The memorial in Iowa at the crash site
Fifty years ago this morning, the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Popper crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa. Three young musicians who were at the vanguard of popular music were lost in the crash, their lives snuffed out too early.
Don McLean dubbed the date, “The Day the Music Died,” in his 1971 hit “American Pie.” I was only nine years old at the time, but I remember how my older brother and others were shaken by the event. An anecdote, radio hosts, like myself, loved 'American Pie,' as much for the music as its seven minute duration. It would give you a chance to leave the studio for a second and get a bathroom break.
A half century later, the event, says obitmag.com, this morning, "seems to mark a beginning. The legacies of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper have had lives of their own over the last 50 years. Buddy Holly is a perennial icon of young love and geek chic. Richie Valens is perhaps a symbol of America’s reluctant multicultural embrace. And the Big Bopper is an outsized personality..."
Five decades have passed, but on this memorial morning, these guys have their songs being aired on radio stations everywhere. It was a more innocent and optimistic time, of promises to come, of youth. The music endures. Here is the You Tube link to "Chantilly Lace" by the Big Bopper, and yes, that is the ageless Dick Clark introducing him.
No this has nothing to do with the law. It is just a link to a fond memory.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment