It has been said that only the good die young, and dammit Buddy Holly was certainly one of the good ones. Although his life burned out when Buddy was only 22, his career lasting only two years from 1957-59, his music and his unique personal has burned strong through the history of Rock and Roll. It never fails to astound me how big an influence this young man from Lubbock, TX, had on music. Here are a few examples of the influence Buddy Holly had, and continues to have, on Rock and Roll Music. Enjoy.
-Buddy was a huge Elvis fan and the aspiring musician got the chance to open for Elvis as a local act twice in 1955 when the King came through Lubbock. Buddy said of Elvis,"“Without Elvis, none of us would have made it."
-Famed Country outlaw Waylon Jennings played bass for Buddy's band on his last tour, and survived the trajic crash by giving his seat on the plane to a sick Big Bobber. Here Waylon covers Buddy's "Not Fade Away" with a little help from Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.
Waylon and Buddy circa 1959
-Guitar god Eric Clapton commented in his autobiography Clapton,"I have no idea where I was when John Kennedy died, but I remember vividly the day Buddy Holly died." (not a verbatum quote) In 1969, Clapton's short lived supergroup with Steve Winwood, Blind Faith, covered Holly's "Well Alright" on their first and only album.
-A 17 year old Bob Dylan saw Holly on January 31, 1959, and Dylan recalled the event in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech as Time Out of Mind won Album of the Year.
-The Beatles' name was chosen partly as a Homage to Buddy's backing band The Crickets.
-Paul McCartney ownes the publishing rights to Buddy's song cataloug, and John Lennon covered "Peggy Sue" on his 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll. The Beatles' covered "Words of Love" on 1964's Beatles for Sale.
-Don Mclean's epic 1971 single "American Pie" recounts the plane crash death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper. Unfortunately it was covered by Madonna in 2000.
-The only true God, Lemmy Kilmister, has numreous times praised the work of Holly. “That’s my era! Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beatles, Buddy Holly.” Here Lemmy covers Buddy's "Love Made a Fool of You."
-John Mellencamp wrote a piece about Rolling Stone for their 2004 Immortals Issue. Here is a brief exert: Buddy Holly was a complete and utter hillbilly. I'm very proud of that. So much of our musical heritage is from the country. People always ask me, "Why do you stay in Indiana?" Well, I have to. Just about every song, every sound that we emulate and listen to was created by a hillbilly, born out of the frustration of a small town where there ain't much to do in the evening. That's one thing that I loved about Buddy Holly.
-One of Weezer's most famous songs is their single "Buddy Holly" off their 1994 Blue Album. The single was released on what would have been Buddy's 58th birthday.
-British hitmakers the Hollies, who were inducted into the retarded Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, took their name from Holly (though they somewhat deny this) and covered many of his songs.
-In the video for Nirvanna's "In Bloom", Kurt Cobain channels Holly's dress and facial expressions before destroying the stage with bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic all in drag.
-In a 1978 interview with Rollingstone, Bruce Springsteen commented,"I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest."
-The Rolling Stones scored an early hit on the UK charts in 1964 with thier cover of Holly's "Note Fade Away". The song has also been a main staple of Grateful Dead concerts, the band has covered the song over 500 times in the course of their long career.
Clearly Buddy Holly was kicking ass and taking names all the way back in 1950's, and for that Muse-Zach salutes him.
Bonus Video:
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