Its kind of hard to be a Buddy Holly fan and not have some appreciation for the other two artists that died with him that fateful February night.Im sure that everyone on this board has heard La Bamba or Chantilly Lace, so my question is, which artist, musically or personally, is to your preferance? You dont need to necesarily be a fan of one of them, mabey just like some select songs,but Im sure everyone swings one way or the other.By now Im sure everyone knows that Im a huge Ritchie Valens fan, so theres no need to go into depth there.Im just curious as to if there are any others, or if we got any Bopper fans on the board.Afterall, its all good rock n roll right?

Well, this is an easy one... Ritchie, of course, was an actual musician, and a pretty damn good guitarist, who had good control of his voice.

J.P. Richardson was, let's face it, a comedian DJ who did a funny local radio show in Beaumont, Texas. I know there are Big Bopper fans out there who howl, "He was so much more than a DJ, dammit! He was an accomplished songwriter, and, and, and..."

But J.P. Richardson was a big ham, who wrote childish novelty songs... He ad-libbed his lyrics, and he couldn't even lip-sync Chantilly Lace because he couldn't remember his own ad-libs! No joke.

I mean, the Big Bopper never suspected that Chantilly Lace was going to be a hit... Chantilly Lace was written and recorded hastily as the B-side for another song that J.P. thought was going to be a real hit.

What was the A-side song that J.P. thought was going to catapult him to fame? The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor... It was ghastly. J.P. and his radio pals down in Texas had to publish it themselves--big labels wouldn't touch it. Finally, some DJ somewhere turned the awful single over and played its B-side, Chantilly Lace... And the rest, as they say, is history.

Ritchie Valens has got my vote, though I ashamedly admit the only songs I have heard by him are La Bamba and Donna, and once the cover of Crying Waiting Hoping, but he was a good performer, especially for a kid of 17. He had the same kind of energy that Buddy did, and look at where that got Buddy. In addition, all the more power to him for being Latin American, which is why we probably see people like Ricky Martin (just bearly bearable) and Enrique Iglasis (double gag-I think I'm going to throw up) on the scene. Don't get me wrong, Ritchie was talent. The latin singers mentionned above, leave a little bit, no, more like a lot to be desired.
The Big Bopper, I don't know enough about him to make a call, though he probably would have shown up in some magazone article titled 'where are they now-one hit wonders'-no disrespect intended, because if he could get to the same status as Buddy and Ritchie, well, even for a one hit wonder that's pretty good. But we never know what would have happened, maybe with his DJing skills he would have been a top producer, so I try to refrain from harsh judgement.

If you like La Bamba or Donna, then you have to get Ritchie Valens:From the Original Gold Star Studios Master Tapes. It left me completly speechless, which is a feat that only Buddy himself has been able to accomplish. Its got such a uniquely raw and uncut sound, and Ritchies dense high-toned voice, which isnt really displayed on either Donna or La Bamba, really becomes apparent.Where have you heard that Crying Waiting Hoping cover? Thats one of my favourite Buddy songs, and I would love to see how Ritchie handled it, they're voices are so different, it would be something to hear.
As for The Big Bopper, well, I too dont know too much about him, so Im going to go easy.But your right, its more than likley that he would have simply become a one hit wonder before fizzling into oblivion. Perhaps, and i mean no disrespect in saying this, the best thing he did for his career was boarding that airplane. Every time Buddy Holly or Ritchie Valens is mentioned, you'll hear about The Big Bopper.He kind of got a free ticket to eternal fame in the fact that he died with the Buddy Holly. But it makes me relly mad when people say that Ritchie was in the same boat as the Big Bopper, in that hes riding solely on Buddys fame. While, granted, Buddy was around for alot longer and was more famous, Ritchie had three hit songs on the charts, and was quite famous in his own right. I have no doubt that, should he have lived, Ritchie Valens would almost have the same amount of musical influence today that Buddy has.I mean, he was already an innovator in the fact that he was a Mexican, and that he made a folk song sung completly in Spanish an international hit. But, no matter what he may have done in life, hes still one of the guys that died with Buddy Holly. I guess its pretty hard not to be stereotyped when you died with a ledgend of such epic porportions.

Ritchie Valens.

>>I mean, he was already an innovator in the fact that he was a Mexican, and that he made a folk song sung completly in Spanish an international hit.<<

It was an especially daring move for Ritchie, because he didn't speak Spanish. After he started moving into and up the charts, people would come up to him and greet him in Spanish (or, actually, Mexican, which is different), and Ritchie would just shrug his shoulders, "I don't speak Spanish."

The story goes, when he wanted to do La Bamba as a Latino rock song, he had to consult his aunt, who wrote out all the lyrics and taught him how to pronounce them. So, this Mexican kid was faking the lyrics, because he couldn't speak the language! Hilarious.

quote:

people would come up to him and greet him in Spanish (or, actually, Mexican, which is different)...

No, it's not, it's the same thing. So Americans don't speak English, they in fact speak American?

It's not the same thing at all. Have you ever taken a conversational Spanish class, then travelled down to Mexico expecting to carry on a conversation? You can't do it. The Español spoken in Mexico is so mutated, and broken into so many dialects across the country, that people who live in Mexico can't travel 200 miles inside their own country without hitting a language barrier. And formal European Spanish is like something else altogether---native Mexicans will just look at you funny if you address them in formal Spanish.

As for American English, it's actually better than the mother tongue, but I've seen Brits and Yanks hit the language barrier on many occasions---mainly due to dialect.

quote:

Originally posted by strong_luis:
No, it's not, it's the same thing. So Americans don't speak English, they in fact speak American?

Although this is totally straying from topic, I do totally agree on this. As a Canadian, I find it rather amusing that Americans don't use the same slang as us-tuque, eh, zed (instead of zee) and just different ways of pronouncing roof, about, the list goes on.
For not being able to speak Spanish, Ritchie Valens did a great job on La Bamba. There is a clip on the net of John Mueller's THe Winter Dance Party, and a clip of an actor playing Ritchie while singing La Bamba. While Ritchie could convince me at least that if not his first language, Spanish was his second, it was obvious this acotr had never spoken Spanish before. (though I know the same goes for Ritchie to an extent, he just did a better job convincing me than this actor that played him.)

quote:

Originally posted by Charles Austin:
It's not the same thing at all. Have you ever taken a conversational Spanish class, then travelled down to Mexico expecting to carry on a conversation? You can't do it. The Español spoken in Mexico is so mutated, and broken into so many dialects across the country, that people who live in Mexico can't travel 200 miles inside their own country without hitting a language barrier. And formal European Spanish is like something else altogether---native Mexicans will just look at you funny if you address them in formal Spanish.

As for American English, it's actually better than the mother tongue, but I've seen Brits and Yanks hit the language barrier on many occasions---mainly due to dialect.

Mexicans, speak Spanish not Mexican. Yes, it varies from the Spanish spoken in Spain, but other countries are also different. Cuba also speaks differently than Spaniards, but I wouldn't call it Cuban.

Well, this is not even an issue---When a common language becomes so mutated from one geographic location to another that the speakers can't even communicate, then it's no longer a common language.

For instance, a while back I asked somebody to check my Spanish---I work in marketing, and while I can transcribe various languages easily enough, I need somebody fluent to double check my grammar, punctuation, etc. So, I asked this chick at work to proof my stuff.

After about a minute of squinting and mouthing the words she was reading, she looked at me and said, "Sorry, I can't read it very well." I thought I had done something wrong, but she said it was written in Mexican, and she was Guatemalan. I thought that Spanish was Spanish, but she set me straight mui pronto...

She was wrong in calling it Mexican. I understand that she may had a little trouble reading a different form of Spanish, but again it's not Mexican.

I agree that languages do change from the mother country. Im a Canadian, and I dont use any of the common slang from Britain(mind you, Im not British) But I also dont say eh, or aboot, or any of the precieved Canadian vocabulary. I think that Spanish does vary between Mexico and Spain, because I've been to Mexico, and know a bit of Spanish, and alot of the times whenever I said something they had to think for a second before answering. But I dont think it varies so much where if a Mexican went to Spain they wouldnt be able to communicate. Its still Spanish, just with a little variation on some of the vocabulary. Just like Canada and Britain. Same languages, just a little different in slang and basic vocabulary.

Yup.

i like ritchie valens but i am voting for The big bopper as i love his song chantilly lace....its one of tose songs which if you hear it..it will stick in your head for the whole day