Foo - 50th Anniversary of Buddy Holly's Death

February 3rd 1959 was the Day the Music Died. Buddy Holly passed into eternity but left us some of the most timeless and awe insiring music.

It is 50 years since he left us. His influence on so many of Rocks greatest artists is beyond measure. So as you go about your day today give a thought and a prayer to Buddy. Thank you!

Buddy was special.:)

Big Bopper as well.

and Richie Valens, of course

Wow...great reminder! The "music" is the person who truly inspired the birth of rock & roll, IMO.

We miss ya buddy, but we sure as hell don't forget ya!!!

Buddy Hollly - True Love Waits (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x9PPtPmoy4&feature=PlayList&p=230000203D59E2F1&index=0&playnext=1)

Buddy Hollly - Peggy Sue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhgO8rZs1Fg)

Geeze, has it been that long?

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie...

RIP Buddy.

YouTube - Weezer - Buddy Holly

The day the music died...

Waylon Jennings (RIP) gave up his seat on the plane that night so that one of the others could make the trip. Forty years afterwards, when he spoke of it, he still carried a heavy guilt.

Buddy Holly was way ahead of his time.

Waylon Jennings (RIP) gave up his seat on the plane that night so that one of the others could make the trip. Forty years afterwards, when he spoke of it, he still carried a heavy guilt.

I believe a similar thing happened with Jimmie Vaughn when Stevie Ray died in the helicopter crash. so sad.

I was raised on a steady stream of Buddy Holly tunes, thanks to my dad. RIP Buddy!

Buddy Holly was way ahead of his time.+1000000000000

Waaaaaaaay ahead of his time.

Would this even be a thread if he didn't die during the height of his career.


The best career move for an artist is to die while you are on top.

Waylon Jennings (RIP) gave up his seat on the plane that night so that one of the others could make the trip. Forty years afterwards, when he spoke of it, he still carried a heavy guilt.

Buddy Holly was way ahead of his time.

I like Buddy Holly's music but how was he ahead of his time?

I do not see any great innovation in his music.

I like Buddy Holly's music but how was he ahead of his time?

I do not see any great innovation in his music.

you're not looking close enough. It's like watching Citizen Kane or Space 2001: A Space Odyssey; unless you place yourself in that time frame it is difficult to gauge how groundbreaking it was. You may as well say the Beatles or Hendrix weren't ahead of their time. Any guitar player who's ever watched DA Pennebaker's film of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival gets Hendrix' impact easily - you get endless jingle jangle until almost the end of the film, and Henrdix' guitar sounds so different it's like a creature from another planet....in fact he was the only one with a Marshall stack and the skillz in using it.

As much as I hate the Gary Busey film, they do show some of it, especially as Buddy gets to be a bigger star.

Different instrumentation than standard r&r (adding unusual instruments - and not for a comical gimmick effect - or stripping things down to minimal instrumentation).

Writing most of his own songs.

More adventurous harmonies (vocals sung in fifths, and composition beyond I-IV-V-vi). (True Love Ways and Peggy Sue being the best examples, with the latter featuring a flatted VI chord on the chorus)

Doubletracking his own vocal harmonies.

Was one of the first to use a Fender Strat, tho that's no biggie. Dick Dale and Hendrix were the ones to exploit that.

Wow...great reminder! The "music" is the person who truly inspired the birth of rock & roll, IMO.

We miss ya buddy, but we sure as hell don't forget ya!!!

Buddy Hollly - True Love Waits (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x9PPtPmoy4&feature=PlayList&p=230000203D59E2F1&index=0&playnext=1)

Buddy Hollly - Peggy Sue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhgO8rZs1Fg)


The day that music died all right.

Would this even be a thread if he didn't die during the height of his career.


The best career move for an artist is to die while you are on top.

I believe he still would be because he was such an innovator.

I agree going out on top is a great move. Lance is an idiot for coming back.



I like Buddy Holly's music but how was he ahead of his time?

I do not see any great innovation in his music.
You apparently don't know the era or anything about him though. He was probably the first act who really pushed the boundaries and got rock & roll "started". Everybody back then bowed down to the record companies and the 'hit parade' and kept things the way THEY wanted. Nobody had the balls to stand up and do they music "they" wanted. Buddy was one of (if not THE) first.

About the only other person who can probably come close to his legacy is Elvis from about the same time frame and I don't think Elvis stood up to do 'his music' from the beginning. Wasn't his early music very 'country' sounding?

you're not looking close enough. It's like watching Citizen Kane or Space 2001: A Space Odyssey; unless you place yourself in that time frame it is difficult to gauge how groundbreaking it was. You may as well say the Beatles or Hendrix weren't ahead of their time. Any guitar player who's ever watched DA Pennebaker's film of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival gets Hendrix' impact easily - you get endless jingle jangle until almost the end of the film, and Henrdix' guitar sounds so different it's like a creature from another planet....in fact he was the only one with a Marshall stack and the skillz in using it.

As much as I hate the Gary Busey film, they do show some of it, especially as Buddy gets to be a bigger star.

Different instrumentation than standard r&r (adding unusual instruments - and not for a comical gimmick effect - or stripping things down to minimal instrumentation).

Writing most of his own songs.

More adventurous harmonies (vocals sung in fifths, and composition beyond I-IV-V-vi). (True Love Ways and Peggy Sue being the best examples, with the latter featuring a flatted VI chord on the chorus)

Doubletracking his own vocal harmonies.

Was one of the first to use a Fender Strat, tho that's no biggie. Dick Dale and Hendrix were the ones to exploit that.

His different instrumentation were in his more obscure songs.

I believe alot of musicians state that he was one of thier major influences, because they were jumping on the Buddy Holly bandwagon.

Sure he was probably the first major performer who used a strat, but Dick Dale and Hendrix went way over anything Buddy Holly ever did.

In fact Dick Dale got his first strat in 1955.

I still don't think Buddy Holly was ahead of his time.

I do think his music is timeless though, which in my mind is a much better thing.

THEY wanted. Nobody had the balls to stand up and do they music "they" wanted. Buddy was one of (if not THE) first.

About the only other person who can probably come close to his legacy is Elvis from about the same time frame and I don't think Elvis stood up to do 'his music' from the beginning. Wasn't his early music very 'country' sounding?
Buddy Hollys first music was Country sounding.

Buddy Hollys first music was Country sounding.

You mean the label that he immediately quit because they were trying to force him to do that?

You mean the label that he immediately quit because they were trying to force him to do that?

You took that from the movie, not real life.

You took that from the movie, not real life.

You are right I did. That may be a mistake. Do you have evidence otherwise?

This doesn't list it as an inaccuracy (not that I trust Wikipedia as the end all of information).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Buddy_Holly_Story#Inaccuracies

The best career move for an artist is to die while you are on top.

Plays hell with the personal life, though.


Of course, in Kurt Cobain's case, death was probably the right call since the alternative was more Courtney Love.

Of course, in Kurt Cobain's case, death was probably the right call since the alternative was more Courtney Love.LOL.....Isn't that the truth!!! +10000

You are right I did. That may be a mistake. Do you have evidence otherwise?

This doesn't list it as an inaccuracy (not that I trust Wikipedia as the end all of information).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Buddy_Holly_Story#Inaccuracies

Well the only record labels that ever released any of his songs including his country songs was Decca for one. Or a subsidary of Decca.
Prove me wrong.

http://www.history-of-rock.com/buddy_holly.htm

Next you are going to tell me He crashed his motorcycle while refusing to wear a helmet...... O wait that is Gary Busey.....

Pgoat had all valid arguments, all were correct, And I learned something off of him.

You were condescending and wrong.

Well lets try another perspective. As a teenager (me) at that time, Buddy was different, He didn't have a big band it was one of the first small groups I remember, that was popular. Most of the groups in that time were Doo Wop or harmony so he was a different sound and pretty much the real fore runner of what rock was becoming. Elvis was kinda a replacement for Sinatra for the girls and you could live with em if you were a guy. Groups like the Diamonds, Coasters, Lettermen had a different agenda. Buddy was fun to dance to also. He certainly wasn't a big time image (read ladies man). Valens was probably in the same class . The bopper was just a flash nothing special. Fats was hot at the time. Some others like the Ink spots were on the down leg. For those there, the Hit Parade was for our folks every week and we watched shows like Dick Clark and Jim Loungnsberry (sp) on TV every week. Learned to dance watching the shows and practicing with my sister in front of the TV LOL. Music was changing rapidly. I think he probably influenced music more than most in that era. He really popularized the small bands that began to pop up at the schools etc. Kids understood you could make Rock and Roll with a three piece band. Kinda hard to explain the changes that were happening to music. There have been several great musicians , Hendricks could do some things that hadn't been done but honestly till he died I didnt follow his music much. There were others doing things we enjoyed playing more. The beatles for many years were just great copy cats and had a good sales pitch but they matured into a dynamite group. Buddy was original from the git Go. Lord apples and oranges. Music has been so much fun and the trip has been amazing. Along the way I have learned to love it all from Gershwin to Hendricks,country to Classical and everything in between. My personal Favorite is Mel Shatner, Bassman Grand funk Railroad. If ya can play his bass you can play it all.

So many greats have credited Holly with influencing their music. The music Buddy created is as fresh today as it was then. He was something very special! Rock on Buddy! Rock On!!!!

Buddy Hollys first music was Country sounding.





About the only other person who can probably come close to his legacy is Elvis from about the same time frame and I don't think Elvis stood up to do 'his music' from the beginning. Wasn't his early music very 'country' sounding?

This is where hollywood screws things up - Gary Busey is shown wanting to rock out but the mean studio men in the south make him play hick music.:rolleyes:

In actual fact the songs buddy cut at that studio sound only marginally more C&W than his later re-makes of them. The first version of That'll Be the Day is certainly a bit slower and twangier than the famous hit version we all are familiar with but it did NOT sound like Hank Williams or whatever they tried to show in the movie. Some of the most racous early southern rocakbilly was recorded at that studio, so the movie's implication that the engineers were clueless is total BS.

I also suspect Buddy and Elvis loved Hank and other C&W artists as much as the R&B artists they covered. It was the fusion of those styles that created rockabilly.

Just Cruisin' said it all very well.

I know a man who grew up in the 50s and played in bands throughout the 60s (His band had great regional success in the midwest and outdrew the Rolling Stones on the first U.S. tour). He is a great fan of all R&R but BH is his main man. For all the musical reasons mentioned but also the image which is very important.

Buddy clearly is more someone who the average budding rocker could relate to than Elvis, who was a little too handsome and obviously overhyped.

I think If I had to point to any one facet of Buddy's enduring importance it would be the songwriting. The high quality of it and the innovations, yes, but also just the fact that he did it. Elvis covered songs by excellent professional songwriters. That was standard for the day.

It was people like Buddy, who were few and far between, who had the talent to write songs and perform them. This became the norm in the 60s for rock artists. Dylan and the Beatles picked up this torch.

If you want to judge someone's legacy, for me it's simply a matter of looking at their field before and after their appearance. That artists only began writing their own music and started breaking conventional limitations of doo-wop and rockabilly after BH did it says much to me.