The American Spectator : The Day the Music Died

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The Day the Music Died

Remembering Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper fifty years later.

Fifty years ago today, the music died. On February 3, 1959, the plane carrying rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly, teen idol Ritchie Valens, and novelty act J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson crashed in a snowy Iowa cornfield. The trio, along with pilot Roger Peterson, perished upon impact. Rock 'n' roll died with them.

If Elvis's induction into the army, Jerry Lee Lewis's career-killing marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin, and Little Richard's conversion from rock-n-roller to holy roller hadn't sounded the death knell for the music that Bill Haley and The Comets had recently introduced to America through "Rock Around the Clock," then the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza hitting frozen earth at 170 miles-per-hour unmistakably did. Later nails in the coffin included the payola scandal that embroiled disc jockey Alan Freed and Chuck Berry's Mann Act conviction. Who, in the early sixties at least, cared to patronize the recordings of sex perverts whose 45s probably received radio spins through bribery?

Listeners on the a.m. band consequently suffered through years of fun but unfulfilling sonic gimmicks, such as Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time," Barry Mann's "Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)," and Chubby Checker's "Twist," and a steady stream of saccharine teens crooning about imaginary sweethearts to girls who imagined themselves the performers' sweethearts, e.g., Frankie Avalon's "Venus" and Bobby Vee's "Take Good Care of My Baby." In the case of the latter teen idol, his career's trajectory was inversely connected to the Beechcraft's Bonanza's: as a fifteen-year-old, Fargo, North Dakota, wannabe musician, Robert Velline's big break came by filling Buddy Holly's slot on the February 3, 1959, Moorhead, Minnesota "Winter Dance Party." The show must go on, and all.

Then, five years to the week after a tiny plane's crash near Mason City Municipal Airport put an end to fifties rock, Pan Am 101's touchdown at JFK International Airport put an end to the schlock. If the backbeat and the chord-driven electric guitars blasted by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show were like nothing America had heard before, it was only because America, unlike English youths, had forgotten about Buddy Holly. Another British Invasion act, The Hollies, had named their band in explicit tribute to the Texas rocker (as "The Beatles" had paid indirect homage to Holly's backing Crickets).

Even Bob Dylan, the supposed antithesis of fifties pop, recalled Buddy Holly. The stylistic similarities were no accident, as Dylan had attended the "Winter Dance Party" tour in Duluth, Minnesota, less than three days before the fateful crash. As Greil Marcus noted in Rolling Stone ten years after Holly's death, "Dylan and Holly share a clipped, staccato delivery that communicates a sly sense of cool, almost teenage masculinity." Like a phoenix, Buddy Holly, and the music he had helped make famous, was reborn in the mid-sixties.

Like all great tragedies, the day the music died is surrounded by lore and legend: blue-collar Dion scoffing at paying $36 for a plane ride; Ritchie Valens losing his life through winning a coin flip; and Waylon Jennings's playful exchange with Buddy Holly, whose taunt to his fellow Texan that he hoped he would freeze on the tour bus resulted in Jennings's haunting retort that he hoped his friend's plane would crash. Fatigued amid 24 concerts in 24 days, sick of the frigid tour bus without an operable heater, and desirous of time to launder their dirty clothes between Clear Lake, Iowa's Surf Ballroom gig and the following night's concert at the Moorhead, Minnesota Armory, rock and roll's first martyrs certainly didn't live (or die) the way we have come to expect rock stars to.

It made for an amazing tale, which is why Hollywood cranked out The Buddy Holly Story and La Bamba, and songwriter Don McLean's eight-and-a-half-minute surrealistic ode to the tragedy became the longest song to reach Billboard's peak position. Amid imagery of James Dean and sock-hop slow-dancing, McLean's "American Pie" informs listeners: "Now for ten years we've been on our own" and laments that there is "no time left to start again." Something had gone awry in the days since the day the music died.

Altamont, the Manson Murders, and the overdoses of Jimi, Janis, and Jim killed sixties naivety. An innocence of a different sort was lost fifty years ago today. It was the end of the start of something. Rock and roll's first generation had figuratively passed in the literal passing of Buddy Holly. Viewed through the prism of the 1960s, the Don McLean of 1971 could indeed remember 1959 as "a long, long time ago" -- a time when teen idols played instruments and wrote songs, musicians could be as fat as the Big Bopper or as clean cut and nerdy as Buddy Holly, and people living in Nowheresville, Upper Midwest, could pay $1.25 to enjoy a concert of top-selling music acts. The plane crash preserved Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper from the taint that followed as it now reminds teenagers-cum-senior citizens, who lived through the ensuing sordidness, of a simpler time before the cultural flood. One man's time capsule is his father's time machine.

Before music fans made pilgrimages to Graceland, The Dakota, or the Père Lachaise Cemetery, they paid tribute at the Surf Ballroom and in an Iowa cornfield. There, where heroes stay forever young, fans sip briefly from the fountain of their youth.

topics:
Music

About the Author

Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment

Gill O'Teen| 2.3.09 @ 8:34AM

Any music fan making a pilgrimage to Graceland should take the trouble to visit Sun Records where many of the folks who inspired Holly got their start, including Elvis. While in Memphis tour the Stax Museum, and spend the evening in a Blues Club such as B.B. King's. Go with someone you love, dance, feast, have a good time. Buy plenty of CDs to enjoy on the drive home. Stimulate the economy.

Gerard E. | 2.3.09 @ 9:22AM

Very sad for the music. But like Gil, I suggest pilgrimages to other shrines. Like Detroit- travel quickly, of course- birthplace of the Motown Sound. The Stax studios in Memphis. Sigma Sound Studios here in Philadelphia, where Gamble, Huff, and free-lance classical musicians worked magic. The Muscle Shoals, AL studio where Sister Aretha matched the firepower of her voice to Jerry Wexler's tailor-made arrangements. There are many holy places in American music. Although we certainly remember three early greats this day.

Scott Taylor| 2.3.09 @ 9:35AM

The plane crash happened not far from here. An amazing week of tributes just wrapped up at the Surf and other venues in Clear Lake, IA. You might want to check stories in the local paper at www.globegazette.com.

Howard| 2.3.09 @ 10:18AM

I also think of the premature deaths of Eddie Cochran (Summertime Blues), who was exceptionally popular in Europe. And I remember the great Sam Cooke. He was killed in late 1964 at a strip motel where he should not have been. Boy this makes me feel very old.

Kitty| 2.3.09 @ 10:58AM

I was 23 when I met Bill Haley in a men's room in Utica, NY, in 1973. My husband and I met him through Joe Olivier, who used to be one of the Comets. Although it had been years since Joe left the band--and music-- Joe and Bill remained good friends. In fact, Bill stood godfather to Joe's oldest son. When Joe learned that the band was touring in a 50s revival and would be playing in nearby Utica, he invited us. Afterwards, he took us back stage to the men's room to meet the guys, and he asked me to take this picture: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/3249942483_8b6f4fb660.jpg

...

Gary| 2.3.09 @ 11:15AM

I was thirteen whe ole Buddy left us & owned worn 45 of "Peggy Sue." I loved Elvis but Buddy has a special place in my heart. I play guitar & sing as a hobby & I still enjoy doing his songs on my trusty Fender Strat. Long live Buddy Holly & rock 'n roll!

David Govett| 2.3.09 @ 11:23AM

Some think of it as the Day the Music Was Saved. Waylon Jennings gave up his seat for the Big Bopper and Dion and the Belmonts couldn't afford the ticket price ($36 each).

Doctor Right| 2.3.09 @ 12:02PM

Reasonable minds can disagree on the exact date that "rock died" (personally, I think it happened waaaay back in the 70's with Johny Rotten's proclaimation that rock was "over, it's finished")
but we can all agree that it is now officially dead.

Rock-n-roll, the original music of rebellion and alienation, has joined the mainstream. In fact, rock-n-roll and it's neverending cavalcade of idiotic, knee-jerk liberal performers epitomizes "the establishment" that the 60's generation (who now, unfortunately, run the country) once railed against.

Nothing is more illustrative of this fact than Bruce Springsteen's fawning support of Barack Obama, as well as his appearance at the Super-Bowl and his recent deal/no-deal with WalMart (discusseed on TASOnline today in another article). Springsteen, over-rated and well-past-his-prime, is the perfect metaphor for the Democrat Party. They'd like you to think they're "REALLY COOL!", but in fact, they haven't had a good idea in over 30 years.

This embrace of the establishment status-quo by "rock-n-roll" put Conservatives in an enviable position to re-establish themselves as the new outsiders, the new force of rebellion in the already ossified socialist utopia that Mr. Obama wants to create...

...Polka, anyone??

chayse| 3.8.11 @ 2:45PM

Glad I'm not Dr. Right and I'm glad he's so wrong...

L. Ross| 2.3.09 @ 12:12PM

I have a Buddy Holly greatest hits album, and have always been amazed at what great music he put out so quickly. But as far as the death of Rock and Roll, I nominate the birth of MTV. That is when how you looked when singing became much more important than how you sang.

lionsfan| 2.3.09 @ 12:28PM

The wonder of Buddy Holly is how gloriously productive he was, yet for so short a time. It does seem likely he'd only have continued to get better and better (though I also hope that if he'd survived he'd also have avoided the terrible self-consciousness of too many 60's rockers). Richie Valens, however, is much more of a question mark. And the Big Bopper would probably have been a one-hit wonder, and it's not a very good hit at that. So "the music" didn't die," although one of its best early makers did.

Thank the Lord, too, that Dion did not take that plane trip. Nor Waylon Jennings, although I realize such an observation sounds cruel.

Seek| 2.3.09 @ 12:57PM

Doctor Right:

Listen to "Little Steven's Underground Garage" (the coolest spot on the FM dial) before making further moronic pronouncements about the "death" of a musical form for which you clearly have had no respect in the first place.

chayse| 3.8.11 @ 2:49PM

Seek, Agree, I was about to say you guys give up too easily and way too soon...Rock and Roll will never die...The naysayers will long be cold in their graves and Rock and Roll will still be young...

kamaro| 2.3.09 @ 1:32PM

Speaking of The Boss (as Dr. Right did, above) - did anyone else note the self-irony as he sang "Glory Days" in the halftime show?

Doctor Right| 2.3.09 @ 2:28PM

To: Seek

Re: Whatever...

Been listening to rock for years. Never said there weren't anymore "talented" artsist. I said that as the music of protest and rebellion, it's "dead".

And I'm right. It's O-V-E-R.

This is because, as I brilliantly explained, it has nothing left to protest. "Rock", that MASSIVE corporate entity, IS the establishment.

One need only see the widespread corporate sponsorship of aging-geezer rock stars when they go out on yet another interminable tour to...Or the way that TV networks co-opt rock tunes for as filler music for their vapid sit-coms...Or how rock stars shill for any liberal politician who will provide them with a microphone to understand that...

...But I guess you didn't understand it...So THANK me very much for explaining it...Again.

Rock, as a concept, is DEAD. Has been for a long time. Only it's most devoted (moronic) followers were too stoned to notice...

chayse| 3.8.11 @ 2:56PM

Dr.right, don't know where you come from or when, but Rock and Roll was never about protest or rebellion...I think you must be confused with late 60s and 70s music...OR maybe you confused it with "rock"...All the difference in the world...

Doplar| 2.3.09 @ 2:30PM

I did not watch the "halftime show" specifically because "springsteen" was the entertainment. He ain't MY boss. I make it a point to boycott as many (openly) liberal entertainers as I possibly can and bad entertainers as well. Which is why I missed the peak at Ms. Jacksons breasts a couple of years back. Thank God. Now Paul McCartney, was a great halftime. A truly class act.

Doplar| 2.3.09 @ 2:33PM

Oh, and Buddy Holly was "The Boss."

Alan Brooks| 2.3.09 @ 3:00PM

at least it was janet's breast ('wardrobe malfunction'), and not her molester brother's... well, never mind.

Doplar| 2.3.09 @ 3:20PM

Agreed Alan, LOL ;)

JP| 2.3.09 @ 4:11PM

If I hear another Baby Boomer announce that such and such event marked thier "Age of Lost Innocence" I'm going to barf. According to some the passing of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper was when they lost it; to others it was JFK's assasination; to still others it was the "summer of '68"; and still some point to Kent St. In reality I never met a generation that so gladly lost thier innocence. I never met a generation that wrote so much about it.

Rock and Roll for what it was worth was dead by 1960. The Boomers did inherit a great deal from the classic blues bands. Jimmy Page, Eric Calpton, Jeff Beck, as well as the Stones, The Who, Jimmy Hendrix, and The Animals all heavily borrowed from Sam Cooke, Elvis, Little Richard, and even Buck Owens. And what did they become? Over indulgent, drug addicted narrciscists. Jefferson Airplane and the Greatful Dead are better known for thier drug soaked lifestyles than thier music.

It was a tragedy that such talented musicians died on that snow swept field. But let's not over indulge our sentiments. Few under 50 even know who these guys were. It took Linda Ronstadt to ressurect some Holly tunes in the early 70s to re-energize them, and advertising jingos are the only thin memory we have of these men.

Glen Miller died over the English Channel during WWII. Yet, few from his generation made such a big deal of his passing. Yet, his music will live on (albeit to only a few enthusiasts) while the dregs of Rock will be long forgotten.

Everly Waverly| 2.3.09 @ 4:24PM

Don't mourn their deaths, celebrate that they lived....

Jim Morrison was a headliner at MY Superbowl half time show.

Alan Brooks| 2.3.09 @ 6:05PM

janet's "wardrobe malfunction".

it's been, what,? three or four years, and that still busts my gut. did the two expect us tp believe that for a second?

Alan Brooks| 2.3.09 @ 6:20PM

john lennon was the most overly-lionized figure in music. when he died the media never let up at all for two days-- as if he had been JFK.
And he funded this terrorist group and that bunch of violent radicals. if he was a hero, you'd hate to meet an anti-hero.

bernardo| 2.5.09 @ 12:30AM

Holly has been dead for fifty years, and, depending on how one counts, the Beatles have been gone for around forty. They, and Dylan, still captivate because their music was good. As to some of the comments above, conservatives and libertarians should not act like leftists who believe politics are the sum and essence of life and judge everyone and everything through a political lens. Lennon's politics were vile, and McCartney's are nothing to write home about. That means neither of them should have been made prime minister. It says nothing about the music.

targeted4extinction| 2.5.09 @ 8:52PM

Our Mr. Brooks, I concur on Lennon. Those who diss him get a free beer at any gin joint there is. Quiz you are consigned to a desert island, what 5 cd's do you take ? you only get five. And for company you get to choose one of either Hillary, Babs Boxer, Michelle O, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Caroline Kennedy, or a very realistic, inflatable Sarah Pallin Doll.

Samuel| 2.5.09 @ 10:28PM

To me, none of these people "rocked" as "vibrantly" in their collective musical performances as did Lionel Hampton. Hamp should certainly be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as an early influence, along with Joe Lutcher or Joe Liggins.

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