It was 50 years ago today that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash.

Valens was 17 years old. He had just had a huge hit with "La Bamba" and had broken a racial barrier by becoming the first successful Latino artist in Rock and Roll. The Big Bopper was a novelty act and in all likelihood would not have been remembered if he had not died with Valens and Holly.

Buddy Holly, on the other hand, was an incalculably huge influence on rock and roll. The guy was 22 years old when he died and he had already written about a dozen classics. "Peggy Sue", "That'll Be The Day", "Everyday", "Maybe Baby", "Rave On", "Oh Boy!", "Not Fade Away", etc, etc, etc. Elvis copied his "hiccup" vocal style. John Lennon named the Beatles in tribute to Buddy Holly's Crickets. The Rolling Stones first single was a cover of "Not Fade Away". Elvis Costello lifted his look. Bob Dylan had seen him in concert just nights before he died and decided that he wanted to be a musician that night. It goes on and on.

If Elvis was the super cool sex god, Buddy was an everyday skinny guy in glasses (whoever heard of a rock and roll singer wearing glasses???). If Elvis took black music and made it acceptable to whites, Buddy took white country music, put a rock spin on it, and tried to bring it to ALL audiences. He famously played to (and won over) the all black crowd at NY's Apollo theatre in Harlem.

He was 22. 22!!! Damn, that hurts.

For the record, Dion (of Dion and the Belmonts) played the gig with Buddy and Ritchie that night but decided not to take the plane because, as he said "the ticket was as much as my parents' rent in Brooklyn". And Waylon Jennings, who was Buddy's guitar player, gave up his seat to The Big Bopper. One of my friends is the mother of Waylon Jennings' granddaughter. I think how different her life would have...

It was 50 years ago today that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash.

Valens was 17 years old. He had just had a huge hit with "La Bamba" and had broken a racial barrier by becoming the first successful Latino artist in Rock and Roll. The Big Bopper was a novelty act and in all likelihood would not have been remembered if he had not died with Valens and Holly.

Buddy Holly, on the other hand, was an incalculably huge influence on rock and roll. The guy was 22 years old when he died and he had already written about a dozen classics. "Peggy Sue", "That'll Be The Day", "Everyday", "Maybe Baby", "Rave On", "Oh Boy!", "Not Fade Away", etc, etc, etc. Elvis copied his "hiccup" vocal style. John Lennon named the Beatles in tribute to Buddy Holly's Crickets. The Rolling Stones first single was a cover of "Not Fade Away". Elvis Costello lifted his look. Bob Dylan had seen him in concert just nights before he died and decided that he wanted to be a musician that night. It goes on and on.

If Elvis was the super cool sex god, Buddy was an everyday skinny guy in glasses (whoever heard of a rock and roll singer wearing glasses???). If Elvis took black music and made it acceptable to whites, Buddy took white country music, put a rock spin on it, and tried to bring it to ALL audiences. He famously played to (and won over) the all black crowd at NY's Apollo theatre in Harlem.

He was 22. 22!!! Damn, that hurts.

For the record, Dion (of Dion and the Belmonts) played the gig with Buddy and Ritchie that night but decided not to take the plane because, as he said "the ticket was as much as my parents' rent in Brooklyn". And Waylon Jennings, who was Buddy's guitar player, gave up his seat to The Big Bopper. One of my friends is the mother of Waylon Jennings' granddaughter. I think how different her life would have been if he had been on that plane that night. And how different music would have been. Waylon had his own roads to burn down.
As terrible as that crash was, it could have been even worse.

I'm not even gonna get into that fucking "American Pie" song, though. Please.

Thanks for the music Buddy.