The Day the Music Lived

POD: Feb 3, 1959

Pretty straight-forward - rather than crashing and killing everyone on board, the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper lands safely.

What now?

My impression is that of the three, Buddy Holly was the biggest name, and perhaps gives Elvis a run for his money as the King of rock and roll - and obviously Don' Maclean's hit gets a revised opening at the vary least ... what do others think?

Mike Turcotte
 
Well, Out of the three that were killed, I have always gotten the vibe that the Big Bopper was closest to leaving the performance side of the industry. Perhaps getting more into the production aspect of music.

Buddy Holly, who was the biggest of the three probably had a few more years of high stardom left, but would probably begin to fall as time went on. Might look something like the career path of Dion. Although I'm not to sure.

Ritchie Valens was rocketing upward to stardom at the time of his death though, and I think we would see several more massive hits out of him at the very least. His presence might inspire more latin presence in American music as well.

One aspect of the Music never dying is what happens to the British Invasion. The band 'Johnny and the Moondogs' changed their name several times to pay tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets until they eventually reached "The Beatles". If Holly is never killed, perhaps they don't change the name and they never take off without such a distinctive name.
 
One aspect of the Music never dying is what happens to the British Invasion. The band 'Johnny and the Moondogs' changed their name several times to pay tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets until they eventually reached "The Beatles". If Holly is never killed, perhaps they don't change the name and they never take off without such a distinctive name.
In 1959, emerging rock and roll would enter a brief freeze in the U.S. as Buddy Holly died, Elvis was in the army and Chuck Berry was in prison. Rock was decried as the "work of the devil" and the payola scandal would jolt the music industry. Holly would have kept going, but the cutting edge of rock and roll was moving along in Britain. There are many OTL options here. Holly, whose Crickets left him after the last tour of Europe, could go to Britain and join what would be the Beatles. Or, Holly could get drafted and his career is interrupted for two years. The Beatles come up with the same name out of the same thought process. My guess is, you are adding to the music scene rather than replacing anything. And don't forget, the Kinks, the Dave Clark Five and other British groups are pushing rock and roll along as well.

Don't forget the Day the Leader Died. The JFK assassination stunned America over the holiday season, hurting sales of Phil Specter's upbeat Christmas album. In early January, 1964, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was a perfect icebreaker to jump start a slow down in the rock and roll movement.
 
In early LPs of the Beatles, they covered Buddy Holly's records, and their early writing style owed much to Buddy Holly, I could see parallels with Roy Orbison, in that any popularity dip, as a result of the British Invasion, would be short lived, with Buddy joining the Beatles on stage on their tours.
 
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