While he only played rock and roll for three short years, the material that Buddy Holly recorded and sang has left a lasting impact on rock music. He is perhaps the most irregular '50s rock and roll singer as he had his share of hits and achieved rock stardom, but his musical importance transcends any record sales figures.

Among his rivals, Bill Haley was the first and established rock and roll and Chuck Berry defined the music in blues and it's orientation towards youth, but Holly's influence was just as far-reaching as these others even if it was more musical in nature.

Buddy was an innovator who wrote his own songs and was among the first singers to exploit studio techniques as double-tacking. Buddy also popularized the rock band lineup of two guitars, bass and drums that is standard now. His song category include such rock n' roll classics as "Oh Boy," "Rave On," "Peggy Sue," and "That’ll Be The Day."

Although he had none of the sexuality of Elvis Presley, Holly nevertheless was a charismatic performer with his glasses and hiccup enhanced vocals. His self-reliance and craftsmanship prefigured the incoming wave of rock and rollers of the Sixties.

His death in a plane crash on February 3rd, 1959 brought an end to the first era of rock and roll. Despite his passing, Buddy's influence has pasted on to such rock bands as The Beatles, The Hollies, and The Rolling Stones and such singers like Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.

Posted by Andrew on Tuesday, 06/11/2013 @ 23:50pm

I'm just popping by quickly to remind fellow Buddy Holly devotees that yesterday marked the 55th anniversary of the awful tragedy known as "The Day the Music Died." Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper are still missed and loved by their fans, myself included. Even with all the "new" old music I've discovered in the last 3 years, I still count Buddy as my #1 all-time favorite musical artist. His warm, sincere vocals and country-tinged, melodic guitar playing (not to mention the constant experimentation he was doing) will always endear his timeless music to fans. R.I.P, Buddy, Ritchie, and J.P.

Posted by Zach on Tuesday, 02/4/2014 @ 21:15pm

Buddy Holly is perhaps the most uncharacteristic legend of 50s rock and roll because he had his share of hit songs and achieved rock n' roll stardom, but his musical importance transcends all sales figures or the details of any song that he wrote or recorded and while he only played rock n' roll for three short years, the wealth of songs he recorded during that time have made a major and lasting impact on rock music as a whole.

Holly was a unique musician because his legendary status and impact on rock n' roll are all the more extraordinary for having been achieved in just 18 months. Among his competitors Bill Haley was the first man to establish rock n' roll; Elvis Presley expressed and understood the sexual power of the music, selling hundreds of millions of records in the process, and defined the charisma needed for stardom and Chuck Berry defined rock’s roots in the blues as well as some of the finer points of it’s sexual power and it’s orientation towards youth.

Buddy’s influence is just as far reaching as these other artists, even if it was more subtle and definitely more musical in nature. In a career that lasted from the spring of 1957 to the winter of 1959, Holly became the single most influential creative force in 50s rock & rock.

Along with Chuck Berry, Buddy was an innovator who wrote his own songs and was among the first rock artists to exploit such advanced studio techniques such as double tracking. He also pioneered and popularized the now standard rock band line up of two guitars, bass and drums. In his last months, he even experimented with orchestration.

Holly's category of songs include such rock n' roll standards as “Not Fade Away” “Rave On,” “Oh Boy!” “Everyday” and “Maybe Baby.” Although Buddy lacked the eye-catching charisma of Elvis, he nevertheless was an engaging singer with his trademark glasses and hiccup enhanced vocals. His creative self-reliance and energetic craftsmanship show themselves in the songs that he and his group put out.

The results are particularly telling on the history of rock. The group created a sound that gave birth to coming wave of rock bands in the 60s, especially to early British rock n’ roll with lead and rhythm guitar closely interlock to create a much fuller, harder sound.

On songs like “That’ll Be the Day,” and “It’s So Easy,” Holly advanced rock & roll’s range and sophistication without abandoning the joy and excitement. The band weren’t afraid to experiment even on their singles, so that “Peggy Sue” made good use of the kind of volume and tone on the guitar that was usually reversed for instrumental records. “Words of Love” is also one of the earliest examples of double tracked vocals in rock n’ roll, something that The Beatles would embrace in the following decade.

Born in Lubbock, Texas on September 7th, 1936, Buddy was a natural musician from a musical family and was proficient on guitar, banjo and mandolin by age 15. After playing country and western for a few years, Holly was sighed to Decca Records in early 1956, recording demos and singles for the label. Back in Lubbock, he opened a show for Elvis Presley, an event that quickened his move from country to rock n' roll.

In February of 1957, Holly and his new group, The Crickets recorded "That'll Be the Day" at the studio of Norman Petty. The upbeat rock song became a Number 1 hit. Between August 1957 and August 1958, Buddy Holly and the Crickets scored 7 Top 40 singles.

The group became one of the top bands of 50s rock n’ roll, putting on shows that were as exciting and well played as any other rock show in the business. Buddy was the frontman, singing lead vocals and playing lead guitar, itself an unusual combination, as well as writing or co-writing many of the songs.

But The Crickets were also an encompassing performing group, generating an exciting sound. Jerry Alison was an innovative drummer and contributed to the songwriting more often then his band mates, and Joe Mauldin and Nicki Sullivan provided a solid rhythm section with their guitar and bass.

The fact that the group wrote all original songs made them unique and put them years ahead of most other 50s rock artists. In the late 50s, songwriting wasn’t seen as an essential skill in a rock n’ roll career as the music industry still worked along the lines it had followed since the 20s, with songwriting being a specialized profession organized on the publishing side of the industry and was kept separate from the performing and recording processes. Once in a blue moon, a performer might write a song or, much more rarely, count compositions among their talents, but usually songwriting was left to the experts. Any rock and roll artist who had a liking to write their own songs would have to get past the image of Elvis, who became a millionaire at 22 and never wrote songs, but Buddy Holly and The Crickets changed all that in a serious way by hitting Number 1 with a song they had written and regularly charged up the charts on behalf of their own songwriting.

This trait was not appreciated by the public at the time, and it wouldn’t be widely noticed until the 1970s, but many hopeful singers took note of the fact, and some tried to copy Holly.

Less obvious at the time, Buddy and company also destroyed the established record industry method of recording, was to bring the artist to the label’s own studio, working on a timetable dictated by policy and union rules. If an artist was extremely successful like Sinatra or Elvis, they got a blank check in the studio and any union rules were smoothed over, but it was a rare privilege, available only to the most elite musicians.

By contrast, Buddy and his group did their work at Norman Petty’s studio. They took their time, they experimented until they got the sound they wanted, and no union told them when to start or stop their work, and as a result of that, they delivered great records.

In October of 1958, Buddy broke it off with The Crickets due differing interests and with Norman Petty and moved to New York City which Buddy saw not just as a place to do business, but also as a place to settle down and there, He married Maria Elena Santiago. By this time, his music had grown more complex to the point that he surrendered lead guitar duties to a session player and used session musicians like the great King Curtis. The singles that Buddy made in New York didn’t sell nearly as well as the songs from 1957.

Due to legal and financial problems caused by his breakup with Petty, Holly unwillingly sighed on the Winter Dance Party in the winter of 1959. After a show at Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy chartered a private plane to take him and his two band mates to the next stop on the tour. Two other artists on the tour, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper got the seats. Their plane took off from Mason City Airport at 1:00 a.m. and crashed just a few minutes later, killing all on board. Buddy was only 22 when he died, an event that would be immortalized in Don McLean's "American Pie" as "the day the music died."

The plane crash wasn’t taken terribly serious by the media at the time as most news organizations in the 50s didn’t take rock n’ roll seriously, expect that it could be exploited to sell newspapers or to viewing audiences, but for teenagers of the period, it was the first rock and roll tragedy.

But in death, Buddy Holly’s music and influence has pasted on to such rock bands as The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, The Hollies, and The Rolling Stones whose first major hit was a cover of Holly’s “Not Fade Away.”

Out of all the 50s rock artists, Buddy Holly is personally one of my top favorites. Along with Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly is other singer-songwriter of 50s rock n’ roll. No, he didn’t have the charisma that Elvis had, but what he did have was a great hiccup enhanced singing voice and a full song category that touches on the innocent love that all teenagers feel. “Peggy Sue,” just might be one of rock’s finest ballads.

Posted by Andrew on Sunday, 04/6/2014 @ 23:17pm

RIP Jerry Allison.

Posted by J.W. on Monday, 08/22/2022 @ 21:21pm

Rest in Peace Sonny West, the co-writer of "Rave On" and "Oh Boy," 1937-2022.

Posted by Joe S. on Saturday, 09/10/2022 @ 09:43am