Know your roots: the day the music died

48th anniversary of rocker crash causes reflection on musical contribution

Songs have been written, musical groups have been influenced, but do people still remember the day the music died?

On Feb. 3, 1959, a deadly plane crash outside of Clear Lake Iowa took three influential lives to rock ‘n’ roll: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson. All of which had just started their short, but mighty careers.

Holly, a youthful rocker, was best known for such songs as “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue.” He has even been considered one of the first “hipsters” that managed to make the nerdy look sexy.

Valens was the teen heart throb of the tour. At only age 17, Valens’ future looked promising. His best known songs were “La Bamba”and “Donna.” Valens’ real last name was Valenzuela, but he changed it to move forward in the music industry.

J.P Richards, or better known as The Big Bopper, could be considered the one-hit wonder of the group. His greatest hit was the song “Chantilly Lace,” but he first started as a radio DJ on KTRM.

These three may have been wonderful in their time, but since their death their fame has definitely slithered away. Students like Conor Walker, a junior sociology major and Ed Post, a senior philosophy major, do remember these artists and believe they had an impact on music.

Walker and Post dedicate two-hours a week on their own radio show that focuses on rock ‘n’ roll of the 50s and 60s to keep music of the past active in students and other listeners’ lives.

When asked if any of these artists had any musical impacted, Walker responded that Holly “made the rhythm guitar solo what it is.”

It is surprising to Walker how Holly created so much music in such a small amount of time. Buddy Holly and the Crickets were first signed to Brunswick Records in 1957 and Holly died in 1959, leaving only two years to create music. To Walker, Holly was “one of the people who shaped rock ‘n’ roll.”

Post wishes he knew a little more about this sad event in history but that does not mean he is not familiar with the musical impact the three artists had.

Post described Valens as the heart throb that helped bring pop music to the public.

“Holly was shaping what rock ‘n’ roll would be at its birth.” Post said.

Post can tell right away when Holly is singing because of his signature styles. Holly managed to create his own style in his music, like the Holly Hiccup.

“(Holly) was right up there with Elvis and Chuck Berry,” Post said.

Faculty members on campus also hold memories of their own. Martha LaForge, a graduate secretary at the school of journalism and mass communication, remembers very little of the actual crash, but she does remember the years that followed musically.

LaForge was young at the time and recalls that she was just starting to listen to the AM radio. She grew-up knowing the performers, particularly Holly, from the music they had left behind. LaForge felt that, in a way, Holly shaped her musical taste and as she got older she became interested in bands, like The Beatles and The Everly Brothers, who had a similar sound.

Sylvia Gardner, assistant to the student affairs and executive director of housing and dining services, holds a destinct memory of the tragic event. At the age of 13 her and her friends were walking home from school listening to their transistor radio. The music was interrupted with news of the crash.

“We all stopped and stared at each other and of course being in the 13 to 14 year-old range we reacted with huge tearful emotion,” Gardner said.

Valens was her favorite singer and she knew many of his songs by heart. Gardner said she had “a newspaper clipping of a grieving Donna in my scrapbook.”

Now Walker and Post attempt to keep the presences of these artists alive. Not to mention all of the bands that took inspiration from these singers. Rumor has it that Buddy Holly and the Crickets may have been what gave John Lennon and Paul McCartney the inspiration for the name The Beatles.

Was this truly the day the music died as the lyrics of Don McLean’s “American Pie” suggest?

“Something died that day, but the music didn’t. It Grew. It Planted seeds for music today,” Gardner said.

Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Emilie Johnson at [email protected]