Rock Pioneer Chuck Berry Turned 90 Yesterday. And He Has a New Album Coming Out.

Chuck Berry was one of the people who invented rock’n’roll. He’s considered so important to the universe that “Johnny B. Goode” is the only rock song on the Golden Discs affixed to the Voyager spacecraft. When the probes are intercepted by an advanced alien intelligence, they’ll be schooled in three-chord rock by Chuck.

Berry turned 90 yesterday. His people also want us to know that he has a new album on the way, too. This will be his first record since he released something called Rock It in 1979. That’s 38 years ago.

This may raise the question “What other artist has gone this long between releasing albums?”

The first band I thought of was the New York Dolls. They released an album in 1974 and didn’t do anything else until 2006, which works out to about 32 years. Mind you, they were broken up for most of that time.

I thought it might be Iggy Pop and The Stooges.  They went 34 years—1973 to 2007—between albums, but like the Dolls, they stayed broken up for a long time.

There’s an English folksinger named Vashti Bunyan.  She had a debut album in the spring of 1970 and didn’t follow it up until 2005, giving her an interval of about 35 ½ years.

So Chuck seems to be the winner:  38 years plus whatever time passes before it comes out.

There you go: another piece of trivia you can use to win a round of drinks.  You’re welcome.