Chuck Berry and Rudolf Rock live 1991

Strange things happen ...

Right now I'm trying to sell some of Hans' Vinyl rarities through eBay (in case you're interested, click here). I'm also offering some Berry stuff which is only gathering dust here such as a concert poster from 1978.

A second concert poster was sold within minutes. The poster was for a concert at the Grugahalle Essen, Germany in 1977. Artists in this case were Jerry Lee Lewis and a German band called Rudolf Rock und die Schocker. Those who weren't into the German Rock'n'Roll scene of the late 70s and early 80s have probably never heard of this band. But it's worth to know.



Initially Rudolf Rock und die Schocker wasn't a band at all. In 1976 it was just a fun gathering of well-known and well-respected musicians playing in famous bands around the Hamburg area. And the band name was a joke as well, playing with the name of a famous opera singer called Rudolf Schock. The band was formed by bass player Uli Salm (member of Leinemann). Other members came from bands such as Atlantis, Dirty Dogs, Rattles, Truck Stop, Udo Lindenberg Band, Nena Band and so on.

Rudolf Rock und die Schocker played German Rock'n'Roll. Half of the songs were cover versions of German artists from the 1950s such as Peter Kraus or Ted Herold. The other half were songs written by Salm, Krüger and their friends which sounded like 1950s Rock'n'Roll at its best. Have a listen on the Internet (or buy the record) for instance of Schluckauf or Das war der Starclub.

I really liked this band in the late 1970s and I think they and not The Killer were the original reason why I went to the show. I lost track over the years as they changed personnel constantly and my interests moved. Uli Salm continues this project even today. Here's a 2010 recording called Arschloch. You need to understand German to get the lyrics, though.

All this came back into my mind when the poster shown was sold to ... Uli "Rudolf Rock" Salm! We exchanged some emails about the old times and about Chuck Berry.

There was always a lot of Chuck Berry in Rudolf Rock, for instance in Herzilein, which was their greatest success and a Rock'n'Roll-style cover of a then famous Volksmusik hit. And, as Uli told me, indeed he once played with Berry.

During a gig on December 6th, 1991 at the Hamburg concert hall, Chuck Berry was backed by Uli Salm on bass, Dicky Tarrach of the Rattles on drums, and Joja Wendt on piano. Uli sent me this photo for you all to see. Thanks, Uli!




[By the way: Links in this article point to YouTube videos. I have always stayed away from linking to YouTube as German artists were excluded from royalties when their songs were played by Google/YouTube. However, last week YouTube and GEMA (that's the German BMI) finally agreed on royalties for German artists. I still recommend you buy CDs (or Vinyl) instead of listening to YouTube, though.]