Buddy Holly, J.P (Big Bopper) Richardson, Ritchie Valens and a 21-year-old pilot died early on this day in 1959 near Clear Lake, Iowa, as the small plane they were traveling in crashed on a snowy night.

Here’s Holly and his Crickets with “Not Fade Away:”

Our ideas can save democracy... But we need your help! Donate Now!

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York Magazine; a longtime contributor to the Washington Monthly; and a former policy adviser to three governors and a U.S. senator from his home state of Georgia.