It wasn't a sex thing, y'know, like Elvis (Presley) was with his swiveling hips. He was one of us, he was a rock star that had glasses. We asked Graham Nash what he made of Holly upon first hearing him in 1957: “ Unbelievable. I just have some kind of feeling that he was I don't know how or why, but, I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way.” While accepting his 1998 Album Of The Year Grammy for Time Out Of Mind, Bob Dylan spoke about Buddy: “And I just wanted to say that one time when I was 16 or 17-years-old, I went to see Buddy Holly play, and I was three feet away from him. But you get your advisers saying, 'Okay, so you're going to turn down all that money, are you?' It's a very difficult decision, y'know? If I was being purist, I'd say, 'No one should do it.' I mean, my heart says that, but, y'know, you're not always as pure as you think.” I don't know, I've done it once or twice with him, but I don't really like doing it, I must admit. I don't know, there might be people out there who say that you shouldn't do it with Buddy. So I think, generally, I don't like it - particularly with the Beatles stuff. With the Buddy Holly stuff I do have the right to sort of let people use it, 'cause we're the publishers of that, we can do it. Although McCartney has been outspoken regarding the use of his Beatles songs in advertisements and movies, he admits that its a slippery slope for him when dealing with Buddy's legendary tunes: “It really is very difficult. One of McCartney's first major publishing acquisitions for his company MPL Communications was the Buddy Holly catalogue. John, of course couldn't see a bloody thing - he really was very short-sighted - so, he was very pleased when Buddy came around, 'cause he (could) actually put his horn-rims on and felt like a dude.” 'Cause John had big horn-rimmed glasses that he always had to take off when we played or when there were girls around. And I remember John being particularly pleased - he could now put his glasses on.
McCartney recalled that apart from songwriting, Buddy Holly actually inspired him and John Lennon in other ways: “The thing about Buddy was, whereas Elvis (Presley) was this unattainable, gorgeous, god Buddy was the boy next door. And a lot of it still plays now, still sounds good.” It's very evocative for those of us who were around then. Paul McCartney has without a doubt been the biggest champion for Buddy Holly's music over the decades: “It's great music, Buddy's. And he was very big in England, I think he toured only once I saw him on stage. And he wrote all these songs in a very short period of time, and they're all very simple. Mick Jagger explained Buddy Holly's influence on all the future British Invasion rockers: “Every English person you talk to, from my generation, at least, will tell you that Buddy Holly was - he was a big influence as a songwriter. Alright,” “Rave On,” “Everyday,” “True Love Ways,” “Heart Beat,” and “It Doesn't Mater Anymore,” inspired a generation of acts including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Searchers, the Who, the Hollies, who named themselves in tribute to him, and most importantly, the Beatles. Holly's hit singles and album tracks, both with and without his backing band the Crickets, such as “That'll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Rave On,” “Maybe Baby,” “Oh Boy!,” “Think It Over,” “Well. Holly's death while on tour with the 1959 Winter Dance Party remains one of music's greatest losses. “ Big Bopper” Richardson, was arguably rock n' roll's first singer-songwriter. Holly, who would die tragically on February 3rd, 1959, at the age of 22 in plane crash with Ritchie Valens and J.P. Here’s the playlist.Today (September 7th) marks what would have been Buddy Holly's 85th birthday. About the list: a decade-plus later, it’s kind of hard to imagine any of this music was once ‘alternative.’ Because of that, I got a little liberal with my definition of what that means (though I did attempt to stay as… alt as possible). Or maybe I left out your favorite songs and you’d like to yell at me/ politely ask me to add them in the comments. (I know, right? Me, emotional? What are the odds?) This is basically the soundtrack to my high school experience - or as I like to refer to it, that four years I spent smoking weed in other people’s cars. I got emotional compiling this week’s playlist.