The day the music grew

This being the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, everyone is talking about the day the music died. I reckon that's true but I also think that when that plane hit the ground, a lot of new and great music grew from the ashes.

You can't over-estimate the impact of Buddy Holly on popular music. I mean, here is a guy whose entire career was shorter than the time Elvis Presley spent in the army and yet, 50 years later, everyone is talking about him again - still! No less than the Wall Street Journal published a long article about him this morning!

His life, and death, touched the careers of pop and country stars alike. Buddy Holly and the Crickets were among the first groups to write and produce their own songs in the studio, a stance that the Beatles would revolutionize less than a decade later. [Ironically, like the Beatles, Buddy Holly was passed over by Decca Records after an audition. Boy, those Decca people knew what they were doing, huh?] Holly went from playing rock 'n roll in Lubbock, Texas to charting string arrangements for some of his songs in less than two years. I firmly believe that, had he lived, we would have seen collaborations between Buddy Holly and some of the top artists of the 60s and, perhaps, the 70s. You know that he and his biggest fan, Paul McCartney, would have gotten together.

The music sings for itself. "That'll be the day" was John Wayne's oft-repeated line in the movie, The Searchers (see what you can learn from watching TCM?). A few years later, a group from England called, oddly enough, the Searchers would create a popular but short string of hits sounding very much like the Crickets. Listen to "Don't Throw Your Love Away" by the Searchers and then play "Everyday" by Buddy Holly. Sound similar? You bet.

Certainly in terms of popularity and promise, Buddy Holly's death was the most pronounced. Ritchie Valens was only 17 years old and just coming into his own. He didn't want to ride the bus again so as they were walking out of the Surf Ballroom, he asked guitarist Tommy Allsup if he could have his seat on the plane. The two men flipped a coin...

I'm not sure where the career of the Big Bopper would have gone. Everyone knows "Chantilly Lace" but Richardson also wrote a couple of songs for other people, "White Lightning" for George Jones and most notably "Running Bear" for Johnny Preston. He and Jones also provided those (politically incorrect by today's standards) Indian sounds as back-up vocals. The Bopper would not live to see it become a hit in the fall of 1959.

We also can't forget the late Waylon Jennings who in the mid-50s was a disc jockey on radio station KLLL in Lubbock, a friend of young Buddy Holly. Buddy helped teach him guitar and produced his first record. Waylon was playing bass in the band on the fateful Winter Dance Party tour but had given up his seat on the plane earlier that evening (no coin toss necessary) to J.P. Richardson because Richardson had a cold and didn't want to squeeze into the bus. Buddy told his old friend, "I hope your old bus freezes up," and Waylon responded, "Yeah, I hope your plane crashes." For years, Jennings felt somewhat responsible for his death.

Bobby Vee had a band and they went on in place of Buddy Holly in Fargo on February 3rd. The odd, tragic circumstances helped launch his career.

Finally, there is Sonny Curtis, another old friend of Buddy's from Lubbock. Curtis played fiddle on a radio show called Buddy & Bob and then went on to a successful career, mainly in country music. In 1960, the surviving Crickets asked him to join the group and he did for awhile but Sonny Curtis was actually more popular as a songwriter. He wrote "Walk Right Back" for the Everly Brothers and "I Fought the Law" for the Bobby Fuller Four. The Crickets also made a recording of it. Speaking of similarities, listen to the guitar intro to "I Fought the Law" and then listen to the guitar break in "Peggy Sue." See what I mean? Oddly, most people probably know one of Curtis' most famous songs without knowing that he wrote it - the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "Love Is All Around." So if you have ever wondered what is the straightest line between Buddy Holly and Mary Tyler Moore, wonder no more.

Paul Simon sang, "Buddy Holly still goes on but his catalogue was sold." Sold, indeed, to that big fan, Paul McCartney. Sir Paul knows a good business deal when he sees it but money aside, I can't think of anyone else to whom I would rather see the music entrusted.

The music isn't dead. Rave on.