Posted on 02/03/2009 8:03:41 PM PST by Flavius
And Holly's influence on both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
"Not Fade Away" was a hit by Holly in '57 and the Stones' cover in '64, making him part of both classic 1950s Rock and the British Invasion. That Bo Diddley beat and Holly's guitar. Whether he knew it or not Buddy Holly was helping to invent Classic Rock. People view that period in the 1950s, from about '57 to his death in '59 as a special time for music.
re: OH my I do love that song...
Seeing the title I just had to crank up Napster and take a listen!
Don’t care how old I get, that song will always transport me back to my Dad’s car, Glenda and an Alabama unpaved back road listening to WTIX in New Orleans. That was over 50 years ago, but for a moment it’s like it was last night!
I’ve been married to the same wonderful lady for 46 years, but I still have a spot in my heart for Glenda.
And the guys doing the heavy lifting were not of your generation my friend.
Deal with it.
I was born in ‘68. My memory goes back to 2 years old. My dad was obsessed with music. I heard them all and most of them on the radio. The best bands of the hippie heydays? Zepplin, Doors, Cream, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix. If you want to give some latitude throw in CCR and Allman Brothers for sh**s and giggles. That’s it.
Some of the most hippy dippy ones were one hit wonders or fizzled after a couple of albums. Mamas and the Papas and Dylan are the only ones that stand out with real talent.
Most of the rest were hit and miss or just plain sucked, or they weren’t boomers, like Elvis. Alot of the better boomer aged artists hit in the late 70’s early 80’s, well past the supposed glory years.
Just sayin’.
Gotta love folks who comment on a thread they’re not interested in just to whine about the topic! :)
Those songs weren't in protest to the Vietnam War. They were in protest to western efforts to fight the spread of communism. You didn't here a peep of protest over the bloody aftermath that followed the western pull out.
Ah, I didn't remember that.
http://www.dynamic-marketing-strategies.com/buddy%20holly%20article.pdf
Wow! So well said! I defy anyone who came of age in that period not to look back on it with a sense of pride and nostalgia. I can still hear music from the 30 year period you laid out here and tell you what was going on in the world around us at that period of time.
So you should know that in the 1950s there were no multitrack recorders, overdubbing was accomplished by combining tracks, close-miking of instruments was unheard of, echo was accomplished by setting up a microphone in a chamber, digital delays and reverbs had yet to be invented, drum machines were nonexistent and sequencers existed in the form of piano rolls. Fuzz boxes, wah-wah pedals, samplers, flangers and phase shifters had yet to be invented...and so far I've only talked about recording techniques and sound modification.
Musically, probably 95% of rock records were unsophisticated in terms of harmony. Until the advent of the Everly Brothers most rock records had I-IV-V (blues-based) or I-VI-II-V chord progressions...turn on any Oldies station and you'll hear what I mean. During the '80s the language of the blues was practically eliminated from the musical content of popular radio. You may point to Stevie Ray Vaughan and a few other blues-based artists, but they were extremely rare. '70s Bands had to diffuse their blues (and soul) notions to remain viable...look at ZZ Top. Look at Hall And Oates. Look at the overblown hyperdrama of Jim Steinman and David Foster and the sellout of the genius Quincy Jones. Blech.
Most of the fault lies with record companies, the producers they hired and the advent of the recording studio as the primary pop-music laboratory for songwriting. Guys weren't going to the garage anymore, they were booking time at The Record Plant and listening to each other through headphones. The magic was gone. The drive and the innocence and the energy had been replaced by compression, lewdness and manufactured hoopla.
I recorded at Atlantic Records Studio A in 1982 (The Rascals, Aretha and The Rolling Stones had recorded there just over a decade earlier). Simmons drums, organ samples and sequencers killed the magic that might have happened had we set up a couple of Fender Twins, miked a Hammond B3 via a Leslie and brought the drummer out of his booth and allowed him to utilize real cymbals and drums. This kind of technology steered popular music away from its roots and it has not recovered. At that point, retro became retro. There would be no more linear development of rock music from its roots.
Based on popular consumption, I see no similarity between the '50s and the '80s whatsoever. The closest I could come would be the vocal styles of Sam Cooke and Steve Perry...and that's just by virtue of Steve's instrument and imitation.
Yes there was. Here is photographic evidence:
overdubbing was accomplished..
Overdubbing, overshmubbing. I ain't no producer.
During the '80s the language of the blues was practically eliminated from the musical content of popular radio.
Not the stuff I played. Ever listen to these guys:
some friends had a band play that song, when I became engaged to my wife (donna) when we lived in Duluth Minn, been married 20 yrs now...
oh, Donna
A strangely haunting quality to that song...
I’m old enough to have grey hairs, and anybody still in the throes of teen fanaticism over a musician is the one that needs to grow up. I have no problem with people really liking the music, it’s the idolization of the person that is way overboard.
Not jealous at all, and I certainly don’t want ‘in’ on anything like this for any artist of any era. Idol worship like this is silly and my annoyance comes from having it constantly thrust in my face by the media.
And even if they had tattos on their butts, you wouldn’t be able to see them. I so wish this generation could experience America in the 50’s. I tell my children and grandchildren what it was like and they can hardly believe it. Baby Boomers, we got the best American or the World ever had to offer. I am thankful for that, but also sad, because it should have continued.
Unfortunately, the liberalism, social engineering, and narcissism of the Boomers left behind the worst.
We have a winner!!!!!!
I have been reading these posts from the beginning and many of you have really good points on the 8 or 9 sides of the issue, but here is my theory: The music you remember the fondest is what was playing when your hormones were raging their fiercest. It is not intellectual, it is primal. Just, think about it.
When I hear the songs of my youth and am reminded of the girlfriends of my youth I have a “reaction”. Maybe, not really “hard” evidence, but, it’s a good theory.
Also they are producing and promoting sheer junk now. There are good Blues-based bands but they not not being played.
When young people hear real music they respond to it favorably because most of the stuff thrown at them is junk now.
The corporate music industry has shut out real music.
I tend to think it just coincidence that my hormones were raging at the same time as the music was at a height in quality.
I don't think that in 50 years an ad agency will spend a million dollars to use “Baby Got Back” (about the big butts of certain ladies) to hype a product.
Regardless of the why’s I know that there's a couple of songs from back then that still melt my heart.
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