Pages tagged “the big bopper”

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Fear of Flying: The Most Inappropriate Songs for In-Flight Radio

A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak on some panels at Diversafest in Tulsa, Okla. On my flight back home to Atlanta, both my iPod and laptop were dead, so I decided to check out some in-flight radio. I surfed the dozen or so stations until—as we reached cruising altitude—I settled on one with a ’50/early-’60s golden-oldies format. After tunes from Dion & the Belmonts, The Platters and—if I remember correctly—The Shangri-Las, what should come on but Santo & Johnny’s classic 1959 instrumental “Sleepwalk.”  Now, normally, I love “Sleepwalk”—it’s one of the most wistful, nostalgic, emotive pieces...  read more

That'll Be the Day (the Music Died): 50 Years Later

Paul Westerberg, Black Lips, Robyn Hitchcock, The Avett Brothers, John Doe and many more remember three of rock 'n' roll's pioneers...  read more

The Day The Music Was Re-Born: 17 tracks in Memory of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper

  Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper—though always lumped together because of the cruel hand they were dealt one winter night in 1959—were really a varied bunch of musicians, all with different sounds and all at different stages in their respective careers. But the three were tied together by the bonds of rock ’n’ roll, still in its nascent stage, still magical and—mostly—unjaded.  Don McLean dubbed their tragedy “the day the music died” in his legendary tribute song “American Pie,” and he was right, in a way. For rock ’n’ roll, that crash was—on a smaller scale—like the Kennedy...  read more