seven of Us, which in 1967 while in Miami, Florida, met another band, The Merseybeats USA. The bands merged to form...
- Bass, backing vocals - Steve JordanSteve Jordan (musician)Steve Jordan is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director and Grammy Award-winning artist, who has made a name for himself as a producer from the Bronx in New York City. A graduate of the Fiorello H...
- Drums, backing vocals - Ingrid Berry- Backing vocals
- Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
- Guitar, vocals - Robert CrayRobert CrayRobert Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.-Career:...
- Guitar, vocals - Linda RonstadtLinda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
- Vocals - Julian LennonJulian LennonJohn Charles Julian Lennon is an English musician, songwriter, actor, and photographer. He is the son of John Lennon and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell. Beatles manager Brian Epstein was his godfather. He has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon. Lennon was named after his paternal...
- Vocals - Etta JamesEtta JamesEtta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
- Vocals