Rockin’ at the Hops Songs Ranked

Rockin’ at the Hops is the fourth studio album by rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, released in July 1960 on Chess Records, catalogue LP 1448. With the exception of four tracks, “Down the Road a Piece,” “Confessin’ the Blues,” “Betty Jean,” and “Driftin’ Blues,” all selections had been previously released on 45 rpm singles. The first 7″ 45-RPM single from Rockin’ at the Hops was “Childhood Sweetheart” backed with “Broken Arrow”, released in September 1959.  The second single was “Let It Rock” backed with “Too Pooped to Pop”, released in January 1960; the A-side reached number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the B-side reached number 42 on the Hot 100 and number 18 on the R&B Singles chart. The last two singles—”Bye Bye Johnny” backed with “Worried Life Blues” (released in May) and “I Got to Find My Baby” backed with “Mad Lad” (released in August) —did not chart. Here are all of Rockin’ at the Hops songs ranked.

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12. Bye Bye Johnny

“Bye Bye Johnny is one of the best examples of CB’s super effective rhythm guitar. I am a firm believer that you just can’t go wrong with Chuck Berry.”

11. I Got to Find My Baby

“They say you can judge a Chuck Berry album by the quality of its singles (and by “they” I mean “me”); and the singles here are fine, but not nearly as good as the best Chuck Berry music out there.”

10. Worried Life Blues

“He tackles Big Maceo’s “Worried Life Blues” and displays what could have been if he had gone the route of say B.B. King or other blues artists. Likewise, some of his material is starting to sound a little too similar to his previous hits.”

9. Betty Jean

“His lyrics are very impressive as well as his guitar playing. “Betty Jean” for example contains a recycled guitar riff that is clearly heard on “Johnny B. Goode” and the rhythms and chord progressions also sound like they simply were tweaked a note or two to create new tracks.”

See more: Chuck Berry Albums Ranked

8. Down the Road a Piece

“This album really gives a good idea of the feel of the time, blues, rock and roll, country. I think id you are looking at buying any Chuck Berry then start with this.”

7. Childhood Sweetheart

“The songs here still have a bit of that classic Chuck Berry edge to them, which really does save this album from being a total bust.”

6. Confessin’ the Blues

“While still steeped in his rock and roll meets jazz, blues and R&B sounds, BERRY opted to experiment a little around the edges and wanted to know what it felt like to dabble in the purer aspects of the styles he was aggregating together so seamlessly.”

See more: Chuck Berry Songs Ranked

5. Broken Arrow

“That’s is not to say that all the tracks on board aren’t catchy and as infectious as ever. BERRY was incapable of cranking anything but, however the stepping away from the rock and roll dominance and more focus on the blues and doowop aspects thanks to the backing vocal style of The Ecuadors makes this album seem more like a hodgepodge of ideas rather than the cohesive BERRY fortified magic of what came before.”

4. Too Pooped to Pop

“This is a good rock and roll record by any standards, but without it, and a small stack of others by similarly established African-American R&B guitarists, the Stones and the other British 60s Beat bands would have gone in another direction, and we would all be waxing lyrically about something, and somewhere, else.”

3. Driftin’ Blues

“Perhaps the start of the new decade and saturation of the market led the whole rock and roll thing to feel a little stale or perhaps BERRY just needed a break, but for whatever reason the tracks on here aren’t quite as top notch as the previous. Perhaps they were leftover tracks that they just threw on for the record company.”

2. Mad Lad

“The only other decent track is the instrumental Mad Lad with Hawaiian guitar sounds and nicer studio ambience. A slight slump in between high points but a decent album overall.”

1. Let It Rock

“The outstanding song is played at very fast pace with Berry’s ringing guitar lines between the verses and a very fine piano break from Johnnie Johnson, Fred Below’s highly rhythmic drumming also being a feature, as Chuck narrates his tale of impending disaster for a gang of railroad workers”