[www.telegraph.co.uk]


Why Buddy Holly will never fade away

Buddy Holly died in an air crash on February 3 1959, aged 22. With him were fellow rock 'n' roller Ritchie Valens. A leading critic argues that the influence of the man who created rock music is as great as ever.

By Philip Norman

On the basis of simply counting heads, rock music surpasses even film as the 20th century's most influential art form. By that reckoning, there is a case for calling Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash on February 3 1959, the century's most influential musician.


Holly and Elvis Presley are the two seminal figures of Fifties rock 'n' roll, the place where modern rock culture began. Virtually everything we hear on CD or see on film or the concert stage can be traced back to those twin towering icons – Elvis with his drape jacket and swivelling hips and Buddy in big black glasses, brooding over the fretboard of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.


But Presley's contribution to original, visceral rock 'n' roll was little more than that of a gorgeous transient; having unleashed the world-shaking new sound, he soon forsook it for slow ballads, schlock movie musicals and Las Vegas cabarets. Holly, by contrast, was a pioneer and a revolutionary. His was a multidimensional talent which seemed to arrive fully formed in a medium still largely populated by fumbling amateurs. The songs he co-wrote and performed with his backing band the Crickets remain as fresh and potent today as when recorded on primitive equipment in New Mexico half a century ago: That'll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Not Fade Away.


To call someone who died at 22 "the father of rock" is not as fanciful as it seems. As a songwriter, performer and musician, Holly is the progenitor of virtually every world-class talent to emerge in the Sixties and Seventies. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and Bruce Springsteen all freely admit they began to play only after Buddy taught them how. Though normal-sighted as a teenager, Elton John donned spectacles in imitation of the famous Holly horn-rims and ruined his eyesight as a result.

Holly's voice is the most imitated, and inimitable, in rock. Hundreds of singers have borrowed its eccentric pronunciation and phrasing. None (except perhaps John Lennon) has exactly caught the curious lustre of its tone, its erratic swings from dark to light, from exuberant snarl to tender sigh, nor brought off the "Holly hiccough" which could fracture even the word "well" into eight syllables.

Unlike Presley and other guitar-toting idols of the mid-Fifties, Holly was a gifted instrumentalist who had grown up playing country music in his native West Texas. His playing style became as influential as his voice – the moody drama he could conjure from a shifting sequence of four basic chords, his incisive downstrokes and echoey descants. The deification of the rock guitarist, the sex appeal of the solid-body guitar, the glamour of the Fender brand: all were set in train by Buddy and his sunburst Strat.

Pop music has become an endless recycling, each new generation believing they are the first to discover its repertoire of "cool" and limited palette of sentiments and chords. In the genes of almost every band, Buddy Holly has been there, either by conscious assimilation or via his disciples. "Listen to any new release," says Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, whose first killer riff was on the 1964 cover of Not Fade Away. "Buddy will be in it somewhere. His stuff just works."

Holly's time on the world stage was pitifully short, lasting only from September 1957, when That'll Be The Day became an international hit, to February 3, 1959, when he and two fellow performers, Ritchie Valens and J P "The Big Bopper" Richardson, fatally decided to fly from Clear Lake, Iowa, to Fargo, North Dakota, to avoid a freezing night on a tour bus. The crash of their chartered aircraft into a snowy stubble-field has become rock's most famous tragedy, enshrined by Don McLean's American Pie as ''the day the music died''.

In 16 crowded months, Holly had created a blueprint for enlightened rock stardom that every newcomer with any pretence at self-respect still aspires to follow. He was the first rock 'n' roller both talented and strong-minded enough to insist on the artistic control his musical heirs now take for granted. He was the first not only to write his own songs but also to arrange them, directing his backup musicians to his own exacting standards. He was the first to understand and experiment with studio technology, achieving effects with echo, double-tracking and overdubbing on primitive Ampex recorders which have never been bettered.

He was the first rock 'n' roller not to be a scowling pretty boy like Elvis – to be, in fact, angular and geeky-looking, with bad skin, discoloured teeth and glasses that did not acquire their stylish black frames until the last months of his life. He was the first to make it on sheer ability, energy and personality, appealing to a male audience as much as a female one, redefining the perception of good looks and style much as John Lennon and Mick Jagger would in the next decade.

The years since 1959 have seen many other great talents prematurely snuffed out. But Holly's death has a special poignancy. This was no rock 'n' roll roughneck, hell-bent on self-annihilation, but an amiable (and deeply religious) young Texan whose life had not the least taint of scandal, discredit or unkindness; who had recently married and was about to become a father; who went on tour through the snowy Midwest only because his ex-manager, Norman Petty, refused to pay his royalties; who took that fatal flight with his two colleagues only to snatch a few hours sleep in a hotel and get his laundry done.

His fans are numbered in the millions, and grow in number with each passing year. And dying so young, and so pure, as he did, he left them an extra gift. They can never be disillusioned.

I have followed and been listen to rock-music since at least 1961 and haven't yet been able to see Holly's greatness as a rock-composer. Pop, yes, Holly is The King of Pop (not Michael Jackson who's the King of Soul Disco)

OK, just my 2 cents in this Holly discussion...

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So where's that leave King Kong?????



ROCKMAN

A lovely epitaph, but really no credit for Chuck Berry or Little Richard?

Buddy in Australia, film by NOrman Petty.





I htink there are a few recorded versions by Buddy Holly of "Not fade away". This one is more like the version the Rolling Stones did. The hit version I"d say differs a bit, softer.

Never like Buddy Holly much, reminded me too much of my parents and that sock hop era...but I sure drool over that early Stratocaster he played.

Wonder what kind of music he would have played throughout the 70's if he had survived? Would he have been another Jerry Lee Lewis/Elvis type who stuck close to the original stuff or would he have branched out into some classic rock and roll like the Stones? peace

He was an f-ing genius who was only getting started. He would take his guitar out to Washington Square near his Manhattan apartment and play with the burgeoning folkies there. He was experimenting with orchestras and different pop sounds. His deceptively simple lyrics expressed deeper emotions. 'Well all right, so I've been foolish, well all right, let people know, about the dreams and wishes you dream, in the night when lights are low.'

He was 22 when he died! Most geniuses peak around 27 and start fading slowly. He had a long way to go.


[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

Sock hops my ass.

THIS!

Some you will certainly know this , many not- Paul McCartney owns the publishing rights to most of Holly's music.

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24FPS
He was an f-ing genius who was only getting started. He would take his guitar out to Washington Square near his Manhattan apartment and play with the burgeoning folkies there. He was experimenting with orchestras and different pop sounds. His deceptively simple lyrics expressed deeper emotions. 'Well all right, so I've been foolish, well all right, let people know, about the dreams and wishes you dream, in the night when lights are low.'

He was 22 when he died! Most geniuses peak around 27 and start fading slowly. He had a long way to go.


[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

Sock hops my ass.

Well stated, Bob Dylan saw him on that last winter tour in Duluth, Mick Jagger saw him play in London.

Add to Buddy, such illuminaries as obviously the King, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry as contemporaries, some par excellence there. Obviously, Waylon Jennings was one of the Crickets. Jerry Lee too was of that era, Roy Orbison may have been slightly after before he got really rolling but has some of that genius too.

"The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and Bruce Springsteen all freely admit they began to play only after Buddy taught them how."

Read more: [www.americanthinker.com]
(disclaimer, just quoting the article, no interest in whatever the magazine's political stances are)

I've got a book that covers a lot of this in depth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-02-05 08:09 by BroomWagon.

A funny thing in Mark Lewisohn's 2013 Beatles book TUNE IN is that even though the Beatles were fans of Buddy Holly, when he performed in Liverpool, they didn't bother to see him even though they were all in town.

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24FPS

Sock hops my ass.

lol. Well it's good to see you getting excited in any case. I actually really liked that guitar playing with the tremelo on the middle link you posted. Didn't know he was so young when he died. I wasn't even born then which is probably why I see his style as dated and more in my parents realm of music. Hard to judge his genius by today's standards and without the perspective of his time.

He probably would have taken acid like everyone else in the 60's and morphed into a cosmic superstar. Eclipsed the Stones and the Beatles and caught my ear by the early 70's. We'd probably be on a Buddy Holly fan board taking about his classic songs and complaining about his 2015 setlist and ticket prices. peace

"Why Buddy Holly will never fade away"

Really? I think he's almost compeltely forgotten. The nerdy look, the dated songs, that doesn' make for a timeless star.

Elvis is a timeless star.

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dcba

Really? I think he's almost compeltely forgotten.

...Not in Europe, he isn't.

And his songs are nowhere near dated... (Apart from being classic 50's stuff, off course.)

You say "yes" I say "no" ta-da ta-da...

Honestly I think BH was a teeny-bopper songwritter : he wrote rose-coloured cheesy songs for heartbroken souls of 16.
So the appeal of his tunes today is quite limited (unless you're a European fan of the US mid-50's in cars clothes and music). And today's heartbroken souls of 16 don't liste to Buddy, they listen to death metal or gangsta-rap. ><

Chuck Berry was imho a far superior songwritter. He did write teeny-bopper songs but they had an extra dimension that makes them relevant today.

Plus he had that desexualized angelic image that's rather ridiculous today, as we all know rock is sex. Chuck understood that and Elvis did too...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-02-05 12:01 by dcba.

Onestep posted this for us back in September:
[www.youtube.com]

The pertinent bit starts at 1:38 and may it serve you well :E

Love & light to Buddy Holly, and thanks & praises. The music didn't die.

<<The nerdy look>>

Has worked for some in the years since.



Buddy Holly also made the grade in the edgy eighties UK comedy The Young Ones.

A 17-year-old Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959 show, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his Time Out of Mind being named Album of the Year:


"And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he LOOKED at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was – I don't know how or why – but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way."

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Title5Take1
A funny thing in Mark Lewisohn's 2013 Beatles book TUNE IN is that even though the Beatles were fans of Buddy Holly, when he performed in Liverpool, they didn't bother to see him even though they were all in town.

Lonnie Donegan played in another place at the same time.

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Close to Rock-A-Billy. Flamin' Groovies have "Living in the USA" and Mott the Hoople have "The golden age of Rock 'n' Roll" talking about this, anyone talking about sock hops is a name-dropper that gets personal with other posters. Peace Out.

Yeah, these kind of threads are more informative about the people posting on them, as opposed to the artist themselves.

I think there were a few more cool cats around at the time :
Jerry Lee Lewis
Little Richard
Chuck Berry
Carl Perkins
Bill Haley
Bo Diddley

No one wants to lift Buddy Holly at the expense of others. And no one wants to attack someone personally over something as silly as this.

Chuck Berry is a very important songwriter, guitarist and visual artist. He's in the very concrete of the Stones foundation, along with Little Richard's showmanship, Jerry Lee Lewis' danger, and the mystery in the Bo Diddley beat.
But this thread is about Buddy Holly. I've had the honor of spending a couple days in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, and to go to the Buddy Holly museum there. When you see the color photos from his last night on earth at the Surf Ballroom, you see beyond the iconic suit and horn rim nerd glasses. On that last night the glasses he wears are larger, more space age. And he rocks a cravat instead of a skinny tie. He's evolving. He'd only been on the national scene a year-and-a-half.

All that we know about him took place in a very compressed time. Like Sam Cooke, I feel Buddy would have started his own record company, or made a distribution deal that left him in control. Remember, he was out on that god forsaken tour because he couldn't get enough money out of Norman Petty for him and his bride to live on through the winter of '59.

Maybe a lot of Buddy's songs do deal with 16-year-old concerns. Again, he was 22 when he died. Lennon was older when he wrote I Want To Hold Your Hand. Holly's 'Learning The Game', written in his last months, is universal and far beyond 'Peggy Sue'. Unlike some of the other 50s rock stars mentioned above, Holly did not limit himself to a style. In fact, of the above, only Jerry Lee Lewis successfully moved into another genre, country music. Holly had already moved into full orchestral pop songs.

Detractors probably do see Holly as a one-dimensional 50s icon, but his supporters know there was a lot more, and, tragically, probably a lot more to come.

Gene Vincent
Eddie Cochrane
Fats Domino whom I mentioned earlier;

These are just the famous names too, there apparently was a lot devoted to rockabilly, admittedly, some I didn't think was that good.

Johnny Burnette before he went pop-styled songs.

Interestingly, about Chuck Haley, the Flamin' Groovies song, I know we don't have a chance to listen to the whole song but in the opening 10 seconds or so... the drum intro, then guitar and then they have a bass-line which in my opinion, is "Rock Around The Clock", they really did well to me.





Lyrics may not be on the web but start out something like "Goin' to St. Louis, gonna see Chuck Berry playin' rock 'n' roll, it was here to say, I'm gonna see Little Richard sayin hey, hey, hey" summa like this...it's sort of a R'n'R retrospective, I think Mick must have taken from Little Richard but, hey, this thread isn't about Lil' Richard.

I go sometimes to a French forum entitled "Rock City Boogie" which is into nostalgia, sort of the way the French are suppose to like Disneyland a lot but someone told me that website has "internet viruses", so I don't really know just an advisory. But the Rock City Boogie people really get into Buddy Holly and many others too.

And for me, Duane Eddie, obviously the Shadows, and I do like Rick Nelson, some of these selections may not be seen as really classic. McCartney probably liked Rick Nelson, he does "Lonesome Town", McCartney synchronized a lot of the pop influences.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-02-05 21:06 by BroomWagon.

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Come On

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Title5Take1
A funny thing in Mark Lewisohn's 2013 Beatles book TUNE IN is that even though the Beatles were fans of Buddy Holly, when he performed in Liverpool, they didn't bother to see him even though they were all in town.

Lonnie Donegan played in another place at the same time.

Lonnie wasn't on the same UK tour as Buddy, although he was a huge fan, and dropped into the East Ham Granada on 13th march 1958, to see the boys.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-02-06 11:02 by Adrian-L.

Monday 2nd February 1959

The Winter Dance Party Tour

The Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa.

Buddy, Waylon Jennings,(bass) Tommy Allsup, Ritchie Valens (drums)




photo: Mary Gerber



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-02-06 11:19 by Adrian-L.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-03-28 15:18 by camper88.

Elvis Costello to me, often called to mind Buddy Holly actually.



And obviously Jeremy wore glasses or was it Chad??

Also, of course, Elton, Jeff Lynne, big glasses wearers. I'm sure many more cases can be found. Bono, Clapton, etc.



Peace Out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-02-07 20:46 by BroomWagon.

Lubbock, Texas...lots of great Buddy Holley items

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Adrian-L
Monday 2nd February 1959

The Winter Dance Party Tour

The Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa.

Buddy, Waylon Jennings,(bass) Tommy Allsup, Ritchie Valens (drums)




photo: Mary Gerber

Look how sharp he is. His wardrobe is light years ahead of what he'd been only a year before. He is rocking that cravat, and those glasses are space age. I've seen him in this getup at the Buddy Holly museum in color. It's even more daring. We don't think of rock and roll in 1959 because it was annihilated by Elvis in the Army, and fickle public tastes. But Buddy was pushing it forward, right up until the end.