This week marks the 56th anniversary of the day the music died, the plane crash in Clear Creek Iowa, that claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly. The event has been immortalized for so long. La Bamba came out when I was a kid, I remember watching it and somehow hoping the ending of the film never came. You listen to American Pie, your reminded vividly of what it must have been like that day. But it seems to me that the advent of their death has overshadowed their actual contribution to the history of Rock and Roll music.Knowing the music is what makes them live forever not just knowing how they died. J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson gets overlooked completely, in regards to his musical contributions. Few know that he helped write with George Jones, and wrote his hit "White Lighting." He also wrote Johhny Prestons #1 hit song "Running Bear" which wasn't released until after the Boppers death, but still shot up the charts. And of Course his own hit song Chantilly Lace, which he is most known for. At 17 when Ritchie Valens died he had done more for the Latino Rock community than any other Hispanic person at that time. Everyone knows La Bamba, but Come On Lets Go and Donna which went to #2 are wonderful signature songs as well. And finally Buddy Holly. I knew Buddy Holly's music the most. Theirs not a film soundtrack that takes place in and around the 50's and 60's that doesn't have a least one Buddy Holly song on it.Think Stand by Me etc All his hits songs are interchangeable and instantly recognized in the Rock and Roll canon. But he was the one I didn't know as much about specifically. It wasn't until I read Jonathan Cotts article simply titled Buddy Holly, that I found an even greater appreciation for him. Between 1957, to 1958, Buddy Holly had 7 top forty hits in the United States is a remarkable feat when considering that by todays standard one hit song by an artist usually defines their entire album. And he did this all before he was 22. Which makes me realize that I have accomplished nothing. It is amazing to consider that Buddy Holly and the Crickets, where the first white rock stars to play their own material. Not covers, but their own songs. They were the first white group to feature lead-rhythm bass drum lineups. Buddy was the first to double track his voice and guitar. He single handily popularized the Fender Stratocaster, and used strings on a rock and roll album. He was the first to popularize wearing glasses onstage. Paul McCartney admitted that Buddy Holly and the Crickets were the inspiration for the Beatles themselves. Both as a self contained musical unit and inspiration for some of their hits songs, like Here comes the Sun, and Every Little Thing.
Its also easy to overlook Buddy Holly's songs and style as well.Like Jonathan Cott points out, Holly presented himself as "playfully ironic with a certain childlike quality that defined his personal style." He wasn't trying to present himself as a crooner, or sex symbol because if he had it would have felt false. Yet his songs are about the "invertible expectation of someday finding love." Songs like "Words of Love" "True Love Ways" He communicated this by incorporating simple sentence structures, reduplicating symbols, speaking in singsong, and incorporating his signature "hiccup" going from deep bass to falsetto. And of all the songs that have been written about women Peggy Sue stands alone as a "true rock and roll" heroine where the listener invisions what Peggy Sue looks like, a first of its kind compared to the other songs about women, and girlfriends. When you listen to Buddy Holly you get a crisp polished sound that was always ahead of its time. It tools his death and the death of Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper to realize this. Lets hope we keep on listening in the future and "Not let it Fade Away"
