Music
Today is "The Day Music Died." On this day in 1959, a small four-passenger plane crashed in Clear Lake, Iowa, killing three very talented, young musicians in the prime of their careers: Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The phrase itself was popularized by Don McLean in his 1971 song "American Pie."
What makes this day such a big deal is how epic it is. Firstly, there's all the circumstantial WTF moments. Richie Valens, for example, earned a spot on the plane after winning a coin toss. He was also afraid of flying. Then there's what country legend Waylon Jennings said to Buddy Holly. Jennings was supposed to be on the flight, but gave up his seat to The Big Bopper because the latter was sick. Buddy Holly, being the cool jerk that he was, told Jennings that he hopes his bus freezes up. In response, Jennings said, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes." Needless to say, these last words to Holly haunted Jennings for the rest of his life. Above everything else, however, was all the talent and potential lost on that plane. Let's take a look:
The biggest loss is obviously Buddy Holly. Next to Elvis, Holly is the biggest name in early rock and roll. We know we'll get a lot of shit for this, but we'll go ahead and say it anyways: if Buddy Holly hadn't died, The British Invasion wouldn't have been as big as it was. Girls loved Buddy Holly and The Crickets. So did The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In fact, the former were such big Buddy Holly fans, they named their band as a tribute to The Crickets. Holly was rocking out when all of these rock legends were still picking their fucking noses in secondary school. Just take a listen to "That'll Be The Day," a song that sounds like it could've been on an early Beatles album:
Then there's Richie Valens. You might be familiar with Valens because he popularized the traditional Mexican song "La Bamba," or because Lou Diamond Phillips played him in the movie of the same name. But he was more than just a singer with a gimmicky song. The kid could fucking rock out. Just listen to "Ooh! My Head," one of our favorite Valens tunes:
You know who else loved Richie Valens? Jimmy Page. He loved his music so much that his band, Led Zeppelin, ripped off the above song and renamed it "Boogie With Stu." Page & Co. were later sued because they borrowed too much from Valens and settled out of court.
Finally, we have J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The Big Bopper wasn't as big as his fellow deathmates, but he was talented nonetheless. Richardson wrote number one hits for George Jones ("White Lightnin') and Johnny Preston ("Johnny Preston"). He's better known for saying his trademark phrase with his booming voice. Take a listen to "Chantilly Lace," his most popular song:
Today In History: The Day The Music Died
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03 Feb 2010 | 17:08
Comments: 12
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Today is "The Day Music Died." On this day in 1959, a small four-passenger plane crashed in Clear Lake, Iowa, killing three very talented, young musicians in the prime of their careers: Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The phrase itself was popularized by Don McLean in his 1971 song "American Pie."
What makes this day such a big deal is how epic it is. Firstly, there's all the circumstantial WTF moments. Richie Valens, for example, earned a spot on the plane after winning a coin toss. He was also afraid of flying. Then there's what country legend Waylon Jennings said to Buddy Holly. Jennings was supposed to be on the flight, but gave up his seat to The Big Bopper because the latter was sick. Buddy Holly, being the cool jerk that he was, told Jennings that he hopes his bus freezes up. In response, Jennings said, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes." Needless to say, these last words to Holly haunted Jennings for the rest of his life. Above everything else, however, was all the talent and potential lost on that plane. Let's take a look:
The biggest loss is obviously Buddy Holly. Next to Elvis, Holly is the biggest name in early rock and roll. We know we'll get a lot of shit for this, but we'll go ahead and say it anyways: if Buddy Holly hadn't died, The British Invasion wouldn't have been as big as it was. Girls loved Buddy Holly and The Crickets. So did The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In fact, the former were such big Buddy Holly fans, they named their band as a tribute to The Crickets. Holly was rocking out when all of these rock legends were still picking their fucking noses in secondary school. Just take a listen to "That'll Be The Day," a song that sounds like it could've been on an early Beatles album:
Then there's Richie Valens. You might be familiar with Valens because he popularized the traditional Mexican song "La Bamba," or because Lou Diamond Phillips played him in the movie of the same name. But he was more than just a singer with a gimmicky song. The kid could fucking rock out. Just listen to "Ooh! My Head," one of our favorite Valens tunes:
You know who else loved Richie Valens? Jimmy Page. He loved his music so much that his band, Led Zeppelin, ripped off the above song and renamed it "Boogie With Stu." Page & Co. were later sued because they borrowed too much from Valens and settled out of court.
Finally, we have J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The Big Bopper wasn't as big as his fellow deathmates, but he was talented nonetheless. Richardson wrote number one hits for George Jones ("White Lightnin') and Johnny Preston ("Johnny Preston"). He's better known for saying his trademark phrase with his booming voice. Take a listen to "Chantilly Lace," his most popular song:
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buddy holly, j.p., music, richardson, richie valens, the big bopper, the day the music died
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Comments
RITCHIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!
ReplyYup, I was fighting the urge to not write that out, but I made up for it by busting out my DVD of La Bamba and watching it. I interviewed Esai Morales (aka, Bob) a while back for his new sci-fi show Caprica, and I asked him if people came up to him and gave him a hard time about playing that character. Dude was mad nice about it, and even did it twice in the interview. You can check it out here: http://anyguey.guanabee.com/2009/10/esai-morales-interview/
ReplyThe big bopper clearly was lip syncing. For one, that telephone (especially then, but still true today) would have made a terrible microphone. Even if they hid the best mic they had available then inside of the receiver, it would have been "cupped". If any of you have ever mixed live audio and dealt with rappers and the stupid ways they hold their microphones (not an attack on the music, just the fact that looking cool by holding a mic with the "ball" in your fingers and your thumb over the top) you would know about the wonderful ringing sound it produces. I am not officially a sound engineer, but I am a lighting designer and work next to sound engineers on a daily basis. Thus I not only hear these complaints, but I also see and hear what it takes to fix the situation, and it would not have been as flawless as it was there. The second clue is that as the camera pans out while the music kicks in, there is no microphone. Which brings me to the following point. Although I am not a fan of her music, Ashlee Simpson still to this day is the poster child (with the exception of Milli Vanilli, of course) for lip syncing. Now, the sad part for this girl is that she (live, I cannot speak for televised events) really sings. She sings along to a backing track of her singing, but you really hear her voice. I cannot say the same for B. Spears, however. I was involved in one of her "comeback" shows (shortly after the haircut and all that) where she "performed" for about half an hour after making the crowd wait almost 3 hours. I work for a House o' blews (mispelled on purpose). The only time you heard that girls voice through the P.A. was for a few seconds after her performance. She said "thank you ___(city)___", while obviously very short on breath. Which was an obvious contrast to her previous "singing" voice coming from the CD. What does it all mean? Well, the big bopper was one of the first "rock stars". And it helps illustrate how much you have been cheated by the music industry for almost as long as the "music industry" has existed. And it should shed some light on how much money these "artists" have ripped us off. Which is why defending our right to "share" music is important. I have also worked avril lavinge's show and the only part of what was onstage that actually made its way through the P.A. was the drummer. Every other instrument and voice was completely faked. And this girl was selling out arena's at the time. My intent here is not to slander, insult, or disrespect the artists mentioned in this article (even though the British Invasion borrowed heavily from these guys and gave them credit (verbally if not actually writing credits), whereas these guys took this from impoverished black people without giving any sort of credit), but to point the finger at the greedy record label/executives who benefit the most from this.
ReplyGet off your high horse you idiot! You can't compare the lip syncing of 50s television to today. The technology was horrid, they did what they could. By the way, bravo on playing the race card!
ReplyIf you look close, all three were lip synced. As you so pointed out, it would have been very difficult to get the mixing just right, so common practice was to have the talent lip sync to their studio mix. So, while your main point is correct, your sub-point of a loose comparison of the Big Bopper to a Milli Vanilli /boy group type of talent, you are way off base. Now the trouble with "talent" today is that they utilize meme to enhance their vocals and then get lazy about singing because of it.
ReplyThe article was excellent, except for the foul language. It detracted from the article, was unnecessary and demeaned the author...
ReplyFidel, tell your mom not to comment. Also, Buddy Holly rules. That is all.
ReplyThe swearing was totally unnecessary and completely inappropriate
ReplyAgreed that the article was excellent except for the profanity. Do you eat with that mouth? You have to be a real inspiration to your kids... if you have any.
ReplyI agree the article was great until the swearing part. Then you just sounded like an immature idiot.
Replyoh fuck off!
ReplyThis was almost a good article. f'n this and f'n that
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