The day the music died.

We all lost the coin toss.

I bought a box LP set several years ago which includes most everything Buddy ever recorded. Does anyone know of something similar available on CD?

Elvis was bigger than Buddy, but I will always think that Buddy had a much greater influence (and still does) on music and rock.

I have that box (The Complete Buddy Holly) as well.When MCA released it they claimed it was everything.Within months they "found" some more material which became the LP "For the First Time Anywhere".Recently someone gave me a 5 CD-R boot set.Seems to have twenty minutes worth of either Radio announcements of the plane crash or Station IDs.However the most interesting thing to me are the multitudinous versions of RnB tunes reworked into a fusion with country music.Holly seemed to really make it work for me,more so than the Everly's or their later imitators The Flying Burrito Bros.As for the oft asked question "What would Buddy have done given the opportunity?" He was working on pop drivel when he passed.If he couldn't get away from that he may have ended up doing the Superbowl halftime show like the rest of the hasbeens.

Waylon, who was playing bass for Buddy.
But, Audiofeil said it best.

Buddy's two biggest quantifiable achievements:

1 - Being the first pop/rock star to write his own material

2 - popularizing the standard 4-piece rock band setup.

Favorite song: Everyday

No Buddy = nothing would be as it is

I'm sure you all know that the Beatles took their name from the Crickets.