Posted on 07/22/2014 1:51:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
On the basis of simply counting heads, rock music surpasses even film as the 20th century's most influential art form. By that reckoning, there is a case for calling Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash 50 years ago next Tuesday, the century's most influential musician.
Holly and Elvis Presley are the two seminal figures of 1950s rock 'n' roll, the place where modern rock culture began. Virtually everything we hear on CD or see on film or the concert stage can be traced back to those twin towering icons – Elvis with his drape jacket and swivelling hips and Buddy in big black glasses, brooding over the fretboard of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.
But Presley's contribution to original, visceral rock 'n' roll was little more than that of a gorgeous transient; having unleashed the world-shaking new sound, he soon forsook it for slow ballads, schlock movie musicals and Las Vegas cabarets. Holly, by contrast, was a pioneer and a revolutionary. His was a multidimensional talent which seemed to arrive fully formed in a medium still largely populated by fumbling amateurs. The songs he co-wrote and performed with his backing band the Crickets remain as fresh and potent today as when recorded on primitive equipment in New Mexico half a century ago: That'll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Not Fade Away.
To call someone who died at 22 "the father of rock" is not as fanciful as it seems. As a songwriter, performer and musician, Holly is the progenitor of virtually every world-class talent to emerge in the Sixties and Seventies. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and Bruce Springsteen all freely admit they began to play only after Buddy taught them how.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
What also interesting is the CAB report on his plane crash which I read a few years back. It seem the pilot was flying a plane that had an attitude indicator he wasn’t familiar with and he read it in reverse, he thought he was going up when actually he was going down and he went to bank to the right and slammed into the ground right wing first and the thing rolled into a ball and was stopped by a fence which ejected all the passengers right there except the pilot.
Blind Faith. "Well All Right."
I’m in a band that does nothing but 1955-1965 “pop/rock”. We do a LOT of Buddy Holly. The vocalizations are a big part of it.
Oddly, this band has gone from me helping a guy with a musical home schooling project for his 15 year old daughter and 16 year old son to becoming a VERY popular local band. In three months we went from playing a couple of “senior centers” for free to local clubs trying us and, after the first set, trying to nail us down for future gigs.
People can’t get enough of this stuff for some reason. I dunno. Maybe it’s the times. Regardless, I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had in a gigging band.
BTW, we’re called “The Atomic 45’s”.
Duck and cover!
RE: “The Atomic 45’s
But you don’t cover LOUD, EXPLOSIVE music... :)
Buddy Holly, Robert Johnson and Jimmie Rodgers - the holy trinity of rock & roll.
I always liked Buddy Holley and had a couple of his albums.
Now my Daughter who was born nearly 20 years after Holley died, really loves him. She also is a big fan of Don McClean.
Jimmie Rodgers was the best.
Naw. Just “Radioactive hits from the nifty fifties.”
Reportedly the John Wayne movie “The Searchers” was seen in a theater in Texas by Buddy Holly and his friends in the summer of 1956. They were so impressed with Ethan’s (John Wayne) repeated use of the phrase “That’ll be the day” that they used it as the title for their now standard rock song, which they composed soon after.
I wasn’t a fan at all - until I joined a band (see above) that plays his stuff. It’s really a lot of fun, and when you think of the world he created it from, it’s amazing.
Always wondered if George couldn’t play the guitar riff in Words of Love. He falls a note short.
RE: Buddy Holly, Robert Johnson and Jimmie Rodgers - the holy trinity of rock & roll.
______________________________________
“And in the streets: the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died”
— Don McLean ( AMERICAN PIE )
RE: Reportedly the John Wayne movie “The Searchers” was seen in a theater in Texas by Buddy Holly and his friends in the summer of 1956. They were so impressed with Ethan’s (John Wayne) repeated use of the phrase “That’ll be the day”
___________________________________________
I remember this specific dialog in the movie:
[After a long fruitless search for the girl ]
Reverend Clayton: You wanna quit Ethan?
Ethan: That’ll be the day.
bkmk
My favorites growing up were Holly and Kiss ...not that it made any sense.
RE: My favorites growing up were Holly and Kiss .
Twenty years apart... how did that happen?
Not to mention that inspired by Holly’s band the Crickets, Lennon and McCartney decided to call their band The Beatles.
A girlfriend’s mom went to high school with Buddy Holly. She said that it was a small class and the guys treated him like crap. Well, he came back to the reunion and, of course, the girls went crazy for him and the dudes acted like his best friend. Holly was only there for the the few who were originally nice to him, and ignored the rest. She said it had the polarizing effect on the others that he likely hoped for.
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