Chuck Berry has been called "folk poet of the '50s," "the major figure of rock and roll" and "the single most important name in the history of rock." All of these epithets are well deserved, not only because of his own achievement but because of the influence he exerted on later super-rock artists like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and the Beach Boys (whose surfin' music was based on his "Sweet Little Sixteen"). (pp. 144-45)

[He] sang about "Maybellene," who took off with a cat in a Coup de Ville and he went motivatin' after her in his Ford—nothin' outrun my V-8 Ford—and though Maybellene might be untrue, he drove his way truly into the heart and psyche of school kids in '55. Today, it's motorcycles but back then, hot rods and stock cars and anything that moved fast on four wheels meant romance...