What was ‘the day the music died’?
Throughout music history, there has been no end to great tragedies and terrible losses. Whether it’s idols simply being taken by time or talents being burnt out for too young by addiction, accident or even assassination, the loss of legends is always a gloomy shadow on the timeline. But one of the worst of the darkest days of them all was the day the music died. In one fell swoop, the world lost the talent of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and ‘The Big Bopper’ J. P. Richardson.
“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,” Don McLean sings in ‘American Pie’. Recalling the news on February 3rd 1959, he uses the term that has come to represent one of the most tragic moments in musical history as three incredible talents were lost in one horrific accident.
It’s a saddening story that starts jovially. As was common back in the 1950s, a gaggle of the brightest talents around had set out on a joint tour across the states. Buddy Holly was picking his career back up after leaving The Crickets behind so was out on the road with a new band made up of of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch. Coining it the ‘Winter Dance Party’ tour, new names in the rock and roll world, Richie Valens, ‘The Big Bopper’ J. P. Richardson and the band Dion signed onto the bill as well as a celebration of America’s finest new names.
As the name suggests, the tour was taking place in winter, meaning that the lengthy drives between cities and stops were uncomfortable. The conditions were even leading to performers coming down with the flu or frostbite in the cold. One night in February, a bunch of them had had enough of it.
After a show in Clear Lake, Holly decided to charter a plane instead of the bus and fly to the next stop in Minnesota. Richardson was unwell at the time, so secured a seat. Valens got his seat through a coin toss, likely thinking himself lucky at the time. As the boys said goodbye to their tour-mates and boarded the plane, there was probably even an air of smugness as they looked ahead to a shorter, more comfortable journey instead of a long drive.
However, as the plane took off, the late night mixed with poor weather conditions led to tragedy. The aircraft crashed, and all three musical legends were killed, along with the pilot.
Since the tragedy, there have been countless documentaries on the topics, investigations into the event and op-eds written about its events. The day has been picked over time and time again as people look for someone or something to blame, whether it be the tour managers, the pilot or even Buddy Holly’s wife Marie, who heartreakingly blamed herself. But no matter what way it’s looked at or what new take is shared, the event was still a devastating moment in music and a determining accident that utterly reshaped all the history that would come after.
Did the day the music died lead to the British invasion?
While it would be wrong to call the tragic death of three musicians ‘fate’, there is a strange link between the day the music died and the dawning of the so-called British invasion.
Before the 1960s, there had remained an ocean-wide gulf between the US and UK music industries. It seemed to be impossible for British acts to carry across the Atlantic and crack the music market in the States. While the UK had begun adopting plenty of American artists like Elvis or the three legends taken in the plane crash, the same couldn’t be said for the other way around.
But then, suddenly, in the wake of the tragedy, the gates seemed to open. In the years proceeding, and especially after The Beatles’ debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963, America couldn’t get enough of the British exports as acts like The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Hollies and The Kinks became firm favourites.
While grim to suggest, it could be chalked up to the fact that the tragic plane crash wiped out America’s finest talents. Everyone else paled in comparison to them, even as Bobby Vee took up the tour’s headline spot as it continued around the country in the wake of the event. After the months and years went by, the states seemed to grow tired of its own creations and the placid rock and roll they were making. It seemed like after the death of Holly, Valens and Richardson, no one could compare, and as Elvis was inactive between 1958 and 1960 to serve in the military, the country had to look elsewhere for its stars.
The Beatles and their British peers were primed and ready to fill the void. As the sounds of America had been inspiring UK acts for years prior, they were already armed with the lessons in sound and swagger their idols taught them. Mixing it all with a British edge and an overwhelming sense of newness, it was exactly what America needed to get them out of the saddened funk following the loss.
