Buddy Holly and the Crickets was a one group I could not over look in my research of 1950's performers. Growing up my grandmother was always a big fan of Elvis and Buddy Holly. She always joked that those were two men she would leave my grandfather for. Buddy Holly did not have a long career after him and his group the Crickets broke up, due to a horrific plane crash in 1959. At this time he was a very influential part of rock and roll, most say that rock and roll would not be the way it is today if it wasn't for Buddy Holly. Holly was able to influence many musicians just like the Beatles who got to form their band off of the idea of the Crickets. The Crickets first big hit was "That'll be the day" which went through many different revisions before its final release in 1957. Holly was brought to fame from opening for artists that were performing at venues such as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets. Buddy Holly is a very influential person in the rock genre, some bands and artists like the Rolling Stones, Weezer, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and more have done covers or even tributes to him. Later Paul McCartney went on to purchase all the rights to his music. I found this all amazing that he was able to make such a strong impact on people through the short time he was alive performing. Holly was able to continue to inspire people from the grave because of the foundation of rock and roll he helped start to build.
And what a brilliant songwriter, something else he passed on (beside the glasses-donning image) to Elvis Costello.
ReplyDeleteOwen, I found this to be very interesting because I did not know Paul McCartney purchased all of the music rights. I also thought it was interesting becuase I have never heard of Buddy Holly, and after reading your blog about him I did some research and found out that at only age 19 he opened up for Elvis Presley, and continued to do so two more times after that.
ReplyDelete"That'll be the Day" sings about the day the singers will die, there is a kind of gallows irony to this, as you wrote about the plane crash that became 'the day the music died.' Don McLean's song "American Pie" really uses the story of these musical legends to create more legendary music.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsV5-Hv-7U