Hey my 'lil rockers!!!  I'm Kristen and I am your new Classic Rock Reviewer.  In my articles we're going to discuss classic rock from it's roots as "Rockabilly" in the 1950's on through to the bands of the 1980's.  This discussion will be about the artists, groups, their trends, break down of their musical styles and interesting facts that contributed to their enduring legacies. 

Let's take it back a bit to the early 1950's.  World War II was over, the boys came home and the "baby boomers" were still well, being born!  Also, a historic milestone in music history that would change the world forever was on the horizon.  This new sound emerged from the country western movement of the late 1940's combined with the primarily African American dominated sound of rythmn and blues.  Budding artists at the time conceived the notion of combining these two popular forms of music together to form "rockabilly" music later known as "rock and roll".  It had a fast paced beat that people could dance to, it dealt with topics that teenagers could relate to and it caused a hatred from the parents who just didn't understand.

One of the stand out artists of the first decade of rock and roll and one of my most favorite artists ever was a young man who was given the name Charles Hardin Holley on September 7th, 1936 in Lubbock, TX.  He would be lovingly nicknamed as "Buddy" by his mother due to his being the youngest of four children and her feeling that Charles Hardin was such a big name for a small boy.  This youngster from Lubbock had little if no formal instrumental or vocal training.  Coming from a musical family, as the youngest he would watch his older brothers, sister and mother participate in family sing-a-longs and observe his brothers play on their guitars.  His first brush with an instrument was a piano.  Mrs. Ella Holley thought that Buddy might enjoy learning the piano but after a few lessons this young, shy boy who never said much finally spoke up and told his mother that he did not want to play the piano anymore.  In fact he told his mother that he wanted to play the guitar just like his brother Travis.  Travis Holley, the second of the four children humored his mother's request to show Buddy some chords.  In no time Buddy was playing his guitar all over the house, the neighborhood, on the school bus and even in school where anyone would hear him!  He was a hit at school with his natural talent for the guitar as well as singing.  Buddy started singing in 1949 at the age of 13 with a friend named Bob Montgomery, a friend from school.  Eventually, they tried out for a "Sunday Party" segment on the local KDAV radio station in Lubbock and won a half hour spot each Sunday becoming known as the "Buddy and Bob Show".  Before they knew it, the requests for covers of country and western music songs by such artists as Hank Williams Sr. came pouring in from local listeners.  Thus was the begining of what this kid from Lubbock was starting to achieve by setting the stage for the artists of today.

Let's look at the musical style that earned Buddy the title "The Father Of Rock And Roll", shall we?  Along with his amazing guitar riffs, and sometimes risque content of his songs (for the time) mostly depicted a young heartbroken man but who was also ready to "Rave On".  He had a distinct vocal style with his famed "hiccup" and extending syllables of words to the fullest like "Well-eelll-llll the little things you say and do makes me want to be with yo-ah-u" that can be heard as it is the opening line of "Rave On" which was one of his most famous songs.  He adapted this style but yet was an accomplished music writer writing all of his own music such as "That'll Be The Day".  He saw the movie the "Searchers" with his friend and later drummer of his group the Crickets, Jerry Allison and the song was born hours after he left the movie theater!  He also wrote "Peggy Sue" to give his same friend a helping hand in winning his girlfriend Peggy Sue Gerron's affections back after a break up that they had. 

Buddy was always constantly thinking into the future as far as his music was concerned.  He always had a beat in his head and when it was laid out during sessions on tape, it is clear these beats were precursers for what we all enjoy today. Head on over to YouTube.com and look up "Buddy Holly Apartment Tapes" and you will get a taste of just what he was begining to develop musically just months before he died.  These tapes were found by his widow Maria Elena after his death on simple Scotch brand recording tape, an archaic tape recorder, Buddy and his Fender Stratocaster. These tapes produced many posthumus hits such as "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and the sequel to "Peggy Sue" which is "Peggy Sue Got Married".  You can get an appreciation of his amazing talent by listening to exerpts of these tapes of him playing and singing on his own with no need for a back up band at all.  Believe it or not, these songs on the tapes became hits that needed no overdubbing whatsoever until smart aleck ex-manager Norman Petty decided to overdub background singers onto these tapes before being released and nearly ruining the simplicity and beauty of what Buddy originally created at his home in late 1958 through the first weeks of Jaunuary of 1959. Buddy was also the first to experiment with overdubbing when single dubbing of recorded songs were the common practice of the day.  Buddy was also a rare breed of guitarist.  He got his "clean" sound from using all six strings of the guitar at once while playing a chord which is a rarity and proven to be somewhat difficult.  I should know, while practicing with my guitar I found myself using a lot of expletives trying to copy his style of playing!  Aside from that difficult way of producing a sound, Buddy always used his pick and constantly strummed in a downward motion.  This was pretty much alien to many artists back then and still to a lot of artists today, but he made it all his own.  Buddy was also among the first if not the first to popularize the Fender Stratocaster guitar you always see him with in all of his pictures and all his T.V. appearances.  His particular Stratocaster was a sunburst color of brown flowing into a tan color. Back then if you look closely, the colors of these guitars were colored with the same laquor that was used on the cars of the day.  Geez, imagine getting your brand new Fender Stratocaster and showing it off to your friends only to discover that it was an exact match to your neighbor's Lincoln?!  In the words of Buddy in one of his most used phrases, "Well alright"!

Buddy was a self-proclaimed expert of music by the time he was 19-20 years of age in his own right.  By studying Country and Western music as well as R&B, he ultimately created the "rockabilly" sound he is known for next to Elvis Presley, of course.  Aside from being a singer/song writer he was a trend setter as well.  Just as the actors and actresses in Hollywood have always set the trends through out the decades, so have musicians.  Buddy adopted the black horned rimmed glasses look from the T.V. show host Steve Allen.  Boys of the day began to copy his style well into the 1960's!  I still have a 1966 photo of my uncle wearing the popular black horned rimmed glasses and swearing he looked as good as Buddy must have thought he did in 1958! I guess some fads do last especially since I am typing this article in 2011 wearing my black framed Juicy Couture glasses!

The topics of his songs created some debate like I mentioned earlier in this article.  Believe it or not the lyrics to his song "Oh Boy" were of some debate when it was released.  Mr. Ed Sullivan himself forbade Buddy and The Crickets to perform this song on his show believing that the lyrics were too sexually suggestive. Buddy refused to play a different song on the Sullivan show sending Sullivan into a vindictive rage by going back stage during the performance and yanking out Buddy's connection to his amp!  Check out the video and during his guitar solo all you can hear is Jerry Allison on the drums. Gee, Ed....evil much?!  Although only 21 years old at the time, Buddy kept his cool and ended up being the more mature professional instead of Ed who was about 35 years Buddy's senior.  Now-a-days, his lyrics are more or less like a nursery rhyme compared to what content is in the songs we hear from modern artists!  I guess it's a good thing Eminem, 50 Cent and 2 Live Crew were way after Ed Sullivan and his show, right?!  Poor 'ol Ed would have had a massive coronary hearing the lyrics those guys sang!  Buddy had a huge following of fans not only consisting of young girls but young boys as well.  He had more male fans than Elvis due to his music being targeted to both sexes.  I am definitely not discrediting Elvis who was also an amazing pioneer of rockabilly/ rock and roll but he was more of a show pony sex symbol.  Back then if asked, I bet young girls really didn't take in the true meaning of his lyrics but more or less swooned over his classicly sexy looks and forbidden hip gyrations which caused him to be videoed from the waist up!

Since Buddy's tragic death on February 3rd, 1959 in a fatal plane crash outside of Clear Lake, Iowa along with J.P. Richardson "The BIg Bopper" and Ritchie Valens, Buddy has left an immortal legacy.  Through his music he set the tone for groups like the Beatles who admitted that their first introduction to rock and roll was from seeing Buddy perform on the famous British show "Sunday Night At The London Palladium" and adopting the name of their group after "The Crickets" (I guess insect band names were also a trend by Buddy and his Crickets as well)! Buddy's influence on the young people of the day also gave John Lennon the courage to appear in public and on T.V. wearing his glasses!  He was also a big influence on Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Don McLean.  There have been many others who have tirelessly tried to copy his musical style right on down to the "hiccup" that went on for years after his death.  Many artists throughout the years have covered each and every one of his songs showing what great respect they have and what a great influence he has had on music.  He has also been the subject of songs like "American Pie" by Don McLean  and "Three Stars" originally sung by Tommy Dee and rerecorded by fellow rocker and good friend Eddie Cochran.  Attempts on making movies about him were tried until the 1978 film "The Buddy Holly Story" came out.  We won't discuss this highly fictional pass-off of a biography though!  The best part (and perhaps only) of this um, ah okay "movie" was the amazing performance of Gary Busey's vocals and instrumentals all done by the actor himself.

Although people expected rockabilly/ rock and roll as well as Buddy Holly and company to dissipate within months of its birth, Buddy proved through innovativeness and perserverance that...Rock And Roll is here to stay!  Buddy was among the first inductees into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986 at the first induction dinner in New York City.  Each February 3rd should not be looked upon as a total day of saddness but as a day for all of us to also say thank-you to Buddy for the music we enjoy today.  Don McLean coined the phrase "The Day The Music Died" talking about the plane carrying Buddy, Ritchie and the Bopper that went down that snowy night in Iowa in his song "American Pie".  You know what Don?  The music and Buddy didn't die, in fact you know what  I say to that? "That'll Be The Day"!

Okay my 'lil rockers!!!!  Until next time...."Rave On"!!!!