NOTE: This blog is a day late. It was supposed to be posted yesterday, on the anniversary of the actual event, but I got a late start writing this and didn't make it time. I had written too much not to finish it, so I decided to just post it a day late. Sorry about that.
Everyone likes music, plain and simple. In the modern day, there's a lot to choose from. Pop, metal, techno, hip-hop, grunge, even country. Most of them are a form of, or at least descended from, rock. Even modern country has more in common with contemporary pop than it does the cowboy western ballads of old. Unless you listen to world music or classical, pretty much any popular genre of music nowadays is a from of, or closely related to, rock.
Have you ever stopped to wonder where it all came from? How did these rhythms come about? Where was rock born? Who put the bomp in the bomp bomp bomp bomp bomp?
I don't mean going back to cavemen days, but if you're too young to remember anything past the nineties, you may not realize where all of these things were born. It isn't like punk rock just showed up one day. Musical genres evolve over time, branching off into more and more diverse subgenres until they're eventually as different as death metal and bubblegum pop.
With that in mind, you have to realize that no matter who you are, no matter what you listen to (again, barring opera and other non-mainstream genres), you can eventually trace the roots of your favorite musical genre back to the same music of years past, the forefather of rock:
Rock 'n Roll.
It's like recognizing the roots of modern gaming. Whether you're playing Gears of War, Little Big Planet, Kingdom Hearts, or Wii Fit, you can't deny that they would be nothing without Pong, Space Invaders, or Donkey Kong. Even if you don't like the games, it would be absolutely foolish to deny just how great they were, and how pivotal of a role they played in crafting what gaming is today. Similarly, it's ridiculous to try to deny the importance of old time rock 'n roll.
For the sake of discussion, "rock 'n roll" here on out refers to the mid-sixties and earlier. Pre-hippie era. Maybe overlapping the British invasion a little, but not by a lot, if at all. Nowadays, it might be called "oldies," though I prefer to refer to this music by it's original name.
Even the origins of rock 'n roll itself are shady. In the 40's, a bunch of previously existing genres of music started to blend together, just as rock 'n roll would eventually split and give way to everything we have today. Most importantly, blues, with jazz, swing, gospel, and country all melding together. Nobody is sure where rock 'n roll officially emerged from the womb. There's a lot of gray area in the 30's, 40's, with nothing for certain. We don't know who exactly was the inventor of rock 'n roll.
One contender was Fats Domino, a jazzy blues artist whose first major hit, considered by some to be the first true rock 'n roll song ever, was "The Fat Man," in 1949:
Fats, by the way, would have plenty more hits, including two of my favorites, "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain't That a Shame." Look them up on YouTube.
Notice something else? Like, a lack of guitar? In the early days, the piano and the brass sections were the prominent backbones or rock 'n roll.
In the early fifties, this mish-mash of a genre was starting to get more popular, especially with teenagers. A lot of the more conservative parents weren't exactly happy about their kids listening to this "negro music" (remember, this was before the civil rights movement, and most influences of rock 'n roll came from predominantly "black" music.) So in the final days of genre's gestation, radio DJ's decided to make it more socially acceptable and slapped new label on it. Thus, rock 'n roll was born.
It slowly rose in popularity through the early fifties. But it wasn't until 1954 that skyrocketed to become the most popular genre of music in the United States. A young cowboy band called Bill Haley and the Comets would record a cover of the song "Rock Around the Clock," and pretty much single-handedly launched rock 'n roll into the mainstream. This how Bill Haley earned the title, "The Father and Rock and Roll."
(Notice that it now has a guitar solo?)
Rock 'n roll was made, it had its own sound, it had an audience, and it was taking the world by storm. It would continue its prominence throughout fifties and early sixties, eventually leading into the hippie movement where it would branch out from there.
Another key player in rock 'n roll was Chuck Berry. By the late fifties, the guitar had become more of a feature in rock 'n roll, but Chuck Berry made it the centerpiece. John Lennon even said that "Chuck Berry" is synonymous with rock 'n roll. He was symbolic of everything that it was at the time. If you've ever listened to oldies station (or seen Back to the Future) then you can't NOT know string bending hit that was Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode":
(Now THERE'S the guitar!)
These men (and women) were the forefathers of everything that's in your iPod today. Many legends, many just one hit wonders.
Screw Soulja Boy, Chubby Checker's version of Hank Ballard's "The Twist" is the original dance that took the world by storm:
Of course, the ladies had their fair share of hits in the old days:
"Be My Baby," by the Ronnettes
Everyone's heard of the Beach Boys, of course:
Don't forget sweet vocal sounds of doo-wop:
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
And how can you not mention the king himself, Elvis Presley?
Elvis had pretty strong country influence, and thus was classified as a subgenre of rock 'n roll called "rockabilly." Another prominent rockabilly singer was Eddie Chochran, who you might know as the artist behind "Summertime Blues":
Notice the guitar riff? I think it's E-E-E-A, B5-B5-B5-E. Pretty simple, really, but it's extremely significant if you like harder rock or metal. Metalheads, think of your favorite riff. This song is it's predecessor.
I could keep naming people forever. The legends of the oldies who shaped music for decades to come. Their influence will be felt forever. Too many people deserve recognition for me to give it to all of them here, and it's a shame. If you're interested in this kind of music, I highly encourage you seek it out. Not just for historical purposes, but it's extremely entertaining in its own right if you give it chance.
So you may be wondering, with all this toalk about the beginning of rock 'n roll, what does it have to do with dying? The name of this blog, after all, is "the day the music DIED." What's the deal?
Well, those who are also well versed in rock 'n roll history may have noticed the emission of a certain key figure in the development of the genre. A very important person who was not only popular, but had a major influence on what music would become. A certain person who is (arguably) the single most important person in the history of rock music.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Buddy Holly.
Buddy Holly hit the mainstream in 1957. Over the course of about two years, he had twelve major hits, including his most famous, "That'll Be the Day." He is reknowned for his songwriting, his performing, and his vocal work. He was one of the few people at the time to write, perform, and produce all of his own work.
Buddy Holly popularized the Fender Stratocaster, which is one of the most popular guitars to this day. In the early days of rock 'n roll, most people played hollow body, acoustic, or otherwise large guitars like the Les Paul or Gretsch. Small, thin electric guitars that are used so much now were extremely rare back then. Fender was one of the first companies to do so, and Buddy Holly is pretty much the man responsible for their success. He was the first major musician to use them.
That's not all he did. His band settup was quite unique for the time, as well. While most bands were large jazz-esque bands with a piano and a few brass instruments doing a large chunk of the instrumentation. Buddy Holly and the Crickets had a four piece settup. Two guitars and a vocalist (Buddy himself playing guitar and singing) a bass, and a drummer. Do you know how many bands use that set up, or something extremely close to it, nowadays? A lot. And by a lot, I mean at least ninety percent of bands since Buddy Holly have used either that exact settup or a very similar one.
That's not to say that he used to settup exclusively, as there was variance here and there, just as there is in any other band. But Buddy Holly never really did the full band thing that everyone before him did, and after his success, it kind of faded out. Even the rest of the classic oldies era had much simpler music. Scroll up to that list of songs I put down earlier and compare "Surfin' Safari" and "Be My Baby," which came out in '62 and '63 respectively, to the rest of the songs which were all in fifties, and you'll see (or rather, hear) what I mean.
So while Bill Haley and his predecessors invented rock 'n roll, and Chuck Berry popularized the guitar, Buddy Holly cemented it as what we know it as today. He set the standard for almost everything that came after that (at least once the Beatles, who were mainly inspired by Buddy Holly, used his settup.)
With all his contributions to the performance and production of music making, we can't overlook his songs. Like I said, he had tons of hit songs, probably more than any other musician up to that point. There aren't a heck of a lot of artists since him that can boast that, either. And once you take into account that it all happened in approximately two years, it's mindblowing how much he did for music.
Here's an alternate version of the song under his picture. It's called "Maybe Baby." The one up there^ is the popular version, but I like this one better.
And some more of my favorites:
Oh Boy
Peggy Sue
Every Day
Rave On
True Love Ways
Peggy Sue Got Married
Buddy Holly is a legend. In his short career, he did so much to revolutionize rock 'n roll that he can't not be legend. Unfortunately, though, it was only a short career.
In January of 1959, Buddy Holly embarked on a concert tour along with three other popular musicians of the time: Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts.
The other four acts were also very popular at the time. Ritchie Valens is notable for introducing latin music into the American mainstream. His Mexican heritage inspired many of his songs, including his biggest hit, La Bamba.
J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson didn't really revolutionize anything, but damn were his songs catchy. His best known song is Chantilly Lace, which is basically a risque phone conversation between him and his girlfriend:
Now go read the first sentence of this blog. Makes a lot more sense now, doesn't it?
Dion and the Belmonts were a doo-wop group that had some mild success in the fifties, though Dion himself would start a solo career a couple years later where he'd have biggest success, especially with the singles "Runaround Sue"
and "The Wanderer."
(Notice how the first song is about being upset over a promiscuous girl, while the second song is about how cool he is for doing the exact same thing?)
After a week on tour, the bands were starting to get upset. They were having problems with the tour bus and started to get fed up with having to deal with constant problems on the road. So after a show, Buddy Holly decided to charter a plane to the next tour location instead of having to deal with the bus again. So in the early morning of February 3rd, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper took off in a small four passenger plan. Dion, as well as the bands' crews, all stayed behind to take the bus.
The next morning, people all around the world woke up to hear this on the radio:
That fateful day would change music forever. In his 1971 song "American Pie," Don McLean called it The Day the Music Died, and the name has stuck ever since. February 3rd, 1959. Exactly 51 years ago yesterday.
And in another sad twist of fate, Eddie Cochran, the guy I wrote about above, died in a car accident about a year later.
And so this is my tribute to them. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. Eddie Cochran. All of the past heroes of rock 'n roll who go unsung in this time of metal and pop. Those who lived and died, and helped to shape music into what it is and has been for decades. Without these people, rock would never have become the force that it is. It doesn't matter what you listen to, people like Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry and Fats Domino are the ones responsible for it. And as someone who loves music, I have to pay them tribute.
Thank you for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you learned something, and I hope that maybe you at least found some new music to add to your playlist.
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