Buddy Holly 75

Today would have been Buddy Holly's 75th birthday and I still remain convinced that had Buddy lived, he would have been the king of rock and roll and not Elvis Presley.  But then again that's just an opinion of mine.  Buddy could play the guitar and write his own material.  Elvis managed to comb through and get good songs from other people.

Certainly if it wasn't for Buddy, The Beatles would have sounded a lot different then they would have.  British Rock would sound a lot different.  Certainly the big plane crash outside of Clear Lake set rock and roll back a few years.  Richie Valens would have also figured into playing a bigger role in rock music too although he may have pioneered Latina rock and roll even in his teen age and few songs that were penned.

Look, I like Elvis just as much as the other guys out there.  You can't argue with The Sun Sessions or the first two albums but once he went into the service the rock innocence was gone.  The 68 Comeback Special may have signaled in a new era of Elvismania, but once Presley discovered Vegas and the TCB Big Band, it wasn't exactly rock and roll but more adult pop although he did rock out from time to time.

Buddy took a couple years to figure out his style and he started out rockabilly or country but once he and The Crickets thought up of That'll Be The Day and made Fender guitars the must own instrument, he was reinventing rock and roll and for a short year added overdubbing on guitars and vocals and with Norman Petty also inventing garage rock.  It's hard telling what would have happened had Buddy lived; I don't think he would have stayed the course with the Dick Jacobs' syrupy strings on It Doesn't Matter Anymore (written by King Pap Paul Anka) but I'm thinking more in line of what he was doing on his solo S/T album.  Or he would have into production and who knows probably would have reunited with The Crickets.  It's all speculation.

One thing for certain, Holly died way too early before his time in a losing battle with a cold airplane and Alberta Clipper throwing him, JP Richardson and Richie Valens into the cold hard ground of Iowa and taking away what could have been and giving Don McLean the inspiration to do a 8 minute song on the history of Rock and Roll and The Day The Music Died.  In a perfect world, Holly would be playing his songs in front of packed crowds on his 75th birthday.

I like Elvis but I love Buddy Holly.  Happy Birthday.  We miss you Buddy.  (and Richie and JP too).