It’s been 55 years since ‘The Day The Music Died’

I missed an anniversary yesterday.  On February 3rd, 1959, a light aircraft crashed in Iowa killing musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson.  The date became known in music legend as ‘The Day The Music Died‘.

Don McLean immortalized the event in his song ‘American Pie‘.  Here’s the full version, set to a music video specially created for it in 1989.

I sometimes wonder whether pop and rock music would have evolved differently if they’d lived, and been able to influence it through the 1960’s and 1970’s.  Would the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and their ilk have made such an impact without the vacuum left by the death of these young men?

Peter