History

Current Tunes: Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

Les Paul died today at 92 and I feel horrible as a result.

Not put a few years ago when Ray Charles died, then Johnny Cash not long after him, it was terribly depressing to me to think that all those first major figures of Rock & Roll were passing on. It occurred to me at the time that a very small few were left, and now we have one less. And today we arguably lost the most important person from those beginnings. I’ve been of the mindset for several years now that Rock & Roll is the most important cultural phenomenon of modern times. By that I mean the most important development in culture in any country, in any society, in any culture.

Paul gave us the electric guitar, an invention I’m convinced people take for granted as much as they take for granted the personal computer or the radio or the telephone. In this modern age where millions on millions of people carry around iPods or memory cards on their smart phones stuffed with mp3s of all their favorite songs, I doubt anyone realizes (like I do) that without the electric guitar digital music might not even exist now.

Definitely I can say that American popular music would look completely different without it. Everything uses it, is influenced by it. Pop & Top 40s, Arena Rock and Alternative, Blues and Jazz, Country and Bluegrass, Metal and Punk, even R&B owes some small debts to Les Paul for his invention.

So passes another giant of American music, leaving really only half a handful left to represent the legacy in the flesh. Jerry Lee Lewis won’t be with us much longer, I don’t think. Though God bless him for still playing music, still hanging on like he has. Little Richard’s with us still, still as vital and respected as ever. Fats Domino is still alive too; if Katrina couldn’t kill New Orleans, then perhaps Fats still has plenty of years left in him. Of course there’s B.B. King too, who I don’t know how we’ll all get along without him, whenever he chooses to go.

Paul came to do what he was meant to do though. Our world is brighter, better for his being in it. I’m sure you could never count the number of people whose lives have been saved by Rock & Roll, so how do you measure the meaning and the value in Les Paul’s life and his contribution? You can’t, of course. But I won’t forget his contribution and I also won’t forget what it means to me.