31. How a Last Minute Laundry Run Changed the History of Rock & Roll
February 2nd, 1959, was a school night, but 1100 teenagers crammed into the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, for a pair of sold-out shows. They screamed for budding stars like Buddy Holly (of “That’ll be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” fame), Richie Valens (“La Bamba” and “Donna“), and the Big Bopper (“Chantilly Lace“), who were making their way through the Midwest as part of the Mid Winter Party tour. The musicians had been traveling by bus for over a week, and it had already broken down. Between sets, Buddy Holly asked people to join him on a charter plane he had hired to fly him to Fargo, North Dakota – the closest airport to their next show in Moorhead, Minnesota.
It was the 11th night of the tour, they were tired, had not yet been paid, and were feeling grimy, because nobody had yet had a chance to clean their clothes. Holly’s pitch for a plane ride that would get them to Moorhead early so they could do laundry and catch up on some rest was appealing. It was a small plane with only enough space for three passengers, so Holly’s bass player gave up his seat to the Big Boppa, who had a cold, while his guitar player lost a coin toss to Valens for the final seat. At midnight, the musicians boarded the plane, piloted by an exhausted but star-struck 21-year-old, who agreed to fly them. They flew into a blizzard and crashed, killing the three emerging stars in what came to be known as “The Day the Music Died“.
