50 years after the day the music died. Buddy Holly Lives!
When Buddy Holly died 50 years ago today, he was only 22. But I feel as if music still hasn’t caught up. In that short amount of time he spent on earth he forged a legacy that has kept him as relevant as he was in 1959. Buddy was the real thing. He wrote his own songs, his ideas were as far “out there” as any could be (pre-LSD). Because you’ve heard his songs a million times then maybe you don’t notice it, but his croon, warble and hiccup vocal delivery is other worldly. His rhythm guitar playing is so simple, subtle and sophisticated that you probably don’t notice how FAST he is really playing! On top of all of that his peculiar studio methods and instrumentation would precursor the innovations of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. (The Beatles also took their name in part from The Crickets and the ‘Stones had an early hit with “Not Fade Away”) His influence is immeasurable to the degree that you would be hard-pressed to find a legend who WASN’T influenced by the bespectacled son of Lubbock, Texas. For that reason, Buddy Holly Lives!
On February 3rd of 1959, the small plane carrying J.P. Richardson a.k.a. “The Big Bopper”, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly went down just outside of Clear Lake, IA.
My Aunt and Uncle live in Clear Lake in a large old house on a hill overlooking the lake that used to be a Hotel during the big band era. Just down North Shore Drive a couple blocks is the Surf Ballroom where Buddy Holly gave his final performance and we would visit every year.
In 2002 on a trip over a 4th of July weekend we (my Mom, Aunt and Stepdad) decided to walk down to the Surf as usual. But as we looked over the names signed on the backstage walls of the venue it dawned on us that we’d never been out to the crash site itself! Being as it was a sunny day, literally not a cloud in the sky, we put down the top on my Aunt’s Sebring convertable and drove 5 miles out of town towards the field where they crashed. About a mile from the field it began to sprinkle and rain from the clear blue sky! We put the top up and continued to the site. It was raining just light enough for us to continue on. Using a shoddy map from the lobby of the Surf Ballroom which described the field it said the site was something like 300 yards into the field.
It continued to rain as we walked through the field. It seemed like we’d been walking about half a mile and we hadn’t seen the marker and were about to check another part of the field when all of the sudden it stopped raining. At that moment, my Stepdad noticed the marker 10 feet away where we paid our respects. At the site people leave hotel room keys, flowers, business cards, random bits of junk from their pockets, vinyl records and guitar picks as I did. Marijuana grows wildly in the field (which you can see in the photos) but I wouldn’t recommend smoking it. It looked and smelled like “ditch”.
My “folks” spent this past weekend in Clear Lake for the 50th Anniversary of the Winter Dance Party. I’m fairly jealous for some of the artists they saw and met including Wanda Jackson who I still haven’t gotten a chance to see. My Mom called me last Friday to tell me she met Buddy’s widow Maria Elena Holly.
Today, the culture of nerdery is half-heartedly worshipped and seen as a tongue-in-cheek novelty. Hipsters wear nerdy glasses (without lenses) to look awkward enough to be considered different. But back in the 50’s Buddy Holly was the original. “You’re so square, Baby I don’t care!” He was awkward and goofy but wildly intelligent and transcendentally COOL! Although mild by today’s standards he played dangerous music in a dangerously innocent time; and completely without irony. Many considered Rock and Roll too close to black music and too obscene to let their kids listen to it. It was for “Bad People”, yet Buddy Holly was brave and brilliant and in a large part helped in it’s acceptance (see disclaimer in the video above). Gary Busey has no idea, but BUDDY HOLLY LIVES.
I could write about the debt owed to them for hours, but to Richie (19), J.P.(27) and Buddy(22). Thank You.
Tags: 50th Anniversary, Beatles, Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, Clear Lake, February 3 1959, Hipsters, IOWA, Richie Valens, Rock and Roll, Rolling Stones, The Day the Music Died, Winter Dance Party
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
His music wasn’t the only thing that was hugely influential. His look seeps such nostalgia. Every generation seems to have someone that borrows his image, from Elvis Costello, Rivers Cumo, hell, even Kurt Cobain in the “In Bloom” video. I myself am wearing black, horn-rimmd glasses as I write this. Who knows what he might have been able to do had he lived a few more decades, but I’m satisfied hearing his influence in alot of the bands I listen to, from Brian Setzer to modern Silverchair.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I guess James Dean helped to ppopularize that look too, but BUddy Holly was looked at as a wholesome good guy, not the rebel.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Ritchie is buried about 4-5 blocks away from my house. He’s the pride and joy of the San Fernando Valley. Holly is one of my personal favorites as well. Aside from a certain band, most of the songs I learned to play on a guitar during my high school years were all Buddy Holly covers. “It’s so easy to fall in love…”
February 4th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I’ll definitely have to check out Ritchie’s Grave sometime. I could just google it but what cemetery is he in?
February 5th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Great post!
I’d never heard any Buddy Holly until my history of rock class. Good stuff!