Buddy Holly's Galaxy

I had a random thought tonight while eating dinner at the Galaxy Diner in Flagstaff. The diner, located along the old Route 66, is a really fantastic rendition of the "classic 50s" style diner with all the minutiae that entails. While gazing at the picture below, hung with the Marilyn shrine, I noticed that "Peggy Sue" was playing over the house radio. It was then that I thought, why isn't Buddy Holly or Ritchie Valens ever included in these old tribute montages of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, or Elvis? Buddy and Ritchie died as tragically as any of these guys and their futures were just a promising?



My siblings and I are well versed in Buddy Holly because of the long road trips we used to take as kids. My dad listened to cassettes of all the oldies on these trips: The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys. But most of all he listened to Buddy Holly. My dad grew up in Buddy's hometown of Lubbock, Texas, so he is naturally a big fan. Around west Texas, Buddy is the progenitor of Rock-n-Roll. So it's always been an enigma to me why someone of such great influence on music, who died so tragically, is never included in these kitschy pantheons of 50s inconography. Maybe that's just it. He wasn't kitschy.