In ‘Sweet Little Sixteen,’ ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ and other songs, Mr. Berry invented rock as a music of teenage wishes fulfilled and good times (even with cops in pursuit). In ‘Promised Land,’ ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ and ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man,’ he celebrated and satirized America’s opportunities and class tensions. His rock ’n’ roll was a music of joyful lusts, laughed-off tensions and gleefully shattered icons.

Source: Chuck Berry Dies at 90; Helped Define Rock ’n’ Roll – The New York Times