Who: Buddy Holly (1936-1959, lead vocals and guitar), Jerry Allison (drums), Joe Mauldin (1940-2015, bass), and Niki Sullivan (1937-2004, rhythm guitar).
What: This is, perhaps, the single most influential rock album of all time. While Elvis's 1956 album is a bric-à-brac of styles, this record is 12 tracks of straightforward rock and roll. This album also shows the importance of Texas in the development of the traditional rock sound: while the r&b from the South is dominated by piano and the country influences from Tennessee use acoustic guitar, this album is one of the first to feature electric guitar as the central, driving force of the music.
Where: While the songs on this album were recorded at different studios, the band formed in and is representative of Lubbock, TX.
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| A postcard from Lubbock, TX, ca. 1950s. |
Why: This is another truly surprising album that is much more hard-edged than Elvis's debut. While much of it still has a "rockabilly" sound, it may indeed be the first bona fide rock album—the country influences here are different and less apparent than the Nashville and Memphis sounds. In these guitar-driven songs, one can already hear the future sounds of bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and even punk.
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| The poster for Buddy Holly's concert at the Kato Ballroom in Mankato MN, January 25, 1959. |
Mircodose: Though it draws heavily on Bo Diddley's pioneering use of Afro-Caribbean clave rhythms (called the "Bo Diddley beat"), "Not Fade Away" best captures the rocking spirit of Buddy Holly and his band.
Additional Doses: On February 3, 1959—known as "the day the music died" since Don Maclean's 1971 classic "American Pie"—the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper from the show in Clear Lake, IA to Moorhead, MN crashed in a field in Iowa. Here are the most famous songs by Valens and the Big Bopper, who were only 17 and 28 when they died. Who knows what these three would've gone on to do?
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