Happy 81st Birthday Little Richard!
Few would deny the impact Rock ‘n’ Roll music — and all that it entailed and symbolized — made on latter 20th century western culture. In acknowledging its impact, however, we propose you then must pay due respect to the gentleman as responsible as any for inventing and popularizing the form (and again, all it entailed and symbolized); Richard “Little Richard” Penniman (PeekYou profile here).
The above embedded clip shows Richard, in 1972 — theoretically (and strictly theoretically) past his heyday — setting the world ablaze with a positively mind-melting version of Good Golly Miss Molly; from the now legendary London Rock and Roll Show. We could bray on and on about the man’s incalculable impact on most of the good things in our lives, but instead you should just press play.
Today is Richard’s 81st birthday, and we hope he sticks around for another 81 years.