These include being ranked 33rd and 7th, respectively on Rolling Stone’s 2021 [3] and 2004 versions of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[2][4] It was also included as one of the 27 songs on the Voyager Golden Record, a collection of music, images, and sounds designed to serve as an introduction and record of global humanity’s achievements, innovations and culture, to alien/otherworldly inhabitants.

Written by Chuck Berry in 1955, the song is about an illiterate "country boy" from the New Orleans area, who plays a guitar "just like ringing a bell", and who might one day have his "name in lights".

[8] The guitarist Keith Richards later suggested that the song's chords are more typical of compositions written for piano than for guitar.

[10] One notable feature of Berry's recording is the contrast between the swing of the drums and piano backing, and the "straight" (non-swinging) rhythm and lead guitar.

[11] In The Guardian, Joe Queenan argued that "no song in the history of rock'n'roll more jubilantly celebrates the downmarket socioeconomic roots of the genre" than "Johnny B.

[12] In Billboard, Jason Lipshutz stated that the song was "the first rock-star origin story", and that it featured "a swagger and showmanship that had not yet invaded radio.

A cover version is featured in the film Back to the Future (1985) when lead character Marty McFly, played by actor Michael J.

Fox explained his approach was to "incorporate all the characteristics and mannerisms and quirks of my favourite guitarists, so a Pete Townshend windmill, and Jimi Hendrix behind the back, and a Chuck Berry duckwalk.