This year marks the 50th anniversary (Monday will be the actual day) of the event that inspired the most tediously long song in rock 'n' roll history (with the possible exception of "Stairway to Heaven"):
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa -- It's been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field, instantly killing three men whose names would become enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll.
The passing decades haven't diminished fascination with that night on Feb. 2, 1959, when 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens performed in Clear Lake and then boarded the plane for a planned 300-mile flight that lasted only minutes.
"It was really like the first rock 'n' roll landmark; the first death," said rock historian Jim Dawson, who has written several books about music of that era. "They say these things come in threes. Well, all three happened at the same time."
The music didn't really die. It just started sucking.
Comments
And with (very) few exceptions, Leo...
It NEVER looked back!
Must be that God only takes the good ones, after all, ya just never see a headline like "Vanilla Ice Plummets To Death In Fiery Plane Crash".
Or "50 Cent Drowns In Own Vomit After Drug Overdose and Large Meal".
Hope does spring eternal, however
;)
Or "Madonna's body stolen by road manager, set on fire in desert after drug overdose"
With thanks to Don McLean:
A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.
But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.
Leo Morris Says:
January 28th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Or