By NEIL MACAULAY is a Santa Monica resident and grammar referee. He
LAST FRIDAY I BEGAN TO READ JOHN Whithead’s article and was ready to grapple with the complex convolutions of his constitutional conundrums but was most pleasantly surprised to be reading about one of the five or six greatest rockers, Buddy Holly. I have two copies of every record he made and his music is as good today as it ever was. I agree with most of what John says and loved his article but I think he is giving Buddy too much credit and is denying credits to the real founding fathers of rock ‘n’ roll, which was a well established art form long before Buddy added to the scene. I think John was a little too young, being only 7 when rock ‘n’ roll began, and relies a little too much on hagiography.
John says “Virtually everything we hear on recordings or see in video … can be traced to … Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly.” I don’t think this is true. Both Elvis and Buddy were “Johny come lately’s” to the rock ‘n’ roll scene, although Elvis redefined it. The genesis of Rock ‘n’ Roll begins with the original king of rock ‘n’ roll, Bill Haley and his Comets. His big hit record “Shake, Rattle and Roll” in summer 1954 was the first rock ‘n’ roll record and was revolutionary (and later recorded by Buddy in his early days). It was obviously a new kind of music and stopped me in my tracks thinking “What is this?” (As I did much later with “Heartbreak Hotel”) It sold a million. He had many rocking songs every bit as good as, or better than, Buddy’s except that he did it first. His “Rock around the Clock” in 1955 was the first of the all time great rock ‘n’ roll songs and was great for boppin’ to.
Another of the founding fathers of r ‘n’ r was Little Richard with “Tutti Frutti” in 1955, another very original sound different from Haley’s and a real rockin’ screamer. “Tutti Frutti, All rootie, A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-whop-bam-boom!” says it all! Note that Buddy recorded a Little Richard hit “Send me some lovin’” and “Ready Teddy” and hence was a musical descendant of Little Richard. Another was Chuck Berry with “Roll over Beethoven” in 1956, another all time great rockin’ song and was recorded by the Beatles, so they were musical descendants of Chuck Berry and of course many others. Finally I would add the Everly Bros. with their close harmonies and dramatic rockin’s sound with their 1957 hit “Bye bye love.” Buddy didn’t come along till late 1957 with “That’ll be the Day” and rock ‘n’ roll with its various genres had been long ago an accomplished revolution.
He did not “throw back the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll.” R ‘n’ r had no boundaries. He merely enhanced an existing genre as per Bill Haley and the Everly Bros. and r ‘n’ r was not “a chaotic highway.” There was no chaos. Teenagers were not dumb. They knew what they liked and there were five or six distinct genres as I have described. Authors of star biographies have sometimes a tendency to hyperbole since their book is just for fans and that’s what they want to hear. When you have lived through history you find that some authors claims just don’t coincide with your clear memories. The Rolling Stones were not fundamentally influenced by Buddy. Their version of “Not Fade Away” was in a different genre. They were obviously influenced by blues singers in the beginning such as Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf.
John also says “Holly was the first rocker to break through based on ability, energy and personality.” Just not true. Haley, Richard, Berry and that there Presley guy, did this.
Fortunately the music did not die with Buddy. He had made many great recordings at home on tape and his manager Norman Petty rendered them into posthumous hit songs with excellent backings. To young people today I’d say forget the boring droning of rappers, forget the all-the-same nasal warblings of Mariah Carey et al. Most “stars” to day are untalented and rendered into “stars” by the studio engineers and video splicers. Get back to happy, melodic and rocking music as laid down for all time by the late, great Buddy Holly.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 15, 2008. Read the original PDF.