Buddy Holly and the Beatles

Essay # 1872

Music Studies > Contemporary

A look at Buddy Holly and his influence on the musical style of the Beatles.

1,285 words () | 4 sources | 2000

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at Buddy Holly's influence on the music of the Beatles. It shows that Buddy Holly's influence and courage to experiment and innovate led the Beatles to their own innovation and impact on the pop music scene; enabling them to make significant contributions to opening up rock and roll to the British and the world, making it not just a regional American sound, but an international phenomena.

From the Paper:

"Working within his rock band, "The Crickets," Buddy Holly's unique approach to his music, with his new and ground-breaking vocal style and guitar technique would become the example to be followed, imitated and would set a standard that would be built upon by other artists including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and particularly groups and artists comprising the "British Invasion" of the American music scene in the "60s." Mixing elements of country, Rhythm and Blues, blues, rockabilly, gospel, and pop, Holly developed a musical hybrid, resulting in a body of work that is as fresh today as it was in the 1950s.
His groundbreaking attitude toward experimenting and breaking out of set styles and formulas gave other music writers and performers the courage to do so as well, during a time when artists were encouraged to stick to "what works" and "what sells records." The Beatles, too, were a different type of band that would also forever influence the development of music. When they first began playing together, they played mostly covers of other groups' hit songs, from a variety of genres; part of their initial success came from their borrowing or dubbing over music which had already been a hit for other artists."