Diddley, known for the cacophony of his guitar playing and titanic physical presence, was fluent as well in classic soul and an underground humor that came out most famously in his verbal sparring with Jerome Green on the “Say Man” tracks. (”Say man—you look like you been in a hatchet fight, where everybody had a hatchet ‘cept you.”)

The video below is from a little-seen rock movie called The Big T.N.T. Show; the film, sort of a sequel to The T.A.M.I. Show, features incendiary performances by Ike and Tina Turner, the Ronettes, Ray Charles, and the Byrds. Diddley trumps them all with this implacable appearance: