Sixty-six years ago today, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper died when their plane crashed following a show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. It’s a seminal moment in Boomer mythology that Don McLean coined “The Day the Music Died” in his 1971 hit “American Pie,” which basically invented the entire concept of Sixties nostalgia prior to Grease, Happy Days, and American Graffiti. The tragedy was also documented in countless books and articles, including this stellar Rolling Stone piece by Jonathan Cott in 2009, and dramatized in the 1978’s The Buddy Holly Story and 1987’s La Bamba.
Courtesy of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum
If all of this wasn’t enough, The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has rolled out the news that Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper are now getting their own officially licensed bobbleheads. “Both bobbleheads feature the musicians standing on bases bearing their names and holding guitars in poses that replicate iconic photos,” reads a press release. “The bobbleheads, which will be individually numbered to 2,025, are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store. The bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in June, are $30 each, plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order.”
“We’re excited to unveil the first bobbleheads celebrating music legends Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said in a statement. “Taken far too early, both musicians made lasting marks and the bobbleheads will be must-haves for music fans.”
The absence of a Buddy Holly bobblehead is quite glaring, and we can only assume his estate was less amenable to the idea than reps for Valens and the Big Bopper. The Valens camp is also prepping another biopic with the cooperation of original La Bamba director Luis Valdez. “Together with the rock and roll classics of Ritchie Valens, my 1987 biopic ‘La Bamba’ has graciously withstood the test of time,” Valdez said in a statement. “And yet, the tragically short life and career of Richard Valenzuela continues to inspire new generations of fans the world over. As new biographical details have come to light, a new cinematic look at his eternally young seventeen years on earth can only add to his undying legend.”
We have little doubt that Valdez means well, but we’d prefer to see a biopic about The Big Bopper (Hellloooo Baaaabbbby: The Big Bopper Story?, maybe?) before a second Valens film.
And shouldn’t Roger Peterson, who piloted the plane, get a movie too? He made some pretty serious mistakes that day that forever changed rock history, but almost nothing is know about his life prior to the accident. A movie could change that. But if a Peterson flick isn’t in the cards, can’t the fine people at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum at least…give him a bobblehead?
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