{"id":41009,"date":"2024-01-01T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=41009"},"modified":"2023-11-09T18:34:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T23:34:12","slug":"the-day-the-music-died-the-story-of-don-mcleans-american-pie-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/01\/the-day-the-music-died-the-story-of-don-mcleans-american-pie-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean\u2019s American Pie (2022)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cAnd do you believe in rock and roll? Can music save your mortal soul?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Director Mark Moormann\u2019s documentary is probably one of the more interesting stories about one of the most important, if not the most important rock and roll song ever made. Don McLean\u2019s epic ode to \u201cThe Day the Music Died\u201d is a compelling rock epic that bemoans the end of a more innocent time in rock music. This is not only a time where three titans of rock and roll perished in a tragic crash, but it also seemingly ushered in a wave of events that began to change America and society.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the unaware, \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d is a nearly ten minute epic rock song that is an accounting McLean\u2019s life that also interweaves the ripple that the deaths of The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper had on society in 1959. It it\u2019s an allegory not only for the loss of America\u2019s innocence but McLean\u2019s innocence. McLean who saw three rock idols at the beginning of legendary careers suddenly perish, caused him to consider not only his mortality but the concept of mortality in general. Despite the seemingly sad message behind it, \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d is an infinitely catchy, wonderful anthem that you can sing along to. It\u2019s also a notorious ear worm.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something of a bracing reality when our rock idols suddenly die. \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d isn\u2019t just a tale about losing just McLean\u2019s rock idols, but also our personal loss of every generation\u2019s rock idols. \u201cThe Day the Music Died\u201d takes a thoughtful look in to the creation of the song, McLean\u2019s development of the song, and so much more. There are some great interviews but some of the best involve the discussions with the relatives of Valens, The Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly. Holly\u2019s younger sister tearfully recalls hearing about the death of Holly. There are also some vintage interviews with Waylon Jennings who was set to fly on the \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d before he lost the seat to Valens.<\/p>\n

That said Moormann\u2019s documentary does lose steam in the final twenty minutes as he interviews more modern pop stars and their love for the song. As well he pays a visit to the field where the \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d crashed. This might seem like fascinating fodder but it really isn\u2019t. Aside from having McLean sing with him on stage, I didn\u2019t see anything unique about interviewing Garth Brooks in particular. \u201cThe Day the Music Died\u201d is nevertheless an engaging and fascinating look in the conception and continued effect Don McLean\u2019s rock anthem has on the world. It\u2019s a must for any rock and roll buff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd do you believe in rock and roll? Can music save your mortal soul?\u201d \u00a0Director Mark Moormann\u2019s documentary is probably one of the more interesting stories about one of the most important, if not the most important rock and roll song ever made. Don McLean\u2019s epic ode to \u201cThe Day the Music Died\u201d is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1572],"tags":[138,469,698,766,1493],"class_list":["post-41009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-rockandrollny","tag-biography","tag-history","tag-music","tag-performance","tag-rock-and-roll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41011,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41009\/revisions\/41011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}