Mason City (Iowa) Globe-Gazette, February 3, 1959
Posted on 02/04/2015 8:13:52 AM PST by iowamark
In February 1959, a paperboy delivered newspapers with a story about a plane crash in Iowa.
About a decade later, the paperboy, Don McLean, described the day in his song, “American Pie.”
He began by remembering the papers he delivered:
A long long time ago,
I can still remember how,
That music used to make me smile.And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance,
And maybe they’d be happy for a while.But February made me shiver,
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step.I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.
On February 3, 1959, the media reported that musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) had died in a plane crash. The pilot, Roger Peterson, was also killed.
The plane crashed around 1 a.m., just a few hours after they had performed at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.
In addition to radio and TV stories, the news was delivered in afternoon papers later that day.
Mason City (Iowa) Globe-Gazette, February 3, 1959
WatchMojo.com’s video includes biographies of the musicians and information about the crash:
“On February 2, 1959, Holly and his tour mates were on the eleventh night of their Winter Dance Party tour through the snow-covered Midwest. It was a Monday — a school night — but 1,100 teenagers crammed into Clear Lake, Iowa’s Surf Ballroom for two sold out shows.
They wore blue jeans and saddle shoes and screamed for 17-year-old Richie Valens, whose single ‘Donna’ was about to go gold. Between sets, Holly solicited people to join him on the charter airplane he’d hired to fly to the next show in Moorhead, Minnesota. The musicians had been traveling by bus for over a week and it had already broken down once. They were tired, they hadn’t been paid yet and all of their clothes were dirty. With the airplane, Holly could arrive early, do everyone’s laundry and catch up on some rest.
A 21-year-old pilot named Roger Peterson had agreed to take the singer to Fargo, North Dakota — the closest airport to Moorehead….The three musicians boarded the red and white single-engine Beech Bonanza around 12:30 on Feb. 3….The plane stayed in the sky for only a few minutes; no one is quite sure what went wrong. The best guess is that Peterson flew directly into the blizzard….”
— “A Brief History of The Day the Music Died”
Time Magazine, February 3, 2009
AP story excerpt in the Carrol (Iowa) Daily Times Herald, February 3, 1959
Buddy Holly appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show almost exactly a year before his performance in Iowa.
He sang “Oh, Boy!” on the Sullivan show, which was one of the last songs he performed at the Surf Ballroom before leaving for his plane flight.
Most people know him only from the one song. Too bad, he wrote some beautiful music. Empty Chairs will always remind me of the first girl I really fell for hard.
I’m guessing that Buddy Holly and his contemporaries would be quite pleased at how big rock became.
Bookmark
I think “American Pie” is one of the worst songs ever - way too long, pretentious, forced rhymes. As George Costanza might say, “It’s got it all.”
For me “Monkey Man” is the ultimate Rolling Stones tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNY8eYmzdH4
Buddy had a hard enough time convincing his first label that even “That’ll Be The Day” could be a hit.
Here he is on the phone being told “no, no, nope no, AND DON’T YOU THINK OF DOING ANYTHING WITH THOSE SONGS FOR 5 YEARS!!!” Couldn’t buy them back because ‘well we MAY do something with them” “we are dropping your contract...”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiGlIQE1AXI
Psst, that's how it got between the first young rock stars (Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, etc.) being either dead, prosecuted, drafted, or otherwise knocked out and retired and the Beatles "coming up".
Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Darin, Bobby this and Bobby that (as Jerry Lee Lewis put it).
There are rock and roll acts today but they can't get promoted by the majors or by radio.
The suits ushered in the return of late-80s style boy bands and girl singers to push the grunge/indie thing off the charts. "That fad is OVER!"
Good point.
Not so much dying out as losing their old audiences. The crowd that started listening to rockabilly are starting to disappear and haven’t paid attention to new music for a long time.
I’ve got pretty wide ranging musical tastes but the my first favorite heavy metal will will eventually fade too despite still filling stadiums with people 30 years my junior.
As far as rock going away, I’m not so sure despite the crap like hiphop and rap that gets airplay these days. Kids find a way to listen to more alternative stuff than top 40s crap. Black Sabbath wasn’t getting much airplay in the 80s but I still ended up with all of their music.
Buddy Holly was a huge influence on Sir Paul McCartney. Just listen to a lot of the first Beatles stuff and you will hear a lot of rockabilly in there. I think that “I’ll Follow The Sun” sounds a lot like stuff that Buddy Holly and the Crickets sang.
A sad day a long time ago.
Waylon Jennings ?
And the Waylors!
Mike Berry with the Outlaws - Tribute To Buddy Holly
And Joe B. Mauldin died yesterday.
Note: this topic is from . Thanks iowamark. I've been watching or listening to Dion talk about it, almost done, I've got the HD version running but this one is about a minute longer for some reason.
"The True Buddy Holly Story" Rockhall of Fame History*
and btw, after Buddy Holly, Sonny Curtis of the Crickets wrote an iconic R&R song you *may* have heard in some other form:
The Crickets - I Fought The Law - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hw846vx_uk
This came as a pleasant surprise:
WHITE LIGHTNING The Big Bopper 1959 ... - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NMklxiE6xw
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