Home Free released the American Pie video today in remembrance of the Day the Music Died.

Don McLean joined in on the recording and Home Free has a video on the making of this video.

Link to Video on making the Video with Don McLean



On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.[1][2] The event later became known as "The Day the Music Died", after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie".

At the time, Holly and his band, consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch, were playing on the "Winter Dance Party" tour across the Midwest. Rising artists Valens, Richardson, and Dion and the Belmonts had joined the tour as well. The long journeys between venues on board the cold, uncomfortable tour buses adversely affected the performers, with cases of flu and even frostbite.

After stopping at Clear Lake to perform, and frustrated by such conditions, Holly chose to charter a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, suffering from flu, swapped places with Jennings, taking his seat on the plane, while Allsup lost his seat to Valens on a coin toss. Soon after takeoff, late at night and in poor, wintry weather conditions, the pilot lost control of the light aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza, which subsequently crashed into a cornfield, killing all four on board.

The event has since been mentioned in several songs and films. Various monuments have been erected at the crash site and in Clear Lake, where an annual memorial concert is also held at the Surf Ballroom, the venue that hosted the artists' last performances.

I've always said that if he'd lived, Buddy Holly would have been the King Of Rock 'n Roll and not Elvis Presley.

Thanks for posting, HRK.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I've always said that if he'd lived, Buddy Holly would have been the King Of Rock 'n Roll and not Elvis Presley.

Hmm. I’ve been thinking about this since I read it. They were so different. Presley had the looks and a magnificent voice. Holly’s influence on Rock is still felt today through his abbreviated songwriting career. God only knows what he would have done with a full life. I just don’t know, I suppose it’s in how you define “The King.”

I’ll add my thoughts on Ritchie Valenzuela (thinking he would have reverted to his given name). Holly was just 22 when he was killed; Valens was 17. He showed such promise himself. I think he would have been great as well.

Regret to add that I never liked “ American Pie.”

We live about two hours SE of Clear Lake and visited the Surf Ballroom and crash site a few years ago.

Here are some articles from IA papers:

https://www.desmoinesregister....s-bopper/2648171002/

Lots of photos:

https://qconline.com/entertain...-1f7597797281.html#3

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I've always said that if he'd lived, Buddy Holly would have been the King Of Rock 'n Roll and not Elvis Presley.

Presley had Colonel Tom Parker as manager. And a very shewed promoter he was.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I've always said that if he'd lived, Buddy Holly would have been the King Of Rock 'n Roll and not Elvis Presley.

Presley had Colonel Tom Parker as manager. And a very shewed promoter he was.

Except the not touring outside of the country bit. Colonel Tom was such a micro managing freak and the fact he was himself an illegal alien and therefore had no passport so he couldn’t leave the country or get back in I guess. Elvis could have made zilllions if he could have toured internationally

On February 1, 1959, the second to his last performance, Buddy played the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That was a venue my bother and I played a number of times in our teens.

I was a kid when Elvis showed up, Ed Sullivan introduced him to the country. Top 40 radio got rolling and dominated the culture. The British Invasion was just down the road and pop music exploded.

Buddy Holly got lost in all that and many, if not most of my generation had no idea how important he was. I say this from my upper Midwest perspective at that time. Listening to Holly today, I feel deprived not knowing him better way back then, his stuff is still amazingly good. Elvis v. Buddy is not an issue, they both made indelible marks. And yeah, what coulda been.

To not understand the influence of Buddy Holly would be a huge mistake. No Buddy Holly and the Crickets, in my opinion, means there wouldn't have been that influence on John Lennon. I mean, he got the name Beatles from the Crickets. The way Holly sang, the style with the glasses, the Stratocaster, etc.

That was great. I liked it.

“Rock and roll’s been going downhill since Buddy Holly died.”

He certainly had an influence on a lot of artists.

I got divorced about a year ago and rediscovered “It doesn’t matter anymore” In a video with Buddy and Linda Ronstadt singing that song back to back. Damn thing brought tears to my eyes.