February 3rd goes unrecognized to many as a significant day. However, for those that lived during the initial birth of the rock ‘n roll era, the date February 3rd, 1959 will live on forever as the day that tragedy took away three stars of the industry. The three were all pioneers of their time. Those three were one Buddy Holly, seventeen-year-old Ritchie Valens, and disc jockey J.P. Richardson - commonly known as “The Big Bopper”. Holly, arguably the most popular of the group, is cited as a major influence to many stars of the music industry including the Beatles (their name is a shout-out to Holly’s Crickets), Bob Dylan, Weezer, and many upon many more.
While on “The Winter Dance Party” tour, each of the artists played various mid-western venues. The tour had been challenging for all those on board due to the heating system failure on the bus and the treacherous winter weather that accompanied it. Along the tour’s stop in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 2nd, Holly had chartered a plane to avoid having to ride the bus to the next show. Richardson would later join the ride. Valens, as fate would have it, later won a coin toss to take the final seat on the small charter plane.
Unfortunately for the three bright stars of the rock ‘n roll era, weather and pilot inexperience would lead to doom. The plane was later found on February 3rd demolished in a corn field just outside of Clear Lake.
Don McLean later referred to it as “The Day the Music Died” in his song American Pie.
As one reads many articles written today commemorating the event, a sudden vibe of ‘this wasn’t the day the music died’ comes to mind. However, I beg to question: What if they had lived to continue their growth and influence? Holly was less than 3 years into his career, as Valens was just taking off and at least under a year into his career.
Sometimes genius is better preserved through tragedy. Then again, tragedy inspires those remaining to live up to the influence.
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