Tuesday, February 3, 2009

FEBRUARY MADE ME SHIVER: 50 years ago today a small plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing three prominent rock and roll musicians: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The crash is described in detail here (warning: some of the forensic details are pretty gory). One part of the famous story that I had forgotten was that country star Waylon Jennings, at the time a member of Holly’s band, had originally planned to be on the plane.

Valens, of course, is best remembered for “Donna”, which hit #2 on the charts in December of 1958, “Come On Let’s Go”, which peaked at #42 the same year, and his smash “La Bamba” (link is to the cover version by Los Lobos). "La Bamba" was originally a Mexican folk song to which Valens added a rock rhythm. It became a hit in January of 1959, a month before his death.

Valens was a forefather of the Chicano rock movement. His life was featured in a good biopic called La Bamba featuring the best work of Lou Diamond Phillips’ career. Valens was just 17 when he died. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) is known for his hit “Chantilly Lace”, which hit #6 in 1958. You could make the case that the chorus of that song captured the essence of rock music:
There ain't nothing in the world like a big eyed girl
To make me act so funny, make me spend my money
Make me feel real loose like a long necked goose
Like a girl, oh baby that's what I like

Richardson studied pre-law at Lamar College, but eschewed a legal career in favor of life as a DJ. In May 1957, he broke the record for a continuous on-the-air radio broadcast by performing for a total of five days, two hours and eight minutes, playing 1,821 records and taking showers during five-minute newscasts.

The song Chantilly Lace inspired an early example of an “answer record“, which was recorded by Jayne Mansfield and entitled "That Makes It" (dig the Austin Powers style dancing in the video!). In Chantilly Lace, Richardson has a flirtatious phone call with his girlfriend; the Mansfield record hints at what his girlfriend might have been saying at the other end of the line.

To my knowledge, no biopic has been made about The Big Bopper. He has not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Perhaps the most tragic loss that day was the death of Buddy Holly. In a career that lasted barely 18 months, he produced 8 Top 40 hits including “That’ll Be the Day”, which hit #1, and “Peggy Sue,” which hit #3, not to mention countless other songs that have become rock standards, including my favorite of his tunes “Not Fade Away” (Rolling Stones cover version).

Rock critic Bruce Eder described Buddy Holly as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." Holly’s songs had a powerful effect on popular music. He influenced countless musicians, most conspicuously The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed Holly #13 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Bob Dylan was at Holly’s concert on January 31, 1959, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan mentioned this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his 1997 Time Out of Mind winning Album of the Year:
And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he LOOKED at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way.

Holly's life story was the basis for a biopic called The Buddy Holly Story starring Gary Busey, who received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for his portrayal of Holly. As is true of many biopics, The Buddy Holly Story tends to let historical accuracy take a back seat to dramatic effect, folklore, and legend. Later, Paul McCartney produced his own tribute to Holly, entitled The Real Buddy Holly Story.

Buddy Holly created an astonishing amount of great music before he died at the age of 22. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Oh, and as you might know, there is a song about the tragic events of February 3, 1959.

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