American rock Building Sound and the polished production values of soul, have been seen as influencing the Merseybeat sound, particularly the early work of The Beatles, and through them and others the form of later rock music. Some historians of music have also pointed to important and innovative technical developments that built on rock and roll in this period, particularly the Wall of Sound pursued by Phil Spector. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash,
White Lightning (The Big Bopper song) music historian Colin Escott writes, "Ironically, it became the pop hit Mercury had been hoping for all long...George hee-hawed it up in a giddy, bilbous frenzy." The song gave Jones, a notorious critic of pop-country crossovers in his later years, the best showing he would ever achieve on the pop chart as well, peaking at No. 73. White Lightning (The Big Bopper song) "White Lightning" is a song written by the rockabilly artist J. P. Richardson, best known by his stage name, the Big Bopper. The song was recorded by American country music artist George Jones and released as a