Pop Culture Affidavit Episode 94: The Day the Music Died

Sixty years ago today, rock and roll lost three of its earliest stars when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash. In this episode, I take a look back at that event by focusing on how I learned about it as a kid in the 1980s and teenager in the 1990s. I begin by talking about my history with each of the artists and that era of music and then spend time going through the event via the 1999 episode of VH-1’s Behind the Music. Finally, I look at the song that gave “The Day the Music Died” its name: Don McLean’s “American Pie”.

Check out the blog for show notes, and don’t forget that you can email me at popcultureaffidavit@gmail.com!

About Post Author

Tom Panarese

A dear friend once said to me: “It’s a lot of fun when everyone’s a dork of some sort or another.” As I look back on my life as a dork, I realize that not only have I geeked out, but not in the right way. My taste, you see, isn’t great. But instead of hiding from that, I’ve decided to embrace it. Part commentary, part memoir, this is an exploration of my weird love for the obscure and for those things that sorta suck.

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