53 years ago today, Richie Valens, The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly perished in a plane crash. Is “American Pie” your 1st exposure to the event? It is for me. (I’m almost 34)
Drove my Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry…
I have some of Richie Valens’ and Buddy Holly’s original 45’s, so American Pie is pretty recent.
Moving to Cafe Society from MPSIMS.
It was for me as well. I’m 26 and grew up listening to the same oldies radio station as my parents so I suppose it isn’t surprising.
The first recollection of the event I have was in grade 8, circa 1975. Our teacher played music during art class. Although he let us bring in our own, he played some of his. “Chantilly Lace” (Big Bopper) was one of the records he played, along with accompanying stories about the crash.
I had heard “American Pie” before but had no friggin’ clue what any of the lyrics in the song were about.
(I still remember scoffing at some of the terrible music he forced us to listen to: stuff like Kris Kristofferson, Simon and Garfunkel, Carole King. You know, all that shitty old fogy stuff when we wanted to listen to Kiss and Elton John.)
I had probably heard the song before I learned about it, but I got to know the event through my dad showing me The Buddy Holly Story. It would be many more years before I understood Gary Busey.
I visited Clear Lake during the first few days in Feb. 2007. It was extremely cold when I was there, wind chill was -30 when we went to the crash site. It’s in the middle of a corn field, there’s a marker with tokens/offerings placed around/on it.
The Surf Ballroom has a big 50’s in February party ever year, it’s really cool, man. Poodle skirts, saddle shoes, bobby sox, etc.
I took a lot of pictures, some are here.
My first exposure was the La Bamba movie
I just went to the Surf Ballroom and the crash site this past weekend. The Surf was really neat. If you go to the crash site, bring comfortable shoes as it’s in the middle of the fence line of a corn field and you have to walk to it. I would imagine that farmer isn’t too happy about it, but he’s had many years to get used to it.
Oh, hey I get it now. I was like 11 when it came out and thought it was the biggest pile of steaming non-sequiturial shite I’d ever heard in my life.
I cast doubt upon your claim that you opined this as an 11-year-old, good sir. 
Since I was seven when it happened, I don’t recall hearing about it then. I probably became aware of it during my teens, when I started to listen to rock (including oldies like Holly’s, the Bopper’s, and Valens’ hits).
I always knew the song but read a Buddy Holly biog a dozen or more years ago and got hooked, bought a few CDs. I’m still a big fan. I’d love to visit Clear Lake but I doubt I ever will. I remember when I was in the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC in '99 one of the clips I looked at was Buddy on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Buddy Holly was, in my own evaluation, the only real challenger to Elvis. I was a moderate fan before he died. Not so much the other two. I was throwing papers in the rain, singing Raining in my Heart when I heard the news. Sad day indeed. I never quite felt the Music had died, though. Just Buddy.
I believe him. I knew him and his stuffed tiger Hobbs.
I read about it in Lillian Roxon’s Rock Encyclopedia in 1969. The song came out in 1971.
I remember it well. My mother loved the Big Bopper. I came down for breakfast and she was listening to the radio, Wally Phillips probably, and turned to me and said that the Big Bopper had died. I was about 8. I was shocked because famous people werent supposed to die in plane crashes.
“American Pie” was my first knowledge of this day, but I also watched “The Buddy Holly Story”, and recently saw a musical based on this.
Just last week on the radio, I heard an interview with the optometrist who got Buddy to wear those trademark glasses.