ALLISON FADES AWAY
As “would Buddy Holly still be alive today had he taken the damn bus?” remains one of the great what-ifs of music deaths, one of his few remaining collaborators dies some 63 years later. Jerry Allison was the last surviving founding member of the Crickets, typically playing drums on their iconic records and more minimalistically slapping his knees on “Everyday” and banging a cardboard box on “Not Fade Away”. “That’ll Be the Day”, “Think It Over”, and “Peggy Sue” were all co-composed by Allison, and the lyrics to the last one were partially inspired by his relationship with his future wife, the Peggy Sue. For his only charting solo single, Allison deployed a nasal twang on “Real Wild Child” under his middle name Ivan. An Australian rock standard originally recorded by Johnny O’Keefe, others who covered it include everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis (how the fuck is he outliving all the other 50s rock legends?) to Iggy Pop to Sarah Harding. Everything really is connected in deadpooling!
Buddy Holly embarked on a solo career, but planned to reunite with the Crickets before the tragedy succinctly immortalised by Don McLean occurred. Without their horn-rimmed hiccupping frontman, the Crickets remained active and backed artists such as the Everly Brothers and Bobby Vee – the latter’s career was launched when he, a young local Buddy Holly fanboy, subbed in for the remainder of the Winter Dance Party after his idol’s death! With Allison as a constant, the Crickets performed until 2016 and there’s admittedly a bit of “woolly mammoths and Giza pyramids” energy upon realising David Bowie died when the Crickets were still an active band. 26 years after Buddy Holly was inducted solo, the founding Crickets (plus later member Sonny Curtis) got their well-overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. It is sad to see the rock and roll pioneers continue to crumble to history, but his musical legacy shall Rave On for eternity. He was 82 and a unique for, naturally, That’ll Be The Day … That I Die.
Jerry Allison
31 August 1939 – 22 August 2022, aged 82
💀💀💀💀💀💀 + 👻 = 10 POINTS