Prisoners of Rock and Roll is a bi-weekly podcast about music, the people who make it, and the almighty, ever-lasting power it has over all of us. We've covered everything from Anthrax to Frank Sinatra, the history of the blues to the history of punk, and from Johnny Cash to the Joshua Tree. We also play clips, discuss music news, and sentence a song every week to The Electric Chair for being terrible. Check us out -- you might learn something! Check us out at www.prisonersofrockandroll.com.
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episode 32: 32 - The Day the Music Died: American Pie
American Pie by Don McClean is one of the most analyzed songs in rock and roll. This 8 and a half minute song looks at what happened to rock and roll – and America – in the decade after Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash in 1959. Don McClean has never fully explained the meaning of the song but there are references to Bob Dylan, Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, and Janis Joplin, as well as the JFK assassination, communism, the Manson Murders, and tragedy at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival.
On today’s Episode of Prisoners of Rock and Roll, we’re putting American Pie under our musical microscope. We’re going to give our two cents on all of the symbolism in the song, look at what happened in America in the late 50s / early 60s, and talk about the impact of the Day the Music Died.
Part of Pantheon Podcasts.
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