10 Most Heartbreaking Tragedies In Rock Music
6. The Day The Music Died
The beginnings of rock and roll truly felt electric at the best of times. Whereas most music at the time was coming out of the big band scene, the sounds of Chuck Berry and Little Richard were bound to lead us into the next generation without a care in the world. Though Buddy Holly fit comfortably in this scene, things took a turn for the worse during a tour one winter evening.
Traveling with fellow rocker Richie Valens and radio DJ the Big Bopper, Holly decided to split the travel between plane and car, with Holly boarding the aircraft. Though everything seemed to be going fine at first, the cold winter air caused the wings to freeze up midway through their flight, with Holly, Valens, and the Big Bopper perishing in the crash not too long after taking off.
For the rest of the rock world, this became known as the Day the Music Died, with some of the genre's premier stars dying in a flash. As opposed to the more care-free nature of the music, this is the moment where rock got a bit too real for some to take, with some even vacating the music business due to how tragic it was. The age of rock and roll would soon be revived by the British Invasion bands like the Beatles and the Stones, but for a short time, this seemed to be the end of the innocent side of rock and roll.