# Buddy Holly: Would he have been more like Elvis or Bill Haley? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640 "2017-03-07T19:48:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/1 "2017-03-07T19:48:09Z")
This is, obviously, all speculation. Let’s pretend Buddy Holly didn’t die in 1959. The plane he was in took off and landed without incident. No music died that day. Given his talent, what would his career have been like? Was he someone like Elvis, who had a multi-year, influential career? Or was he more like Bill Haley, someone who produced a few classic songs but ended up not having the kind of career longevity (and multi-faceted career) that Elvis did? I guess the subquestion here is: How singular a talent was Holly, and how influential was he likely to be based on that talent alone? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/2 "2017-03-07T19:50:39Z")
More like Haley, I’d say. With all due respect to him, I’m not sure that Holly’s talent and style were nearly as enduring as Elvis’s. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/3 "2017-03-07T20:04:40Z")
Buddy wrote his songs and kept an eye out for his business. Maybe more like a Paul Anka or Smokey Robinson, who ended up songwriters and music professionals as well as performers. Or Johnny Cash, who was big, then faded, then had a big comeback or two. Nothing like either Haley or Elvis, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/4 "2017-03-07T20:08:56Z")
I think Holly would have had a long career, but certainly not as a superstar like Elvis. Holly was a better songwriter than Haley (Haley’s biggest hits were cover songs), and he could have adjusted to changing tastes. He would have had a fairly productive career. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/5 "2017-03-07T20:19:46Z")
Yeah, there’s a false dichotomy there. It’s like saying that player X is a good player but would he ever become Babe Ruth as if that’s the only mark for stardom. Holly would have made a more palatable Chuck Berry. Both led ensembles, both wrote original songs and both were very talented at both. A decent career at the top of the charts, then a fade and occasional comeback tour with some critical attention. That’s not the worst legacy to have. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/6 "2017-03-07T20:25:09Z")
Just to be clear, “more like” was intended to position Haley and Presley as opposite ends of a spectrum. I figured Holly would end up somewhere between the two, and not being as influential as Elvis isn’t some kind of slam. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/7 "2017-03-07T20:32:52Z")
Much _better_ than Elvis. A very respected, hit making talent for a couple of decades or so. Holly had the recording acumen to stay apace of the changes in music in the 1960s and record newer sounding music. It’d probably be in the late 70s before he turned to “just the hits” concerts and generic collaborations. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/8 "2017-03-07T21:04:10Z")
I have a hunch (nothing more than that) that Holly would have turned back toward his country roots and become more of a Willy Nelson or Hank Williams type star. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/9 "2017-03-07T21:14:56Z")
Look at how many people have covered Holly’s tunes. Live longer, write more tunes, make mucho dinero. He’d probably come out and perform once in a while, but he would have been set just from royalties. Assuming that he didn’t get screwed like so many artists of that era did. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/10 "2017-03-07T21:26:59Z")
His big mistake would have been when he got contact lenses. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/11 "2017-03-07T21:35:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > More like Haley, I’d say. With all due respect to him, I’m not sure that Holly’s talent and style were nearly as enduring as Elvis’s. But it factually _was_ quite enduring, in this universe. What about not dying would make him less popular today? In death, Buddy Holly seems to be _the_ number 2 white rock icon of the 1950s, and I’m not so sure that changes if he lives. He could have gone psychedelic or folky or something and either alienated some fans or jolted his career over and above its already lofty position. But I don’t think there is anything he could have done to make his existing music _less_ popular than it is today. At worst, you get a late career slump and a bunch of fans saying “remember when Buddy Holly was _great_?” Kinda like Bob Dylan, for awhile. Or for a more realistic comparison, how about Roy Orbison or Johnny Cash? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/12 "2017-03-07T22:00:45Z")
> [@Interrobang](#): > > Just to be clear, “more like” was intended to position Haley and Presley as opposite ends of a spectrum. I figured Holly would end up somewhere between the two, and not being as influential as Elvis isn’t some kind of slam. I can’t think of any spectrum where Haley is at one end and Presley is at the other. What are the parameters? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/13 "2017-03-07T22:00:53Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > But it factually _was_ quite enduring, in this universe. What about not dying would make him less popular today? In death, Buddy Holly seems to be _the_ number 2 white rock icon of the 1950s, and I’m not so sure that changes if he lives. He could have gone psychedelic or folky or something and either alienated some fans or jolted his career over and above its already lofty position. > > But I don’t think there is anything he could have done to make his existing music _less_ popular than it is today. At worst, you get a late career slump and a bunch of fans saying “remember when Buddy Holly was _great_?” Kinda like Bob Dylan, for awhile. Or for a more realistic comparison, how about Roy Orbison or Johnny Cash? Holy shit! Buddy Holly woulda dropped acid! 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/14 "2017-03-07T22:18:18Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Holy shit! Buddy Holly woulda dropped acid! > > 😉 😃 For all that, he could have invented psychedelic music. Wrote the alt-history version of Sgt Pepper ahead of the Beatles. He could have single-handedly drove back the British invasion, made the Beatles and the Stones just local bands with medium success. Opened AND closed Woodstock. He also would have cured cancer. I mean, since we’re speculating. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/15 "2017-03-07T22:33:40Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > made the Beatles and the Stones just local bands with medium success. The Stones would have been better as just a local band. I had always _thought_ that way until I heard a nice raucous bar-blues song that I didn’t know who it was by and when it turned out to be by the Stones my suspicions were confirmed. Then again I don’t like to go to venues of more than a few hundred people so I may be biased. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/16 "2017-03-07T22:36:42Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Buddy wrote his songs and kept an eye out for his business. Maybe more like a Paul Anka or Smokey Robinson, who ended up songwriters and music professionals as well as performers. Or Johnny Cash, who was big, then faded, then had a big comeback or two. I can definitely see this. He was already maturing and changing as a performer, songwriter, and producer before his death – for example, [“It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOTv9jY4X5E) (released around the time of his death) is considerably different from his early hits, like [“That’ll Be the Day.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq9FCBatl3A) I suspect that he would have continued to change and innovate, and I see no reason why he couldn’t have had a long, influential career in the music industry, in some capacity. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/17 "2017-03-07T23:39:21Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > … Wrote the alt-history version of Sgt Pepper ahead of the Beatles … Yes. And here’s the video of that: [https://youtu.be/AsPJq0Xomxw](https://youtu.be/AsPJq0Xomxw) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/18 "2017-03-08T02:19:24Z")
Perhaps the career of Neil Sedaka serves as something of a template: > **[Neil Sedaka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Sedaka)** > > Neil Sedaka (/səˈdækə/; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard "Howie" Greenfield and Phil Cody. > After a short-lived tenure as a founding member of the doo-wop group the Tokens, Sedaka achieved a string of hit singles over the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Oh! C... ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/19 "2017-03-08T02:33:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The Stones would have been better as just a local band. I had always _thought_ that way until I heard a nice raucous bar-blues song that I didn’t know who it was by and when it turned out to be by the Stones my suspicions were confirmed. Then again I don’t like to go to venues of more than a few hundred people so I may be biased. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if you can’t recognize the Stones when you hear them (who else sounds like Jagger?) then you may not be qualified to comment. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640/20 "2017-03-08T02:45:59Z")
Don’t forget Holly was only 22 when he died in 1959. He wrote a number of classics in his short life. I suspect he would have been a major artist in the 60s. I am guessing he would have trouble keeping up with changing tastes in the 70s but you never know. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-holly-would-he-have-been-more-like-elvis-or-bill-haley/781640.md?page=2)