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With Elvis Presley as a soldier, Jerry Lee Lewis as the spouse of a 15-year-old and Chuck Berry as a man with unsightly sexual tendencies, rock 'n' roll had reached a stage in early 1959 that was unlikely to be good for the future.
And yet there were stars who whitewashed the decline with their charisma and musical uniqueness.
High hopes were attached to Buddy Holly, for example: the guy with the soft eyes behind the distinctive glasses stood with hits like "Peggy Sue" for a direction that had nothing of the brutal honky-tonk howling of Jerry Lee Lewis, in which it was in the end it was all about possibilities for human copulation.
The wreckage of the crashed plane near Clear Lake, Iowa
Source: Getty Images
The scene was all the worse that this performer died on February 3, 1959 in Mason City, Iowa, while on tour with his band in a plane crash.
Charles Hardin Holley was 22 years old.
Also on board were Ritchie Valens ("La Bamba") and a man who called himself "Big Bopper" when his real name was Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.
So it was no wonder that Don McLean memorialized this misfortune in his 1971 song "American Pie" when he remembered the event with the line "The Day the Music Died".
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The crash itself was due to a mistake by the pilot - he misread an instrument.
Human failure as the cause of the death of a talented young man can be described as tragic, if only because Holly was only trying to show his talent.
It is ironic that the singer fulfilled the motto "Live fast, die young" with his early demise.
However, not because he would have perished in his intoxicated existence in adolescence.
When Bill Haley ushered in a new era of pop culture with “Rock around the Clock” in 1954, the hour of the tough guys came together, bringing white country and black blues together.
Haley himself might have looked like the breakfast chef from “Mel's Diner” with his lard roll, but people like Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran or even the young Elvis had the main message: Be careful, friends, we are dangerous!
Some of them competed with each other as to who had caught the most obscene texts in the taverns full to the brim with schnapps, in which they had performed until the early hours of the morning before their five minutes of fame.
The reaction of the bourgeoisie to these snotty bullies was corresponding, they were taken for emissaries of the incarnate.
Holly, on the other hand, was part of the second wave, which was softer.
Naturally, she produced a number of hit fuzzies such as Pat Boone or Ricky Nelson, whose sticky love affairs could earn a lot of money without having to contribute artistically.
Other victims: Ritchie Valens (1941–1959) and ...
Source: Getty / Michael Ochs Archives
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But Holly was a completely different league with the Everly Brothers.
Of course, his stage name "Buddy" already pointed the way to harmlessness, but he was able to play his "Stratocaster" guitar so well that its manufacturer Fender benefited from it.
The singing came straight out of his throat - and he wrote songs like “Peggy Sue” or “Everyday” himself. They weren't openly about sex, but about the fact that love can also be a good thing for people who look like buddy Holly.
And the best thing about these songs was: They had the blues in them, a little bit of sadness, but they never needed to mix aggression into that melancholy.
So something really new came about - rock 'n' roll became sensitive, something that remained unattainable for the first-time thugs.
... Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. aka The Big Bopper (1930–1959)
Source: Getty / Michael Ochs Archives
That is why Buddy Holly will always ask what would have been possible if he had had more time to continue working with his talent.
On the other hand, it is pleasing to see how many musicians were inspired by the artist's work.
John Lennon may have knelt before Jerry Lee Lewis, but the courtesy of the early Lennon / McCartney compositions has its roots in songs like "Everyday".
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The fact that the doctors in Germany made a joke with the artist with “Buddy Holly's glasses” couldn't prevent the Broadway musical that bears his name from being a success in the Port of Hamburg.
There are things that just always apply.
One of them is that hardship alone does not lead to anything.
And of course, that it's good to have a buddy by your side.
Buddy Holly and The Crickets on Stage
Source: Redferns
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