Some commentators have suggested a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s . By 1959 , the deaths of Buddy Holly , The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash ( February 1959 ) , the departure of Elvis for service in the United States Army ( March 1958 ) , the retirement of Little Richard to become a preacher ( October 1957 ) , the scandal surrounding Jerry Lee Lewis ' marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin ( May 1958 ) , the arrest of Chuck Berry ( December 1959 ) , and the breaking of the Payola scandal implicating major figures , including Alan Freed , in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs ( November 1959 ) , gave a sense that the initial phase of rock and roll had come to an end
a plane crash
The Day the Music Died
Rock and roll