The Beat That Wouldn't Quit: 15 Songs Showing How Bo Diddley's Rhythm Reached Buddy Holly, U2 and Beyond

A 15 song look at the Bo Diddley beat makes one thing clear. A rhythm Bo Diddley turned into a rock and roll signature in 1955 kept showing up for decades after, in records by everyone from Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley to Bruce Springsteen, George Michael and U2. For nostalgia fans, that is the fun of it. Once you know the pattern, you can hear it jump across eras, formats and even artists who seem to have little else in common.

Before it was a rock trademark, it was already in the air

What became known as the Bo Diddley beat did not begin with Bo Diddley. Its roots are described as being firmly planted in African and Latin American rhythms, with earlier American chart examples including the Andrews Sisters' "Rum and Coca Cola" in the 1940s and Red Saunders and the Hambone Kids' "Hambone" in the early 1950s.

Still, the rhythm took on a new identity once Bo Diddley, born Ellas Otha Bates, drove it into popular music with his 1955 single "Bo Diddley." The song reached No. 1 on the rhythm and blues chart, even though it did not cross over to the pop chart. Its long term importance ended up being far bigger than its immediate pop reach.

That one record became the trailhead for an enormous family tree. The 15 song survey follows that pulse from the first wave of rock and roll into British Invasion singles, punk landmarks, arena rock, polished 1980s pop and a 21st century hit.

In the 1950s, the pattern was already spreading fast. Buddy Holly was a committed Bo Diddley admirer and even recorded "Bo Diddley" in 1956. A year later, Holly's band the Crickets used the feel on "Not Fade Away," released as the B side of their Top 10 hit "Oh Boy!" The song later became even more widely known when the Rolling Stones took it to No. 3 in the U.K. and made it their first single to reach the American charts.

Another major stop came with the Johnny Otis Show's "Willie and the Hand Jive" in 1958. Johnny Otis had already been a regular on the rhythm and blues charts earlier in the decade, but this became his biggest pop success and made the Top 10. The song stayed alive long enough to become a hit again for Eric Clapton in 1974.

The late 1950s and early 1960s added more examples. Dee Clark's "Hey Little Girl," written by Otis Blackwell, was one of a run of five pop and rhythm and blues hits for the Chicago singer, who had also worked with Red Saunders' Hambone Kids and the doo wop group the Kool Gents. Elvis Presley then brought the beat into one side of a classic two sided single with 1961's "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame." Paired with "Little Sister," and written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, both songs became Top 5 hits.

By the Beatles era, the rhythm could even be used in a novelty rush to cash in on a trend. The Foto-Fi Four's "Stand Up and Holler (All for the Beatles)," an early Harry Nilsson effort from 1964, tried to ride Beatlemania but did not chart. A year later, the Strangeloves scored with "I Want Candy," a record written and produced by Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer and Bob Feldman with Bert Berns, then credited to a made up Australian band. It became a hit, and Bow Wow Wow later took it back onto the U.K. chart in 1982.

The Who's "Magic Bus" showed the beat could also power a tougher late 1960s rock single. Pete Townshend wrote it in 1965. It later became the title track of Magic Bus: The Who on Tour, even though that release was actually a compilation of studio recordings, and it arrived before the band moved into the Tommy period.

From proto punk to polished pop, the beat kept resurfacing

The beat did not fade in the album era. The Stooges opened their 1969 debut album with "1969," written by Iggy Pop and his bandmates and produced by John Cale after his departure from the Velvet Underground. The record was dismissed when it first appeared, but both the song and the album are now recognized for their influence.

Bruce Springsteen's "She's the One" carried the pattern into 1975 on Born to Run, an album packed with standout songs. In concert, Springsteen and the E Street Band have even been known to play a Bo Diddley song before launching into it. REO Speedwagon used the rhythm on "Don't Let Him Go" from 1981's Hi Infidelity. That album also produced the No. 1 power ballad "Keep on Loving You," but this track showed the band had not abandoned straight ahead rock, and it also became a hit.

The same year, Elvis Costello and the Attractions worked the beat into "Lovers Walk" on Trust, Costello's fifth studio album. The record moved toward a more elaborate production style while keeping the harder edge heard on earlier work.

By the late 1980s, the rhythm was turning up in some of the decade's biggest pop and rock releases. George Michael's "Faith," the opening track on his first solo album after Wham!, took both the single and album to No. 1 in the United States. The album also topped the chart in Great Britain, while the single reached No. 2 there. U2's "Desire," from Rattle and Hum, became the Irish band's first U.K. chart topper and reached No. 3 in the United States. The album itself was their eighth and served as the soundtrack to a documentary centered on their recent American tour.

The list stretches all the way to KT Tunstall's "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" in 2004. Released as the first single from Eye to the Telescope, her debut album, it became a U.S. hit after Katherine McPhee performed it on American Idol. The song also charted in the U.K., Canada and New Zealand.

That is the real surprise in tracing these 15 songs together. A rhythmic idea that Bo Diddley made unforgettable in the 1950s never stayed locked to one decade, one scene or one kind of star.