this was the day, back in 1959, when the music died. it didn't really. three young music stars did. don mclean wrote a catchy tune all about it in 1972, a song i hated when it first came out but i now recognize its catchiness. the song's conceit is that buddy holly's death allowed the british invasion, the one that pretty much stole american rock & roll from the americans. that's worse than when the brits burned the white house during the war of 1812.
what happened in the next five decades has been quite a roller coaster ride. it's been exciting almost always & tragic sometimes but rock music is now being played by kids all around the world. it started here w/ike turner & "rocket 88" & it's gone everywhere it could go & done most everything it could do. this isn't the day the music died. music took off in the 60s, all kinds of music. the black music that buddy holly had been cribbing became available. eventually, the tejano & conjunto music valens was drawing from broke out too. it pushed out from its american origins & drew everybody in. the music is simply too alive to die & it belongs to everyone now. not just white teenaged boys. like don mclean. like me & philip & ken & mike.
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