0:00:01 > 0:00:04This programme contains very strong language.
0:00:05 > 0:00:09Chess was one of the most innovative record labels of all time.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Throughout the 1950s and '60s,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Chess was at the cutting edge of black music,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18releasing blues, rock and roll and soul masterpieces.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21When you look at Chess Records, boy is that some textbook.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23We are the bomb. We're Chess Records.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27# Roll over Beethoven I gotta hear it again today... #
0:00:29 > 0:00:33Chess artists like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley
0:00:33 > 0:00:38changed the landscape of popular music on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40# Roll over... #
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Amazing harmonica solos. Amazing guitar tones.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47What came out was just something that was...
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Amazing lyrics. Amazing vocals.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53What a massive impact it had on the artists of the '60s
0:00:53 > 0:00:56who went on to kind of change the world.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59# They're rockin' in two by two. #
0:00:59 > 0:01:02The label was the result of an unlikely marriage
0:01:02 > 0:01:06between black musicians and two white Jewish entrepreneurs,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Phil and Leonard Chess,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11at a time when America was deeply divided by race.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16You had a combination of a brash dude like Leonard Chess
0:01:16 > 0:01:19and you had a guy like Muddy Waters, who were bold,
0:01:19 > 0:01:23and together they had the combination to say "Let's go get it".
0:01:23 > 0:01:28# Roll over Beethoven Dig these rhythm and blues. #
0:01:31 > 0:01:35And this big musical adventure took place in Chicago,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37the Windy City.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39It whistles, it talks,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42it moans, it groans.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45And all the while it's doing those things,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48it's blowing that air.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57In the first half of the 20th century,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00migrants both black and white blew into Chicago,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04attracted to its more liberal atmosphere and the chance to change their lives.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Amongst these hundreds of thousands of immigrants
0:02:09 > 0:02:15included Muddy Waters from Mississippi and Leonard Chess from Poland.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17It was a typical immigrant story.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21My family came from a small town
0:02:21 > 0:02:23in Poland. Like all immigrants,
0:02:23 > 0:02:28they came to America to make money, and it WAS a better life.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Black Americans also moved to Chicago,
0:02:31 > 0:02:33fleeing the racism of the Southern states.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38The whole feel of that era was one of...
0:02:38 > 0:02:42a rush to freedom. At least, a rush to less oppression.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46The job opportunities were there. If you worked at
0:02:46 > 0:02:52the post office in Chicago at that time, you was big doo-doo.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57# Well, I ain't from Chicago I'm from a little town... #
0:02:57 > 0:03:01To the black migrants moving up from the South,
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Chicago was an exciting new world.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06# ..I think I will stay around. #
0:03:06 > 0:03:10It was a booming city. Lot of action. You went into a club,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13everybody was from either Tennessee, Mississippi,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15Georgia, Texas or New Orleans.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20And the common ground was that they was from the South and they loved the blues.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Let's go to Chicago, because you can start to make real money there.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Cos what you didn't realise was that
0:03:26 > 0:03:30you were going to work in some very, very hard circumstances.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32But look at those clubs!
0:03:32 > 0:03:36I mean, the opportunity to sort of down tools and play.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45In 1945, right at the end of World War Two,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Leonard Chess, a 28-year-old Jewish entrepreneur,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50was looking for business opportunities
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and spotted one within this black Chicago world.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57He opened this liquor store in a rough black ghetto neighbourhood,
0:03:57 > 0:04:02and that's where he got his first inkling of black people loving to buy alcohol,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05to party, and that's where he saw the next step.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Leonard's next business move was to open a bar with live music -
0:04:12 > 0:04:16the Macomba Lounge, in 1947.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19A black nightclub?
0:04:19 > 0:04:21A hangout for jazz musicians,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24for prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers...
0:04:24 > 0:04:27# I'm goin' fishin', baby... #
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Marshall Chess remembers his father Leonard
0:04:29 > 0:04:33taking him to the Macomba Lounge when he was just five years old.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35There were gunshots,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and my father threw me across the bar to my uncle
0:04:38 > 0:04:42who laid on top of me on the floor on these wooden slats, you know,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45with stale alcohol and old cigarette smell.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49# Out juicin' all night You come home stewed... #
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Leonard was a gambling man.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54He regularly moved within Chicago's Jewish poker circles,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and this is where he met businesswoman Evelyn Aron.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59# Hey, hey, pretty momma... #
0:04:59 > 0:05:03In 1947, Evelyn invited Leonard to join her new record label,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Aristocrat. It was here this white Polish salesman
0:05:07 > 0:05:11met a 31-year-old black musician from Mississippi - Muddy Waters.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13# Hey, hey, pretty momma... #
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Their friendship would shape the rest of their lives
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and play a key part in the growth of Chess Records.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24They just met each other at the right time.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27The beginning of both of their moves towards a better life,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32and both driven, and both leaders. I mean, I think Muddy once told me
0:05:32 > 0:05:34that my father was one of the first white men
0:05:34 > 0:05:37that he ever really had a true friendship with.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41That was something my father felt very comfortable about, black people.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I used to tease him and say "You're more comfortable around blacks than whites."
0:05:45 > 0:05:47He says, you know, "In some ways you're right."
0:05:50 > 0:05:53In Chicago in the late 1940s,
0:05:53 > 0:05:58the acoustic country blues of the black Southern migrant was starting to change.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03To compete with the sounds of the big city,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07the musicians were embracing amplifiers and electric guitars,
0:06:07 > 0:06:13transforming the blues into a tougher, louder urban blast.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16- GUITAR RIFF - Yee-ha!
0:06:16 > 0:06:18It just became a practical reality,
0:06:18 > 0:06:23that once you get into a bar or a club,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27it became hard to hear the band, you know? So they just had to plug in.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30You got a lot of people in a small space,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and people were celebrating and loud, and they want to get a party.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Leonard's new friend Muddy Waters
0:06:37 > 0:06:40was at the forefront of this new emerging urban blues style.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47In 1948, when he was making his very first recordings for Aristocrat Records,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52Muddy made a crucial breakthrough in the birth of electric blues in Chicago.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55There had been recordings with electric guitar before,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58but it tended to be an adjunct.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02I Can't Be Satisfied was like, you know, wow!
0:07:02 > 0:07:06The guitar was up there with the voice.
0:07:06 > 0:07:12- A lot of what the record is about is that... - IMITATES RIFF
0:07:12 > 0:07:14RIFF PLAYS
0:07:14 > 0:07:18He's playing it just like he originally played it on an acoustic,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20but now he's got that exciting element
0:07:20 > 0:07:22of the electric guitar,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25so this is country blues has come to town.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28There were guitarists who could play really well acoustic,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30but they couldn't make that transition -
0:07:30 > 0:07:32it just didn't work on electric for them.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35But Muddy managed to come up with this style
0:07:35 > 0:07:38that really crystallised this whole thing
0:07:38 > 0:07:41which made it his character, and what he was trying to project.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45If it's done in 1948, it's even more astonishing.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47That sort of was like...
0:07:47 > 0:07:50It perked up the ears of a lot of kids
0:07:50 > 0:07:52around the country, saying "What is that?"
0:07:54 > 0:08:00# Well, I'm going away to leave Won't be back no more... #
0:08:00 > 0:08:03In 1949, when Evelyn Aron left Aristocrat,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Leonard and his brother Phil took a gamble and bought the label outright.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12One year later, the brothers gambled again,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15relaunching Aristocrat as Chess Records.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19# Oh yeah
0:08:21 > 0:08:23# Oh yeah. #
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Leonard and Phil - opposites.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28A very typical two-brother situation.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32My uncle Phil, laid-back, smoking those big cigars.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36My father, the older brother - driven, possessed.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Two different personalities, and they knew it.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42# Well, I wish... #
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Leonard had the initiative.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Leonard was the one who had the sharper vision.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Phil helped him execute it.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54And again, I think that the enterprise
0:08:54 > 0:08:59probably wouldn't have been the same if it had just been Leonard by himself
0:08:59 > 0:09:01with trusted hired help.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04The fact that it was Leonard and Phil made it special.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Leonard and Phil released the first blues hit on their new Chess label
0:09:10 > 0:09:15in 1950 - Rollin' Stone by Muddy Waters.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18# I went to... #
0:09:18 > 0:09:20It was hitting everywhere.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22It was all over Chicago, Rollin' Stone.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Muddy Waters says that he really made Chess and Chess really made him.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31The very early success of Muddy Waters
0:09:31 > 0:09:35really inspired both my uncle and Muddy Waters.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38# I don't want
0:09:38 > 0:09:40# To be no slave... #
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Although the recording of Rollin' Stone was just electric guitar and bass,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Muddy's live club band was larger,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52and he was keen to bring them into the recording studio.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56At first, the Chess brothers were reluctant to break the successful formula.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59They eventually relented,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01and allowed Muddy to record his club band
0:10:01 > 0:10:04on masterpieces like I Just Want To Make Love To You
0:10:06 > 0:10:10That began the archetype of what the rock and roll band would become.
0:10:10 > 0:10:17You know, the bass, the guitar, a keyboard, drums.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21That sort of configuration was pretty much created by the Muddy Waters Band.
0:10:21 > 0:10:22# Cryin' shame... #
0:10:22 > 0:10:26When it came down to Muddy Waters putting together a band,
0:10:26 > 0:10:31that total sound is really what got the crowd moving and rocking.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34# ..To make my bed... #
0:10:34 > 0:10:37He sounds kind of like a lion,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40you can imagine him with a big mane and he'd somehow sound like that.
0:10:40 > 0:10:46# I just want to make love to you... #
0:10:46 > 0:10:51You had a combination of Muddy Waters, who were bold,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and you had a brash dude like Leonard Chess,
0:10:54 > 0:10:59and together they had the combination to say "Let's go get it."
0:10:59 > 0:11:02The promotion that Leonard Chess gave Muddy Waters
0:11:02 > 0:11:06allowed him to play at bigger black venues in Chicago.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09One of the city's most famous disc jockeys, Herb Kent,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12witnessed Muddy's growing popularity.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15In all the areas they were playing
0:11:15 > 0:11:18I Just Want To Make Love To You and people came out
0:11:18 > 0:11:21and they were dancing and doing the hoochie coochie -
0:11:21 > 0:11:22I will never forget that.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26I began to really understand that at that point,
0:11:26 > 0:11:31Chicago was a blues town.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36Muddy's band included harmonica player and blues bad boy Little Walter.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40In 1952, at the end of a recording session for Chess,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Muddy allowed Little Walter to cut an instrumental called Duke.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48From then on, it became essential for Chicago blues bands
0:11:48 > 0:11:51to include an amplified harmonica in their line-up.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57He was sort of the Eric Clapton or, you know, Jeff Beck -
0:11:57 > 0:12:00the job they would serve in the Yardbirds, you know,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Little Walter was the flash.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05You know, he was the... He was the...
0:12:05 > 0:12:07He did the killer solos, you know?
0:12:07 > 0:12:09HARMONICA SOLO
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Duke was a masterpiece.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17It was just a great creative piece of work
0:12:17 > 0:12:19that he came up with.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23But Leonard Chess was unsure of when to release Little Walter's Duke.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27A couple of months after the recording,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Leonard played the song in the office.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32As he turned up the volume,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Leonard watched the women outside on the street start to dance.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38It was an immediate sign,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42and my father and everyone rushed this out, rushed this out, you know?
0:12:42 > 0:12:46He always used to like to watch the response of his audience.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53After the success of Duke, Little Walter went solo,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55recording a number of blues hits for Chess
0:12:55 > 0:12:59that sometimes even outsold Muddy's own releases for the label.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03One of them was called Boom Boom, Out Go The Lights.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07# No kidding, I'm ready to fight
0:13:07 > 0:13:10# I've been lookin' for my baby all night
0:13:10 > 0:13:13# If I get her in my sight
0:13:13 > 0:13:17# Boom boom, out go the lights... #
0:13:17 > 0:13:20He was sort of the archetype rock-and-roller.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23He was the one getting in fights, and obviously
0:13:23 > 0:13:27a song from the heart. You know, this is what was going on in his life.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30You had no problem believing that. You know?
0:13:30 > 0:13:33When I first heard that record, I was like...
0:13:33 > 0:13:35I said, man, I can't believe it.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39He's really talking about if his woman goes out for the night,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42you know, he find her, you know, whatever, he might forgive her,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44but boom boom, I'm going to knock her out.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46I was like, whoa.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Like hip-hop,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52early electric blues reflected the mood of the black ghetto, of the neighbourhood.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56The problems. There weren't psychiatrists or psychologists for black people.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01It showed you exactly the time and the period
0:14:01 > 0:14:05of what was acceptable, which is crazy.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08But also it showed you how crazy Little Walter was.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11# Boom boom! Out go the lights. #
0:14:11 > 0:14:15ELECTRIC GUITAR RIFF
0:14:17 > 0:14:21# Better watch out, man How you drive that Cadillac there. #
0:14:21 > 0:14:24As the music developed in Chicago,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Leonard worked night and day conducting huge sweeping tours of the Seven States,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32where he charmed local DJs, distributors and retailers.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35This was essential to the label's commercial growth,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39and the South became Chess's biggest market outside of Chicago.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45The United States still had weekly sanctions, segregation,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47so when Leonard went down South, he was a white man,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50he could indeed go anyplace he wanted.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55He didn't have to determine, can I stay in this hotel? Can I get gas at this station?
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Do I have to get my food from the back of this restaurant, if they will even serve me?
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Leonard, like other Jewish immigrants in the States,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05had experienced racial prejudice
0:15:05 > 0:15:07and empathised with the plight of black Americans.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10I think they had a real soft spot
0:15:10 > 0:15:13for black people who were feeling the same thing as they felt.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15They knew how it felt.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18But they knew they had the edge by being white.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24It was Leonard, the white businessman,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28who searched for new black musical talent during these trips.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Once, when visiting Chess distributor and friend Stan Lewis in Louisiana,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Leonard came face to face with the racism of the South.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40I called in and I said, "Leonard, I've got a good blues singer
0:15:40 > 0:15:42"by the name of Stick Horse Hammond."
0:15:42 > 0:15:46He was owned by the owner of the plantation.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51So we drove up to this big mansion,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54and this man came out with his shotgun and I said, "Sir,
0:15:54 > 0:16:00"do you have a guy by the name of Stick Horse Hammond?"
0:16:00 > 0:16:04And I says, "I have a friend here, Leonard Chess,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06"who wants to make a big star out of him."
0:16:06 > 0:16:09And he stuck a shotgun in my stomach.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15And he says, "What do you want with my nigger? What do you want with my nigger?
0:16:15 > 0:16:19"You leave my nigger alone." And he was shoving a shotgun in my stomach.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22And Leonard said, "Come on, Stan, let's get out of here."
0:16:22 > 0:16:26# Ain't gonna worry my life any more
0:16:26 > 0:16:30# Mmm mmm mmm-mmm-mmm... #
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Despite the racism of the South,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35there were also good times during these mid-'50s road trips.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38For Leonard's son Marshall, who sometimes accompanied him,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42they were an opportunity to bond with his workaholic father.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46When I was 13, my father picked me up in Miami, Florida.
0:16:46 > 0:16:52We had gone for a three-week trip in some horribly cheap motel,
0:16:52 > 0:16:57and he took me with him back all the way up to Chicago through the South.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01We get outside Mobile, he says, "You know, I'm falling asleep."
0:17:01 > 0:17:03And he says, "You drive."
0:17:07 > 0:17:10I was going in my pants, you know? I was scared.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Started driving between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16That was our next stop.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And he actually started snoring.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26And I'll never forget, I woke him up because about an hour later
0:17:26 > 0:17:30I ran into a field of locusts. I had to put the windscreen wipers on
0:17:30 > 0:17:32to get rid of the bugs, and it scared me.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37A little bit of insight into my father's personality
0:17:37 > 0:17:39and his relation to me
0:17:39 > 0:17:43was he said, "Come on, I want to teach you how to shake hands."
0:17:43 > 0:17:46And he gave me this really firm grip,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48and he said, "Look me right in the eye,"
0:17:48 > 0:17:51and he said, "That's how you shake hands like a man", you know?
0:17:51 > 0:17:56And to this day, I look in people's eyes and shake hands as hard as I can.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02# I'm a young red rooster... #
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Back in Chicago, Leonard kept busy producing Chess artists in the studio.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11Here, he believed that goading them often brought out their best performance.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15One exchange between himself and Sonny Boy Williamson
0:18:15 > 0:18:17revealed Leonard's provocative technique
0:18:17 > 0:18:20and his enjoyment of black American slang.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22- What's the name of this? - Little Village.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Little Village, motherfucker, Little Village.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Motherfucking thing ain't about a village, you son of a bitch!
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Nothing in this song has got anything to do with a village.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33- Well, a small town! - That's what a village is!
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Well, all right. You don't need no title.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38You name it after I get through with it, son of a bitch.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42You name what you want. You name it your mamma if you wanna.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Take one, roll it.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47INTRO PLAYS
0:18:52 > 0:18:55# Well, tattered, tattered and torn... #
0:18:55 > 0:18:58By the mid 1950s, the label's roster already included
0:18:58 > 0:19:02blues innovators like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09These were the glory days of Chess electric blues.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14The whole culture exploded, a lot like hip-hop.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Fashion was affected - the way people dressed,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19the cars they drove was affected.
0:19:19 > 0:19:20# You better believe it... #
0:19:20 > 0:19:23It's like when they had the punk movement over here.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26They hit on something, and they just all went at it.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31There was a time, uh, I would come down to the studio,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34and I would stand there and look out the big window.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39And the Cadillacs would drive up - one Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf -
0:19:39 > 0:19:43all of them would drive up and park their cars in front of the studio.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46There'd be five or six different colours
0:19:46 > 0:19:48all big Cadillacs.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51There was this short period of years
0:19:51 > 0:19:55where the electric blues ruled, man. We had hit after hit.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58MUSIC PLAYS
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Essential to Chess's success in the mid 1950s
0:20:04 > 0:20:08was arranger and songwriting genius Willie Dixon,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12who composed many of the labels most memorable blues hits.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14HARMONICA RIFF
0:20:14 > 0:20:17One of these was 1954's Hoochie Coochie Man
0:20:17 > 0:20:19written for Muddy Waters.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21HARMONICA RIFF
0:20:21 > 0:20:23It's just the sheer attitude.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25HARMONICA RIFF
0:20:25 > 0:20:29What would you give just to have been a fly on the wall in that studio?
0:20:29 > 0:20:31HARMONICA RIFF
0:20:31 > 0:20:33It'd just be coming at you, the force of it.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Yeah.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37HARMONICA RIFF
0:20:37 > 0:20:41It was a track that epitomised the Chess electric blues era.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44# A gypsy woman told my mother
0:20:44 > 0:20:46# Before I was born
0:20:47 > 0:20:50# You got a boy child comin'
0:20:51 > 0:20:53# Gon' be a son of a gun
0:20:55 > 0:20:57# He gonna make pretty womens
0:20:58 > 0:21:00# Jump and shout
0:21:02 > 0:21:04# Then the world want to know
0:21:05 > 0:21:07# What this all about
0:21:07 > 0:21:10# But you know I'm him... #
0:21:11 > 0:21:12This is adult music.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Don't mix this up with kids - we're doing this for grown folks who work,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18who're looking to have a good time out.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21What could be more sexual...
0:21:21 > 0:21:24than the rooster kicking up to the woman,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26"I'm your hoochie coochie man."
0:21:26 > 0:21:30It has so much power to it, and yet they're taking their time.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33It's not a fast-moving tune,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36it's just tough and grinding away and...
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Can't be denied.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43# Well, you know we are the hoochie coochie boys
0:21:44 > 0:21:47# The whole United States know me Yeah. #
0:21:54 > 0:21:56APPLAUSE AND CHEERS
0:21:56 > 0:21:58I owe such a debt to...
0:21:58 > 0:22:02As a kid, as a teenager, listening to that music
0:22:02 > 0:22:06and just really being, you know, shaken to the core by it.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14The roster of Chess artists and the blues riffs they created
0:22:14 > 0:22:18would later have a huge influence on 1960s and '70s rock acts
0:22:18 > 0:22:22like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Those endless repeated things,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29they become part of the language of...
0:22:29 > 0:22:35Blues, blues rock, jazz rock, rock.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40In the mid-'50s, these Chess blues artists were existing under the white radar
0:22:40 > 0:22:45and being enjoyed almost exclusively by a core black American audience.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50It is a misconception, I think, particularly after the fact,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54that songs we now think of as great blues hits,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57the sales were not that great.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00# Ooh-oooh... #
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Chess blues acts like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf
0:23:03 > 0:23:06were making their money not through record sales,
0:23:06 > 0:23:11but live shows, which their recordings helped promote.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15It wasn't "Let's make some artistic Library of Congress masterpieces" -
0:23:15 > 0:23:19"Let's make a hit!", maybe, so we can make some money this weekend.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21That's the real story.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23# Ba ba do
0:23:23 > 0:23:25# Ba do
0:23:25 > 0:23:28# Ba do, ba do
0:23:28 > 0:23:30# Ba ba do... #
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Although Leonard and Phil weren't making large profits in 1954,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36they were doing OK.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39But in the following year, things changed rapidly
0:23:39 > 0:23:43when white American teenagers with cash to spend
0:23:43 > 0:23:45caught on to black music.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55In 1955, white American teenagers
0:23:55 > 0:23:58flocked to the movie Blackboard Jungle.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Crucially, the film featured Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05which gave many of these white youngsters
0:24:05 > 0:24:07their very first taste of rock and roll.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13In the same year two black musicians, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry,
0:24:13 > 0:24:18arrived at Chess with a brand new sound and a brand new energy.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Leonard Chess was now armed with just the right artists
0:24:21 > 0:24:25to target this huge, lucrative white teenage market.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC
0:24:38 > 0:24:41# Aaaah ah-ah
0:24:41 > 0:24:44# Beep beep... #
0:24:44 > 0:24:46This odd new sort of...
0:24:46 > 0:24:51species sprang up that was in between adolescence and adults.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54You know, that had never existed before on the planet.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58And products had to be created for this new market,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00for this new species.
0:25:02 > 0:25:03Bo Diddley's Road Runner
0:25:03 > 0:25:06was exactly the type of fun, accessible product
0:25:06 > 0:25:09that would appeal to this new audience.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Bo's family had moved from Mississippi to Chicago
0:25:13 > 0:25:14when he was six.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16By the early 1950s,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Bo was in his 20s and a part-time musician in the city.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22He did construction work,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25spare time - he would play guitar and sing.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30So, he wasn't one of those guys out to try to be a star.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Bo was a guy with a big sense of humour.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37He built his own guitars,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41those guitars that look like a box, a big box?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I went over to his house one day and he had, man, a basement
0:25:44 > 0:25:49full of amplifier parts, all scattered all over the place,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51where he would try to make his own amps.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55These musical experiments, which included adding a maracas player to the band,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57as well as bringing in female guitarists,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01helped create Bo Diddley's unique sound and image.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02In early 1955,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Bo and his harmonica player, Billy Boy Arnold,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08had touted their demo around Chicago labels.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Their first stop was a rival record label, Vee-Jay,
0:26:12 > 0:26:14right across the street from Chess.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Secretary was on her way to lunch.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19And she said, "What you guys want?"
0:26:19 > 0:26:22I said, "We got a dub," she said, "Let me hear it."
0:26:22 > 0:26:25She put the dub on and played one second and said,
0:26:25 > 0:26:26"I don't like that."
0:26:26 > 0:26:27They thought it was junk.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30They thought it was weird and different sounding.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34He walked across the street and played it for my uncle.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Phil Chess came out of the back room,
0:26:36 > 0:26:37he knew me.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40And said, "Hey, man. Got something for me?" I said, "Yeah."
0:26:40 > 0:26:43So, he put it on and he heard I'm A Man.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50My uncle immediately knew, called my father in,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52and my father said, "Yeah!"
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Boom!
0:26:54 > 0:26:56It was an instant hit.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58HE PLAYS THE HARMONICA
0:26:58 > 0:26:59# When I was a little boy
0:27:01 > 0:27:02# 'Bout the age of five
0:27:04 > 0:27:05# I had somethin' in my pocket
0:27:07 > 0:27:08# Keep a lot of folks alive
0:27:10 > 0:27:11# Now I'm a man
0:27:13 > 0:27:14# Made 21
0:27:16 > 0:27:18# You better believe me, baby
0:27:19 > 0:27:20# We can have a lot of fun
0:27:22 > 0:27:23# I'm a man
0:27:23 > 0:27:27# I spell M
0:27:28 > 0:27:29# A
0:27:31 > 0:27:32# N... #
0:27:32 > 0:27:37Although I'm A Man was a hit, the A-side, a song called Bo Diddley,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40recorded in the same session, was a bigger breakthrough.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43And with its tremolo guitar, hambone beat and maracas,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47it encapsulated Bo Diddley's new sound.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52# Bo Diddley just buy his baby a diamond ring
0:27:54 > 0:27:57# If that diamond ring don't shine
0:27:59 > 0:28:01# He's gonna take it to a private eye
0:28:03 > 0:28:06# If that private eye can't see
0:28:08 > 0:28:10# He'd better not take that ring a-from me... #
0:28:12 > 0:28:16He just seemed to try revolutionary, sort of, sounds
0:28:16 > 0:28:20and that rhythm, the classic Bo Diddley rhythm,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22is entirely his.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30Bo Diddley played the guitar like the drummer played the drums.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35# To make his pretty baby a Sunday coat... #
0:28:35 > 0:28:38He's, like, from some other place, you know?
0:28:38 > 0:28:43And you're kind of scared of it and yet you want to embrace it.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48How many people in music can tell you they created an entire sound?
0:28:51 > 0:28:56In May 1955, just two months after Bo Diddley made his debut at Chess,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00a 29-year-old guitarist from St Louis called Chuck Berry
0:29:00 > 0:29:03travelled to Chicago looking for a record deal.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05Here he met his hero, Muddy Waters,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08who suggested he approach Leonard Chess with his songs,
0:29:08 > 0:29:11one of which was called Ida Red.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15And I'll show you the genius of Leonard.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Leonard didn't think that Ida Red was catchy enough,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22so he had Chuck change it to Maybellene.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27Which was... That word, that name, was better.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32Maybellene was released in July 1955.
0:29:32 > 0:29:3613-year-old Marshall Chess was travelling in a car with his father
0:29:36 > 0:29:39when they heard a white radio DJ play the song
0:29:39 > 0:29:41on a white radio station.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45# Maybellene, why can't you be true?
0:29:45 > 0:29:48# Oh, Maybellene
0:29:48 > 0:29:49# Why can't you be true?
0:29:50 > 0:29:53# You've started back doing the things... #
0:29:53 > 0:29:55I remember the disc jockey was Howard Miller,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57the afternoon four o'clock show.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59Boom! Maybellene, Chuck Berry goes on.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03My father got so excited, he turned to me, and he said,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06"Marshall," he said, "We finally made it."
0:30:06 > 0:30:09# Maybellene, why can't you be true?
0:30:09 > 0:30:12# Oh, Maybellene
0:30:12 > 0:30:13# Why can't you be true?
0:30:15 > 0:30:18# You've just started back doing the things you used to do
0:30:19 > 0:30:20# The Cadillac pulled up ahead of the Ford
0:30:20 > 0:30:22# The Ford got hot and wouldn't do no more
0:30:22 > 0:30:25# It soon got cloudy and it started to rain
0:30:25 > 0:30:27# I tooted my horn for a passin' lane
0:30:27 > 0:30:29# The rain water blowin' all under my hood
0:30:29 > 0:30:31# I knew that was doin' my motor good
0:30:31 > 0:30:34# Maybellene, why can't you be true? #
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Chuck Berry crossed over into the whites,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40and the white disc jockeys was playing the record.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43And that opened up a whole new field.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Well, welcome once again to the WCFL All-Night Record Show,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48seven minutes after 4am.
0:30:48 > 0:30:49# Why can't you be true?
0:30:49 > 0:30:52# Oh, Maybellene
0:30:52 > 0:30:54# Why can't you be true? #
0:30:55 > 0:30:59The middle class had grown to where the white kids had cars for the first time.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Black kids did not have cars riding around.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Chuck's genius was he understood that emerging white culture
0:31:06 > 0:31:07and wrote to them.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10And they were lyrics that we could really relate to.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13And...when he was singing about back in the USA
0:31:13 > 0:31:17and the hamburgers sizzling et cetera,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20we'd only just about got hamburgers over here with Wimpys.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25And... And...you just realised that there was another whole attitude
0:31:25 > 0:31:28to a hamburger and you could smell this sizzling.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30- HE LAUGHS - It was just...
0:31:30 > 0:31:34He just painted these pictures. It was so lyrical.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36And you just knew, as a teenager,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39that there was something really going on over there.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43New youth television shows like American Bandstand
0:31:43 > 0:31:46were also embracing the rock-and-roll phenomenon.
0:31:47 > 0:31:53The importance of American Bandstand to Chess Records,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56or any record company at that time,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00was, um, creating a hit record for you.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04It reached millions of homes
0:32:04 > 0:32:08that the small R&B stations did not reach.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Max Cooperstein was a good friend of Dick Clark,
0:32:13 > 0:32:15the host of American Bandstand.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Max encouraged Dick to put Chuck berry on his show.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21- There he is, Mr Chuck Berry! - SCREAMS
0:32:21 > 0:32:22# Way down in Louisiana
0:32:22 > 0:32:24# Close to New Orleans
0:32:24 > 0:32:25# Way back up in the woods
0:32:25 > 0:32:27# Amongst the evergreens
0:32:27 > 0:32:28# There stood a log cabin
0:32:28 > 0:32:29# Made of earth and wood
0:32:29 > 0:32:30# Where lived a country boy
0:32:30 > 0:32:32# Named Johnny B Goode
0:32:32 > 0:32:33# Who never ever learned
0:32:33 > 0:32:34# To read or write so well
0:32:34 > 0:32:36# But he could play the guitar
0:32:36 > 0:32:37# Just like ringin' a bell, go, go! #
0:32:38 > 0:32:42American Bandstand was one of the most watched music shows
0:32:42 > 0:32:43on US television.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Chess Records was now operating on a much bigger stage.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49# Go, Johnny, go, go!
0:32:50 > 0:32:52# Johnny B Goode
0:32:53 > 0:32:56# He used to carry his guitar... #
0:32:56 > 0:32:59The label was now crossing over into the white mainstream media,
0:32:59 > 0:33:01even teenage movies.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04The film Rock, Rock, Rock featured a number of Chess acts
0:33:04 > 0:33:08including Chuck Berry and his latest hit, Roll Over Beethoven.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11This song perfectly captured the moment
0:33:11 > 0:33:14when rock and roll changed the world for good.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18He sang, you know, once it was classical music,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20you know, or once it was jazz,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24so once it was this, now it's this new thing called rock and roll.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25You know?
0:33:25 > 0:33:27And he was making that actually come true.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31# Roll over Beethoven I gotta hear it again today... #
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Like the Chess blues artists before him,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39Chuck Berry would have a huge influence on the giants of 1960s rock music.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Especially the Rolling Stones.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46The Rolling Stones are one of the inventors of rock music,
0:33:46 > 0:33:48the entire genre.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53And so, when you pass on that influence through them,
0:33:53 > 0:33:55that goes through the entire history of rock music.
0:33:55 > 0:34:01But in the middle of Chuck Berry's huge crossover success in the late 1950s,
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Chess Records almost shut down.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11In 1957, Leonard Chess had a heart attack.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17He was frustrated that his career would be, um...
0:34:17 > 0:34:21sidelined at this crucial moment of his life.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25And of course, he didn't stop, really, smoking, um...
0:34:25 > 0:34:27And he went right back to work.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31The whole family was horribly upset.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Just when Leonard, the label's driving force,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36should have been avoiding stress,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38there was another crisis for him to deal with.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Chuck Berry, Chess's biggest selling artist,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46was accused of taking a 14-year-old waitress across state lines.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52It was devastating for us when Chuck Berry got arrested
0:34:52 > 0:34:55with a federal crime called the Mann Act.
0:34:55 > 0:34:56# You gotta help me
0:34:58 > 0:35:01# I can't do it all by myself... #
0:35:01 > 0:35:06We did everything we could to keep him from going to prison, but we failed, he went to prison.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11The controversies for Chess Records didn't stop there.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15At the end of the 1950s, the label was under investigation
0:35:15 > 0:35:18when the Payola Scandal swept the record business.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22Payola meant giving back-handers to radio DJs,
0:35:22 > 0:35:23to make certain records a hit.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28Some of these jocks got crazy,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31they been buyin' big cars, big fur coats
0:35:31 > 0:35:36and the Internal Revenue won't know where the money was coming from.
0:35:36 > 0:35:42The majority of our payola were disc jockeys who got a salary cheque every month.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45And we did deduct the taxes.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49We didn't break the law, because they were going after everyone on breaking tax laws,
0:35:49 > 0:35:51because payola wasn't illegal.
0:35:51 > 0:35:52They let Chess off the hook.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57At the end of the 1950s, despite this series of setbacks for the label,
0:35:57 > 0:36:04Leonard was determined to be at the forefront of the new style of music emerging from the black underground.
0:36:04 > 0:36:10# Oooh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah
0:36:10 > 0:36:13# Yeah... #
0:36:13 > 0:36:17We really wanted to expand Chess.
0:36:17 > 0:36:23We were under the impression the electric blues was dying out, sales were dropping.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25They started buying soul music.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29Some of the producers got smart
0:36:29 > 0:36:33and they start writing optimistic songs.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36You know, like "I'm Gonna,"
0:36:36 > 0:36:38and "One Day Soon," and "It's Gonna Happen."
0:36:38 > 0:36:45And they started writing things that you look forward to.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49# I don't want you To be no slave
0:36:50 > 0:36:52# I don't want you...#
0:36:52 > 0:36:54After the label's difficulties in the late 1950s,
0:36:54 > 0:36:59soul's fresh new optimism spread to Chess Records itself.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02# I just wanna make Love to you...#
0:37:02 > 0:37:04The label's next start would break the Chess mould.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07Rather than another male musician from the South,
0:37:07 > 0:37:12their new star was a young 21-year-old woman with attitude from California.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Etta James was
0:37:15 > 0:37:21one of the prettiest black girls that I had ever seen.
0:37:23 > 0:37:24Plus, she could sing.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27# Oh yeah
0:37:28 > 0:37:30# And oh yeah
0:37:31 > 0:37:33# And oh And oh
0:37:33 > 0:37:40# And ooooh yeah, now. #
0:37:40 > 0:37:44I think it was "Something's Got a Hold On Me," the first thing that I heard.
0:37:44 > 0:37:51It was...just a vocal that just summed it all up,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53all this sort of blues and gospel.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55It was top notch.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Number one, just put it like that.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Whenever she came in, everybody started moving.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03# Something got a hold on me Yeah, yeah
0:38:05 > 0:38:09# Oh, something got a hold on me Right now, yeah, child
0:38:10 > 0:38:14# Let me tell you now I got a feeling, I feel so strange
0:38:14 > 0:38:17# Everything about me Seems to have changed
0:38:17 > 0:38:20# Step by step I got a brand new walk...#
0:38:20 > 0:38:26In the recording studio, Leonard provoked Etta James every bit as much as his male blues musicians.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29And, despite rumours, their relationship was purely platonic.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Even so, it was still highly charged.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34Leonard Chess never went with Etta James,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38there was never a relationship there other than musically,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40and him trying to keep her straight.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45But he had a relationship with Etta where he could curse in the studio,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50and it would burn up Etta to the point where she would just really, really start singing.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53He had her crying and he ripped her contract up,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56anything to get the emotion out of her when she sang.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02# At last
0:39:06 > 0:39:10# My love has come along...#
0:39:11 > 0:39:14Out of this volatile relationship came some beautiful music.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16Leonard knew Etta was special,
0:39:16 > 0:39:21and was more than willing to splash out on large orchestras when recording lush ballads,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25like the 1941 wartime classic, "At Last."
0:39:25 > 0:39:30That song came from Etta's, deep down,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33inner place that nobody else could reach.
0:39:33 > 0:39:34Nobody else can reach.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39Because it didn't come from her voice, it came from her soul.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42# The skies above are blue
0:39:47 > 0:39:52# My heart was wrapped up in clover
0:39:55 > 0:39:59# The night I looked at you...#
0:40:02 > 0:40:07Her maturity and the scope of her talent was such that
0:40:07 > 0:40:10it didn't make any difference how old she was.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13She felt it and she made you feel it.
0:40:13 > 0:40:20# A dream that I can call my own
0:40:21 > 0:40:27# I found a thrill To rest my cheek...#
0:40:27 > 0:40:29One thing that made Etta so prized at Chess
0:40:29 > 0:40:31was her musical diversity.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36At Last, both the album and the single, were big hits for Chess,
0:40:36 > 0:40:38and helped change the label's public profile.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42We were getting recognised by radio stations
0:40:42 > 0:40:47that we hadn't been getting airplay on with any of our artists.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52So it did open up a lot more avenues for us.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57# For you are mine
0:40:58 > 0:41:01# At last. #
0:41:03 > 0:41:05In 1963, with Etta at the height of her powers,
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Leonard was still restless.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11With his eye on the future he took another business gamble,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15spending 1 million buying a local Chicago radio station,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19which he re-named WVON, the Voice Of the Negro.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24# W-V-O-N, giant sound of soul! #
0:41:26 > 0:41:31We were the first big station that went 24 hours of personalities,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and playing R'n'B and blues.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Huge. Big. Unbelievable.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43You just had to lock in to WVON, it was part of your every day occurrence
0:41:43 > 0:41:46in terms of just dealing with life, period.
0:41:46 > 0:41:52The thing that made WVON special is that it took community issues and made them omnipresent.
0:41:52 > 0:41:58And then giving organisations time that they would never, ever have.
0:41:58 > 0:42:04By the summer of 1963, rather than serving a variety of Chicago's minority communities,
0:42:04 > 0:42:10Radio WVON now catered exclusively to the city's huge black population.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13- # We need love - Love
0:42:13 > 0:42:15- # That's what we need - That's what we need
0:42:15 > 0:42:17- # We need more love - More love
0:42:17 > 0:42:19- # That's what we need - That's what we need
0:42:19 > 0:42:20# We need love...#
0:42:20 > 0:42:26Leonard and Phil understood that they found their first success in the black community,
0:42:26 > 0:42:32and while it may be a cliche to say, "We want to give back something,"
0:42:32 > 0:42:33He did, but at the same time,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37thought that there was nothing wrong with having a successful business enterprise.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40WVON, the Voice Of the Negro.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44I'm Herb Kent, get ready to jam like a big dog.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52As the Chess empire in Chicago was growing,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55the fight for black American civil rights was heating up.
0:42:55 > 0:43:00Leonard was shocked at the images of racial violence coming out of the southern states.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04When he saw the dogs and the hosing of Selma
0:43:04 > 0:43:08and the civil rights marches, he was really upset.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13He knew about the segregation, we were called "nigger lovers" many times
0:43:13 > 0:43:16by many white people across America.
0:43:17 > 0:43:22in 1963, Marshall, now 21 years old, experienced this racism first hand
0:43:22 > 0:43:28whilst recording the live album "Bo-Diddly's Beach Party" in South Carolina.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30I want everybody to give us some noise.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33I want you to holler, "I'm all right."
0:43:35 > 0:43:39When Bo-Diddly's black maracas player, Jerome Green, jumped into the white audience
0:43:39 > 0:43:41all hell broke loose.
0:43:41 > 0:43:46All of a sudden the lights start flashing, in walk the police with German Shepherd police dogs,
0:43:46 > 0:43:51sound shuts off, concert's up, over, what's going on? Everyone is confused.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55Cops took me outside, they threw me against the wall,
0:43:55 > 0:44:02said, "Jew man, you think these niggers can dance here with white people?
0:44:02 > 0:44:05"You got another think coming. If you don't stop this,
0:44:05 > 0:44:10"we're going to lock you up and your people wont know where to find you for two weeks."
0:44:10 > 0:44:11We stopped the concert.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15I ended up having to go to my hotel room and listen to a honeymoon couple
0:44:15 > 0:44:16through the wall in the next room.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Let's listen to that number now, that's shooting up the charts,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29called Little Red Rooster.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35# I am the little red rooster
0:44:36 > 0:44:40# Too lazy to crow for days...#
0:44:44 > 0:44:46The following year, in 1964,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49the Rolling Stones, who Marshall Chess would later manage,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52became the latest sensation after the Beatles.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58Their early releases included numerous Chess covers,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01including a version of Howlin' Wolf's Little Red Rooster.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04# Keep everything in the farmyard
0:45:06 > 0:45:09# I've said it every way. #
0:45:09 > 0:45:13When they first became the Rolling Stones, they were playing not quite the whole Chess repertoire,
0:45:13 > 0:45:17but, you know, maybe 90% of what they were doing.
0:45:19 > 0:45:20# The dogs begin to bark
0:45:22 > 0:45:25# And hounds begin to howl
0:45:27 > 0:45:31Out of all the British invasion bands of the mid-1960s,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34it was the Rolling Stones who really turned white America
0:45:34 > 0:45:37on to the blues that Chess had released a decade earlier.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39It was kind of blinding.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43Which is a point where, you know, a bunch of guys from the UK
0:45:43 > 0:45:46got to introduce blues to America because
0:45:46 > 0:45:51America, both black - you know, the black radio and media circle,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54says, "That's older people's music, nobody trying to hear that no more,"
0:45:54 > 0:45:58and white circles just being totally oblivious to black music.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02The Rolling Stones' devotion to the music of Chess Records
0:46:02 > 0:46:05led them to the label's Chicago studio in 1964.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10I picked up the phone and it was Andrew Oldham, the manager of the Rolling Stones,
0:46:10 > 0:46:15saying, "We're coming to tour in America, we'd love to record at the Chess studios."
0:46:15 > 0:46:19My mind is, "These guys think they're going to record in Chess studios,
0:46:19 > 0:46:21"it's going to sound like a Chess record."
0:46:21 > 0:46:25The reason Chess records sound the way they do
0:46:25 > 0:46:28is because of the artist, because of the way they're played.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32I have many memories of Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters
0:46:32 > 0:46:36coming to meet them to try and hustle their songs to them.
0:46:36 > 0:46:42And the great Keith Richards story of saying he saw Muddy Waters painting the building, which is bullshit,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46which has been verified as bullshit over and over again.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52It must have been extraordinary for those people, to see these guys who were
0:46:52 > 0:46:56"rock stars." Rock stars.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01And they had come to Chess Records on purpose,
0:47:01 > 0:47:02to record.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06The attention the Rolling Stones gave to Chess Records
0:47:06 > 0:47:09revitalised the careers of its blues acts.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12# Little red rooster...#
0:47:12 > 0:47:15Chess artists like Howlin' Wolf, to their surprise,
0:47:15 > 0:47:19were now receiving invitations to perform on America's most popular programmes
0:47:19 > 0:47:22like the Ed Sullivan Show and Shindig.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27They gave exposure to Howlin' Wolf, no-one knew Howlin' Wolf.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31Mick Jagger talked about Howlin' Wolf, all of a sudden people knew about Howlin' Wolf.
0:47:31 > 0:47:36As white college kids of 1965 danced to Howlin' Wolf,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39the Chess empire continued to grow.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45The label was about to move into huge new premises, with much larger overheads.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48They needed a massive hit to keep up the momentum.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00# Rescue me, take me in your arms...#
0:48:00 > 0:48:02On the 2nd September, 1965,
0:48:02 > 0:48:09a recent Chess signing, a pianist and singer from St Louis, Fontella Bass, was recording a song at Chess.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12I was at the studio when she was recording Rescue Me,
0:48:12 > 0:48:15and Leonard and I stood up and gave each other five.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18Now, Leonard was too square to give somebody five,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22but Leonard gave me five that day and we both said "That's a hit."
0:48:22 > 0:48:25# Come on, baby, and rescue me
0:48:26 > 0:48:29# Come on, baby, and rescue me
0:48:30 > 0:48:31# Cos I need you... #
0:48:33 > 0:48:34Leonard had his hit.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38Rescue Me was one of the label's biggest ever singles,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40reaching number one on the billboard R'n'B charts
0:48:40 > 0:48:42and selling over a million copies.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46This was a boom time for Chess.
0:48:46 > 0:48:52Their new, huge, eight-storey complex also housed a pressing plant and recording studios.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56Their business was growing, their soul artists were climbing the charts,
0:48:56 > 0:49:01and their jazz line was releasing big sellers, like Ramsey Lewis's album, The In Crowd.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08Leonard was thrilled with the continuing popularity of his jazz and soul artists.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15# Something deep down in my soul...#
0:49:15 > 0:49:20Even his favourite diva, Etta James, whose career had dipped since her early 60s triumphs,
0:49:20 > 0:49:26was back, recording classics like "Tell Mama" and "I'd rather Go Blind."
0:49:26 > 0:49:29But, despite the success in the jazz and soul genres,
0:49:29 > 0:49:33Leonard wished his old blues musicians were sharing similar sales figures.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35Leonard was still, in his heart, a blues man.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40I mean, I can see a tear in his eye
0:49:40 > 0:49:45when his guys, Muddy and all these guys, were sort of waning in popularity.
0:49:46 > 0:49:52In fact, Leonard was now devoting more and more time to Radio WVON and handing his son
0:49:52 > 0:49:55greater responsibilities and creative influence at the label.
0:49:57 > 0:50:03Marshall, now in his mid-20s, was embracing the new psychedelic movement sweeping the States.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05and he believed that Charles Stepney,
0:50:05 > 0:50:07a classically-trained arranger at the label
0:50:07 > 0:50:13had the potential to radically expand the musical language of Chess in this strange new musical era.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Charles Stepney, to me, was my musical idol.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21Oh, boy, did he blow our minds.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26His whole being was music. He wasn't just a musician.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28He was mus-IC.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34One of Marshall's plans with Charles Stepney
0:50:34 > 0:50:40was to introduce Muddy Waters to the hippy masses, with the album with the album Electric Mud.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44# I don't want you to
0:50:44 > 0:50:45# To be no slave
0:50:46 > 0:50:47# I don't want you to... #
0:50:47 > 0:50:51I used my Muddy Waters like a movie director would use Marlon Brando
0:50:51 > 0:50:54I needed a lead character who was a star.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58And we told Muddy we were going to do a high energy album
0:50:58 > 0:51:02Hard rock. And Muddy's scratching his head, he don't know,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06"How the hell did this come about? I don't know, man..."
0:51:06 > 0:51:10I mean, he really didn't, couldn't fathom the idea of,
0:51:10 > 0:51:15what the hell, we were gonna be taking him out of his orbit.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19We said, "No, Muddy, all you've got to do is sing exactly what you've been singing,
0:51:19 > 0:51:22"what we'll do is change the arrangements."
0:51:22 > 0:51:24# I just want to make
0:51:24 > 0:51:27# Love to you
0:51:27 > 0:51:30# Love to you
0:51:30 > 0:51:32# Love to you. #
0:51:32 > 0:51:36Although Electric Mud was criticised by music journalists on its release,
0:51:36 > 0:51:42the album was one of Muddy's biggest sellers ever and became a cult album.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44You really need to listen to it a few times
0:51:44 > 0:51:47to see how they'd arrived at these things.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52It wasn't designed to be a sort of paperback version of an album.
0:51:52 > 0:51:58Finding out that the approach was being panned at that particular day
0:51:58 > 0:52:02by purists made me gravitate to it even more.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05And even dig the attempt even more.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10But Marshall and Charles Stepney's work with the Rotary Connection
0:52:10 > 0:52:14caught the spirit of the times far more successfully.
0:52:14 > 0:52:20I wanted to do an interracial, soft music, psychedelic album.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24And the concept was, "If you're having a bad trip on LSD,
0:52:24 > 0:52:28"or mushrooms," which was sweeping America at the time,
0:52:28 > 0:52:33"put Rotary Connection on, it's going to bring you down."
0:52:33 > 0:52:35On the Rotary Connection's debut album,
0:52:35 > 0:52:42Charles Stepney blended the sounds of violins, French horns and sitars into a psychedelic landscape.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53It wasn't just that he was classically gifted
0:52:53 > 0:52:57and a tremendous musician and...
0:52:57 > 0:53:00also able to play jazz and rhythm and blues,
0:53:00 > 0:53:06but he was also able to lift everybody up to a whole new level.
0:53:06 > 0:53:07It was beautiful.
0:53:07 > 0:53:13It exploded. I think it sold 25,000 in the first week in Chicago.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15We'd never had a record like that.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19Although the Rotary Connection's debut album
0:53:19 > 0:53:21was a big hit in the Midwest,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Charles Stepney's work would come to national attention
0:53:24 > 0:53:26when he applied his innovative approach
0:53:26 > 0:53:29to the more traditional soul sound
0:53:29 > 0:53:31of the Chess Records vocal group the Dells.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34# And I miss you, baby, with all my heart and soul
0:53:35 > 0:53:38# Let's put our love somewhere... #
0:53:38 > 0:53:41He would make us musically bow down
0:53:41 > 0:53:43to whatever it was
0:53:43 > 0:53:44that he had in his mind.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48We respected him so much and he respected us.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54The Dells became the biggest sellers on the label in the late 1960s.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Chess Records, which started out in 1950
0:53:57 > 0:53:59as a specialist label in Chicago
0:53:59 > 0:54:02was now a mighty independent corporation.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07But America was on fire at the end of that decade
0:54:07 > 0:54:10and Leonard Chess decided it was time
0:54:10 > 0:54:13to take one of the biggest gambles of his life.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24In April 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated
0:54:24 > 0:54:26and black America exploded.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33I got up the following morning
0:54:33 > 0:54:35and I got to the freeway
0:54:35 > 0:54:37and the entire...
0:54:37 > 0:54:41All the farms at the side of the freeway looked like army camp
0:54:41 > 0:54:45and then al the tanks and armoured cars and so forth
0:54:45 > 0:54:47came rolling down Michigan Avenue.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51Just months later, the Chicago Democratic Convention
0:54:51 > 0:54:52ended in riots.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55During these tumultuous times,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Chess Records itself became a target.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01There was a lot of pressure being put on then
0:55:01 > 0:55:03from the black militants
0:55:03 > 0:55:06because of the white man owning the label.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09They thought the white man was making all the money.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12They did put pressure on Chess Records.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19This was all too much for Leonard.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24With ambitious plans already laid to break into the black TV market,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26Leonard decided to sell the record label
0:55:26 > 0:55:29he had spent two decades building.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36But his TV ambitions were never realised.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40On the 16th of October 1969,
0:55:40 > 0:55:44whilst driving to his radio station WVON,
0:55:44 > 0:55:46Leonard, aged 52,
0:55:46 > 0:55:48had another heart attack.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53This time it was fatal.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57It was a big shock to everyone at Chess.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00The whole company was... I went there two days after he died,
0:56:00 > 0:56:04everyone saw me and broke into tears,
0:56:04 > 0:56:05I broke into tears.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08I cried my eyeballs out, you know.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11I lost the best friend I every had,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13one of the best friends I ever had.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20At the funeral, four days later,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23Muddy Waters wept at Leonard's grave side.
0:56:23 > 0:56:29Muddy expressed the loss he felt on Leonard's radio station WVON.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32- Is that Muddy Waters? - Right.- How are you?
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Not too good, I guess. It's bad news.
0:56:36 > 0:56:42We were acquainted in 1946. We were pretty close,
0:56:42 > 0:56:44all the way down through the years.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47I think if he were living, he would say what I'm saying now.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50- He made me and I made him.- Mm-hm.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53I'd like to say I've lost a good friend.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56Yes, Muddy Waters, we've all lost a good friend.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58# I didn't want to have to do it
0:57:00 > 0:57:02# Didn't want to have to be the one to say it... #
0:57:02 > 0:57:06Under the label's new owners, GRT,
0:57:06 > 0:57:07General Recorded Tape,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09Marshall was made President
0:57:09 > 0:57:11and hated it.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14They bought a creative machine and didn't even realise it.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17They stifled the creativity of Chess.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21I saw the record company destroyed
0:57:21 > 0:57:26in whatever time it was that Leonard passed.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32In 1970, a disillusioned Marshall Chess
0:57:32 > 0:57:36left the label to manage Britain's most famous Chess fans,
0:57:36 > 0:57:38the Rolling Stones.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42Phil Chess continued to work in radio broadcasting.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46The label itself limped on under the control of GRT until 1975
0:57:46 > 0:57:48when it was sold again.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52The glory days of Chess Records were over.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56There's a spirit in that music produced from that time
0:57:56 > 0:58:00that has not only musical significance
0:58:00 > 0:58:03but historical significance.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06I could think of Chess as being possibly a contender
0:58:06 > 0:58:10for the greatest record label of all time.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12That sort of coming together of...
0:58:12 > 0:58:16of culture always creates something interesting,
0:58:16 > 0:58:17it really does
0:58:17 > 0:58:20and certainly it did in this case.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23So great was the label's musical and historical significance
0:58:23 > 0:58:27that when the Voyager space rocket was launched in 1977,
0:58:27 > 0:58:31the time capsule it was carrying included a Chess classic
0:58:31 > 0:58:35alongside the works of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart
0:58:35 > 0:58:38it was Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode.
0:58:39 > 0:58:43My children, unfortunately, never got to meet their grandfather,
0:58:43 > 0:58:45but I said, "Kids, can you believe this?
0:58:45 > 0:58:48"Your grandfather produced the record
0:58:48 > 0:58:50"sent out to outer space?"
0:58:50 > 0:58:54# We're back up in the woods among the evergreen... #
0:58:54 > 0:58:56I said, "What could be better than that?
0:58:56 > 0:58:59"An immigrant from Poland
0:58:59 > 0:59:02"coming to America and ending up making a record
0:59:02 > 0:59:04"that's representing humanity?"
0:59:04 > 0:59:06# Go, go, go, Johnny, go
0:59:07 > 0:59:09# Go, go, go, go, Johnny, go
0:59:10 > 0:59:12# Go, go, go, Johnny, go
0:59:13 > 0:59:15# Go, go, go, Johnny, go
0:59:17 > 0:59:18# Go
0:59:19 > 0:59:21# Johnny B Goode. #