Final answer:
Buddy Holly's tragic plane crash in 1959 marked the end of the first era of rock and roll music, representing a symbolic closure to the genre's initial period of popularity and influence before it transformed and progressed into new styles.
Step-by-step explanation:
End of the First Era of Rock and Roll
The event that marked the end of the first era of rock and roll music was Buddy Holly's tragic plane crash. Buddy Holly, along with Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959, a day often referred to as 'The Day the Music Died.' This event is symbolic of the end of the initial surge of rock and roll's popularity and its first wave of influential artists. While television appearances by artists such as Elvis Presley brought rock and roll into mainstream American culture, and the debut album of The Beatles marked the beginning of a new era in rock music, it was Buddy Holly's death that represented a poignant end to rock's early days. Despite Hollywood's initial struggle with post-World War II changes and the Supreme Court's 1948 antitrust ruling against film studios' control over movie theaters, rock and roll thrived thanks to radio DJs like Alan Freed and television shows that helped promote it to a wider audience.
As rock and roll evolved, it became a form of cultural and social expression that broke racial barriers and conveyed themes of youth, love, and freedom. The Woodstock Festival in 1969 did not signify the end of the first rock era, but rather a high point in rock culture and the embodiment of 1960s' counterculture and youth rebellion at its peak.