A list of references, parodies, shout-outs, homages... to Ritchie Valens.
- In One-Trick Pony, Valens is mentioned while the band members are listing dead rock stars.
- Tin Men: Mouse is always playing "La Bamba" on the jukebox at the diner, or singing it, to Tilley's annoyance.
- "Donna" was used in an episode of That '70s Show where Donna and Eric broke up.
Music
- "Three Stars" by Eddie Cochran is a tribute to Buddy Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper. Cochran's voice audibly cracks at several points in the song. What's worse, the poor guy had do record several takes...and would die young in an accident himself in 1960, only a year after the trio went.
- Don McLean's American Pie is about the deaths of Buddy Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper.
- "Boogie With Stu" from Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti was inspired by Valens' "Oooh My Head".
- "Weird Al" Yankovic spoofed "La Bamba" as "Lasagna".
- Clone High: In one scene a clone of Buddy Holly invites Abe to ride on a broken-down plane along with Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, Jim Croce, and half of Lynyrd Skynyrd... all of whom had their real-life counterparts die in plane crashes.
- Pepper Ann: In "Cold Feet" a flashback shows a pregnant young Grandma planning to leave for a flight with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the The Big Bopper, but then she goes into labor before she can leave.
- The Simpsons: In Sideshow Bob Roberts Bart and Lisa discover that Sideshow Bob filled in the names of deceased people to win the popular vote, including Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. A close-up of The Big Bopper's gravestone shows that his epitaph is: "Gooooodbye baby!"
- An Itchy & Scratchy cartoon in "C.E.D'oh" has Scratchy go aboard the plane that carried Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper, who somehow turned out to be vampires too.
