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Big Star

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Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American power pop band", and "one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll".<ref name="Ankeny" /> In its first era, the band's musical style drew influence from 1960s acts such as the Beatles and the Byrds, pioneering a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Before they broke up, Big Star created a "seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations" according to Rolling Stone.<ref name="BigStarBio" /> Three of Big Star's studio albums are included in Rolling Stone's lists of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Big Star's debut album, 1972's #1 Record, was met with enthusiastic reviews, but ineffective marketing by Stax Records and limited distribution stunted its commercial success. Frustration took its toll on band relations: Bell left not long after the first record's commercial progress stalled, and Hummel left to finish his college education after a second album, Radio City, was completed in December 1973. Like #1 Record, Radio City received critical acclaim upon release,<ref name="Still2014" /> but label issues again thwarted sales—Columbia Records, which had assumed control of the Stax catalog, likewise effectively vetoed its distribution.

After a third album, recorded in the fall of 1974, was deemed commercially unviable and shelved before receiving a title, the band broke up late in 1974. Four years later, the first two Big Star LPs were released together in the UK as a double album. The band's third album was finally issued soon afterward; titled Third/Sister Lovers, it found limited commercial success, but has since become a cult classic. Shortly thereafter, Chris Bell was killed in a car accident at the age of 27. During the group's hiatus in the 1980s, the Big Star discography drew renewed attention when R.E.M. and the Replacements, as well as other popular bands, cited the group as an influence. In 1992, interest was further stimulated by Rykodisc's reissues of the band's albums, complemented by a collection of Bell's solo work.<ref name="Borack" />Template:Rp

In 1993, Chilton and Stephens reformed Big Star with recruits Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies, and played a concert at the University of Missouri.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp The band remained active, performing tours in Europe and Japan,<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp and released a new studio album, In Space, in 2005. Chilton died in March 2010 after suffering from heart problems, with Hummel dying of cancer four months later.<ref name="chiltondeath" /><ref name="hummeldeath" /> These deaths left Stephens as the sole surviving founding member. Big Star was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2014.Template:Cn Since December 2010, several surviving members have appeared in a series of live tribute performances of the album Third/Sister Lovers, under the billing "Big Star's Third".<ref name="VillageVoice2011" /><ref name="Guardian2012" /> Template:As of, that project has remained active.<ref name="BigStarThird2017" />

First era: 1971–1974Edit

Formation of the bandEdit

From 1967 to 1970, Chilton was the lead singer for the blue-eyed soul group the Box Tops, who scored a No. 1 hit with the song "The Letter" when he was 16. After leaving the group, he recorded a solo studio album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp He was offered the role of lead vocalist for Blood, Sweat & Tears, but turned down the offer as "too commercial".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Chilton had known Chris Bell for some time: both lived in Memphis, each had spent time recording music at Ardent Studios,<ref name="Creswell2006" /> and each, when aged 13, had been impressed by the music of the Beatles during the band's 1964 debut U.S. tour.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp A song Chilton wrote nearly six years after he first witnessed a Beatles performance, "Thirteen", referred to the event with the line "rock 'n' roll is here to stay".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

Chilton asked Bell to work with him as a duo modeled on Simon & Garfunkel; Bell declined, but invited Chilton to a performance by his own band, Icewater,<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp composed of Bell, drummer Jody Stephens, and bassist Andy Hummel. Attracted by Icewater's music, Chilton showed the three his new song "Watch the Sunrise", and was asked to join the band.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Both "Watch the Sunrise" and "Thirteen" were subsequently included on Big Star's first album, #1 Record.

The now four-piece band adopted the name Big Star when one member was given the idea from a grocery store often visited for snacks during recording sessions.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp One of many Big Star Markets outlets in the Memphis region at the time, it had a logo consisting of a five-pointed star enclosing the words "Big Star"; as well as the store's name, the band used its logo but without the word "Star" to avoid infringing copyright.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

#1 RecordEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Although all four members contributed to songwriting and vocals on the first album, Chilton and Bell dominated as a duo intentionally modeled on John Lennon and Paul McCartney.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp<ref name="Bogdanov" /> The album was recorded by Ardent founder John Fry, with Terry Manning contributing occasional backing vocals and keyboards. The title #1 Record was decided towards the end of the recording sessions and evinced, albeit as a playful hope rather than a serious expectation, the chart position to be achieved by a big star.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Although Fry—at the band's insistence—was credited as "executive producer", publicly he insisted that "the band themselves really produced these records".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Fry recalled how Ardent, one of the first recording studios to use a sixteen-track tape machine, worked experimentally with the band members: "We started recording the songs with the intent that if it turned out OK we'd put it out [...] I wound up being the one that primarily worked on it: I recorded all the tracks and then they would often come late at night and do overdubs. One by one, they all learned enough engineering."<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

{{#invoke:Listen|main}} Describing the mix of musical styles present on #1 Record, Rolling StoneTemplate:'s Bud Scoppa notes that the album includes "reflective and acoustic" numbers, saying that "even the prettiest tunes have tension and subtle energy to them, and the rockers reverberate with power". Scoppa finds that in each mode, "the guitar sound is sharp-edged and full".<ref name="RS-Miles2003" /> #1 Record was released in June 1972,<ref name="Jovanovic2013" />Template:Rp and quickly received strong reviews. Billboard went as far as to say, "Every cut could be a single". Rolling Stone judged the album "exceptionally good", while Cashbox stated, "This album is one of those red-letter days when everything falls together as a total sound", and called it "an important record that should go to the top with proper handling".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

Proper handling, however, was not forthcoming: Stax Records proved unable to either promote or distribute the record with any degree of success, and even when the band's own efforts to get airplay generated interest, fans were unable to buy it as Stax could not make it available in many stores.<ref name="Simmonds2008" /> Stax, in an effort to improve its catalog's availability, signed a deal with Columbia Records, already successful distributors in the U.S., making Columbia responsible for the entire Stax catalog. But Columbia had no interest in dealing with the independent distributors previously used by Stax and removed even the existing copies of #1 Record from the stores.<ref name="Segalsted2009" />

Radio CityEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The frustration at #1 RecordTemplate:'s obstructed sales contributed to tension within the band. There was physical fighting between members: Bell, after being punched in the face by Hummel, retaliated by smashing Hummel's new bass guitar to pieces against the wall.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Hummel took revenge at a later date: finding Bell's acoustic guitar in the latter's unattended car, he repeatedly punched it with a screwdriver.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp In November 1972, Bell quit the band. When work continued on songs for a second album, Bell rejoined, but further conflict soon erupted. A master tape of the new songs inexplicably went missing, and Bell, whose heavy drug intake was affecting his judgment, attacked Fry's parked car.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp In late 1972, struggling with severe depression, Bell quit the band once more, and by the end of the year Big Star disbanded.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

{{#invoke:Listen|main}} After a few months Chilton, Stephens, and Hummel decided to reform Big Star, and the three resumed work on the second album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp The title chosen, Radio City, continued the play on the theme of a big star's popularity and success, expressing what biographer Robert Gordon calls the band's "romantic expectation".<ref name="Gordon" />Template:Rp As Hummel put it:

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Although uncredited, Bell contributed to the writing of some of the album's songs, including "O My Soul" and "Back of a Car".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Shortly before the album's release, Hummel left the band: judging that it would not last, and in his final year at college, he elected to concentrate on his studies and live a more normal life.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp He was replaced by John Lightman for a short tenure prior to the band dissolving.Template:Cn

Rolling StoneTemplate:'s Ken Barnes, describing the musical style of Radio City, opens by noting as a backdrop that the band's debut, #1 Record, established them as "one of the leading new American bands working in the mid-Sixties pop and rock vein". Radio City, Barnes finds, has "plenty of shimmering pop delights", although "the opening tune, 'O My Soul,' is a foreboding, sprawling funk affair"; Barnes concludes that "Sometimes they sound like the Byrds, sometimes like the early Who, but usually like their own indescribable selves".<ref name="RS-Miles2003" />

Radio City was released in February 1974 and, like #1 Record, received excellent reviews. Record reported, "The sound is stimulating, the musicianship superb, and the result is tight and rollickingly rhythmic."<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Billboard judged it "a highly commercial set".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Rolling StoneTemplate:'s Bud Scoppa, then with Phonograph Record, affirmed, "Alex Chilton has now emerged as a major talent, and he'll be heard from again".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Cashbox called it "a collection of excellent material that hopefully will break this deserving band in a big way".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp But just as #1 Record had fallen victim to poor marketing, so too did Radio City. Columbia, now in complete control of the Stax catalog, refused to process it following a disagreement. Without a distributor, sales of Radio City, though far greater than those of #1 Record, were minimal at only around 20,000 copies.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

Third/Sister LoversEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In September 1974, eight months after the release of Radio City, Chilton and Stephens returned to Ardent Studios to work on a third album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp They were assisted by producer Jim Dickinson and an assortment of musicians (including drummer Richard Rosebrough) and Lesa Aldridge, Chilton's girlfriend, who contributed on vocals.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp The sessions and mixing were completed in early 1975,<ref name="Strong" /> and 250 copies of the album were pressed with plain labels for promotional use.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

Parke Putterbaugh of Rolling Stone described Third/Sister Lovers as "extraordinary". It is, he wrote, "Chilton's untidy masterpiece. [...] beautiful and disturbing"; "vehemently original"; of "haunting brilliance":

To listen to it is to be "plunged into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. Songs are drenched in strings and sweet sentiment one minute, starkly played and downcast the next. No pop song has ever bottomed out more than "Holocaust", an anguished plaint sung at a snail's pace over discordant slide-guitar fragments and moaning cello [...] On the up side, there's the delicious pop minuet "Stroke It Noel", the anticipatory magic of "Nightime" ("Caught a glance in your eyes and fell through the skies," Chilton rhapsodizes) [...] Big Star's baroque, guitar-driven pop reaches its apotheosis on songs like "Kizza Me", "Thank You Friends" and "O, Dana". [...] Without question, Third is one of the most idiosyncratic, deeply felt and fully realized albums in the pop idiom.<ref name="RS-review1997" />

{{#invoke:Listen|main}} Fry and Dickinson flew to New York with promotional copies and met employees of a number of record labels, but could not generate interest in the album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp When a similar promotion attempt failed in California, the album was shelved as it was considered not commercial enough for release.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Fry recalled, "We'd go in and play it and these guys would look at us like we were crazy".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp In late 1974, before the album was even named, the band broke up, bringing Big Star's first era to its end.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Dickinson later said that he was "nailed for indulging Alex on Big Star Third, but I think it is important that the artist is enabled to perform with integrity. What I did for Alex was literally remove the yoke of oppressive production that he had been under since the first time he ever uttered a word into a microphone, for good or ill."<ref name="Burgess2010" />

Since quitting the band in 1972, Bell had spent time in several different countries trying to develop his solo career.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp In 1978, after his return to Memphis, the first two Big Star albums were released together in the U.K. as a double album, drawing enthusiastic reviews and interest from fans.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Soon afterward, Big Star's recognition grew further when, four years after its completion, the third album too was released in both the U.S. and the U.K.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp By now, the hitherto untitled Third/Sister Lovers had become known by several unofficial names, including Third (reflecting its position in the discography), Beale Street Green (acknowledging the legendary site nearby, once a focal point for Memphis blues musicians), and Sister Lovers (because during the album's recording sessions, Chilton and Stephens were dating sisters Lesa and Holliday Aldridge).<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp<ref name="Gordon" />Template:Rp

Not long after the release of Third/Sister Lovers, Bell died in a car accident.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp He apparently lost control of his car while driving alone and was killed when he struck a lamp post after hitting the curb a hundred feet before.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp A blood test found that he was not drunk at the time, and no drugs were found on him other than a bottle of vitamins.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Bell is believed to have either fallen asleep at the wheel or become distracted.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

Second era: 1993–2010Edit

Big Star reformed in 1993 with a new lineup when guitarist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Stringfellow joined Chilton and Stephens. Auer and Stringfellow remained members of the Posies, founded by the pair in 1986. Stringfellow was also known for his work with R.E.M. and the Minus 5. Hummel declined to participate.<ref name="RS-Hummel2010" /> First-era material dominated Big Star's performances, with the occasional addition of a song from the 2005 album In Space.

Stringfellow recalled that during the 1990s, "We were working out the set list and we went to this little cafe. Little did I know we'd be playing that set for the next ten years".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp The resurrected band made its debut at the 1993 University of Missouri spring music festival.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp A recording of the performance was issued on CD by Zoo Records as Columbia: Live at Missouri University.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp The concert was followed by tours of Europe and Japan,<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp as well as an appearance on The Tonight Show.<ref name="BigStarBio" />

File:Big Star at Hyde Park 2.jpg
Alex Chilton in 2009 during a Big Star performance at Hyde Park

Big Star's first post-reunion studio recording was the song "Hot Thing", recorded in the mid-1990s for the Big Star tribute album Big Star, Small World.<ref name="Metz1996" /> As with their prior studio release, however, the tribute album was delayed for years due to its record company going under. Originally scheduled for a 1998 release on Ignition Records, the album was eventually released in 2006 on Koch Records.<ref name="World" />

In Space was released on September 27, 2005, on the Rykodisc label. Recorded during 2004, the album consisted of new material mostly co-written by Chilton, Stephens, Auer, and Stringfellow. Reviewing In Space, Rolling StoneTemplate:'s David Fricke first pointed out that the context of the release was now "a world expecting that American Beatles ideal all over again" from a band that "achieved its power-pop perfection when no one else was looking."<ref name="Fricke-InSpace" /> In Fricke's estimation, this seemingly unrealistic expectation was met in part: "It's here – in the jangly longing and ice-wall harmonies of 'Lady Sweet'" — however, Fricke found that the successful songs were interleaved with "the eccentric R&B and demo-quality glam rock that have made Chilton's solo records a mixed blessing," and that "'A Whole New Thing' starts out like old T.Rex, then goes nowhere special."<ref name="Fricke-InSpace" /> Warming nevertheless to "the rough sunshine" of "Best Chance", Fricke concluded, "In Space is no #1 Record, but at its brightest, it is Big Star in every way."<ref name="Fricke-InSpace" />

The band appeared at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium on October 20, 2007, with Oranger as the opening act.<ref name="Ardent2007" /> Big Star performed at the 2008 Rhythm Festival, staged from August 29–31 in Bedfordshire, U.K. On June 16, 2009, the #1 Record/Radio City double album was reissued in remastered form.<ref name="Amz-RC" /> The same month, it was announced that a film of Big Star's history, based on Rob Jovanovic's book Big Star: The Story of Rock's Forgotten Band, was in pre-production.<ref name="Billboard" /> On July 1, 2009, Big Star performed at a concert in Hyde Park, London, U.K.<ref name="Russo2009" /> On September 15, 2009, Rhino Records issued a four-CD box set containing 98 recordings made between 1968 and 1975. Keep an Eye on the Sky included live and demo versions of Big Star songs, solo work, and material from Bell's earlier bands Rock City and Icewater.<ref name="Billboard" /> On November 18, 2009, the band performed at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in New York City.<ref name="Fricke-No1" />

Post-Chilton releases and tributesEdit

Alex Chilton memorial showsEdit

On March 17, 2010, Chilton suffered a fatal heart attack. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans.<ref name="chiltondeath" /><ref name="Jovanovic2013" />Template:Rp Big Star had been scheduled to play at SXSW Music Festival that same week. The remaining members, joined by special guests original bassist Andy Hummel, M. Ward, Evan Dando, R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills, and Chris Stamey, staged the concert as a tribute to him.<ref name="ChiTrib2010" />

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"Big Star's Third" showsEdit

Four months after Chilton's death, Hummel died of cancer on July 19, 2010. Asked about the band's plans after the death of Chilton and Hummel, Stephens told Billboard, "It's music we all really love to play, and we love to play it together, so we're trying to figure out a way forward where we can keep doing it."<ref name="hummeldeath" /> In a Rolling Stone interview, Stephens said that the May 2010 tribute performance would be the group's final show as Big Star, although not his last show with Auer and Stringfellow, stating, "I can't see us going out as Big Star ... But I would hate to compound the loss of Alex by saying,'That's it' for Ken and Jon, too. I can't imagine not playing with them. There's so much fun—but an emotional bond there too."<ref name="RS-Stephens" />

In December 2010, under the billing "Big Star's Third", Stephens teamed with Mitch Easter, Stamey, and Mills, along with a string section, to perform a live tribute performance of Big Star's album Third/Sister Lovers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.<ref name="VillageVoice2011" /> Joined by additional performers such as Matthew Sweet, Big Star's Third was performed in a similar tribute concert in New York City on March 26, 2011,<ref name="VillageVoice2011" /> and at the Barbican in London on May 28, 2012.<ref name="Guardian2012" /> The project continued with concerts in Chicago and New York in 2013, a January 2014 concert in Sydney, Australia, and a series of U.S. shows that included Seattle's Bumbershoot festival on August 31, 2014.<ref name="BigStarThird2014" /><ref name="BigStarThirdnews" /> In November 2014, Auer and Stringfellow rejoined Stephens, Easter, Stamey, and Mills for a free benefit performance in Athens, Georgia.<ref name="BigStarThirdnews" /> Template:As of, Big Star's Third were still performing.<ref name="BigStarThird2017" />

On April 21, 2017, Concord Records released a Big Star's Third live concert documentary on two DVDs, along with a three-CD live album, both titled Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live... and More.<ref name="Kreps2017" /> The concert was performed in April 2016 at Glendale, California's Alex Theatre.<ref name="Deming2017" />

Posthumous releasesEdit

In June 2011, Ardent Records released the EP Live Tribute to Alex Chilton, and Stephens confirmed on the Ardent blog that the tribute performance in May 2010 was the last performance for Big Star as a band.<ref name="ArdentDavis" /> A documentary titled Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2012), directed by Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori, chronicled the group's career and band members' solo efforts.Template:Citation needed In 2013, the documentary was released in theaters and on DVD, and it had a limited theatrical re-release in England in August 2014.<ref name="bss2014" /> In November 2014, Live in Memphis was released by Omnivore Recordings on CD, vinyl, and as a DVD of Big Star's performance of October 29, 1994, their only known show to be professionally filmed in its entirety.<ref name="Omnivorelive" /> According to Mojo, the DVD documents how Big Star's 1990s lineup defied expectations and endured for another 16 years: "Chilton's musicality is mesmerising as he drives the band. … Alternating between lead and rhythm, he plays with a mix of laser focus and utter insouciant cool."<ref name="Mojo2014" />

Musical style and influencesEdit

Bell took up guitar when 12 or 13, but only on hearing the first Beatles records was he motivated to play the instrument regularly.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp He acted as lead and rhythm guitarist and vocalist for a sequence of bands, performing songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Zombies, and the Animals.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Chilton's first awareness of music came at the age of 6 when his brother repeatedly played a record by the Coasters.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp His father's liking for jazz then exposed him over the next few years to the music of Glenn Miller, Ray Charles, and Dave Brubeck.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Chilton's enthusiasm for music took hold when at age 13 he first heard Beatles records; he recalled having known of 1950s rock 'n' roll, but "by 1959 Elvis was syrup and Jerry Lee was pretty much gone, and the rockabilly thing was sort of over so I didn't get really caught up in the rock scene until the Beatles came along".<ref name="Gordon" />Template:Rp

File:Big Star at Hyde Park 8.jpg
Jody Stephens in 2009 during a Big Star performance at Hyde Park

Chilton took up electric guitar at 13, playing along with Beatles songs, later saying, "I really loved the mid-sixties British pop music [...] all two and a half minutes or three minutes long, really appealing songs. So I've always aspired to that same format, that's what I like. Not to mention the rhythm and blues and the Stax stuff, too".<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Chilton abandoned his guitar-playing during his time with the Box Tops and then took up the instrument again; he met Roger McGuinn, guitarist for the Byrds, and developed particular interest in electric guitar and acoustic folk.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Stephens enjoyed the music of Otis Redding, the Isley Brothers, the Who, the Kinks, and especially the Beatles.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

Hummel likewise was a member of more than one band during his early musical years, again influenced by the Beatles and other British Invasion acts.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp The bassist also played acoustic guitar for personal enjoyment, following the styles of Simon & Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell and using finger-picking techniques to play folk and bluegrass.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Most songs on the first three albums are credited to either Bell/Chilton or Chilton, but some credit Hummel, Stephens and others, as either writer or co-writer. At the only seven live performances in the original era, the last of which took place before the second album's release, all four members contributed vocally.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp

While primarily inspired by the music of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands, acknowledging too the jangle pop and power pop of the period, Big Star also incorporated dark, nihilistic themes to produce a striking blend of musical and lyrical styles.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp<ref name="DeRogatis2003" /> The body of work resulting from the first era was a precursor of the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s,<ref name="Bogdanov" /> at the same time yielding material today considered an outstanding example of power pop.<ref name="Borack" />Template:Rp The stylistic range is evident from modern day critiques. Bogdanov et al., commenting on #1 Record in their All Music Guide to Rock, perceive in "The Ballad of El Goodo" a "luminous, melancholy ballad",<ref name="Bogdanov" /> whereas John Borack's Ultimate Power Pop Guide singles out Radio CityTemplate:'s "September Gurls" as a "glorious, glittering jewel" of power pop.<ref name="Borack" />Template:Rp

Borack notes too that Third/Sister Lovers is "slower, darker and a good deal weirder" than the first two albums, identifying "Holocaust" as "Alex Chilton at his haunting best", yet finds "Thank You Friends" exemplifying "left-field gems" also present in which "the hooks are every bit as undeniable" as before.<ref name="Borack" />Template:Rp Jovanovic writes that when recording what Peter Buckley in his Rough Guide to Rock terms the "snarling guitar rock"<ref name="Buckley" /> of the first album's "Don't Lie to Me", the band, deeming conventional instruments inadequate for the task, wheeled two Norton Commando motorcycles into the studio and gunned the engines to intensify the song's bridge.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Bogdanov et al. reserve "snarl" for a Radio City song, "Mod Lang";<ref name="Bogdanov" /> here Buckley writes that "the power of the performance and the erratic mix gave a sense of chaos which only added to the thrill".<ref name="Buckley" />

Legacy and influenceEdit

Although Big Star's first era came to an end in 1974, the band acquired a cult following in the 1980s when new acts began to acknowledge the early material's significance.<ref name="Shuker2005" /> R.E.M.'s Peter Buck admitted, "We've sort of flirted with greatness, but we've yet to make a record as good as Revolver or Highway 61 Revisited or Exile on Main Street or Big Star's Third. I don't know what it'll take to push us on to that level, but I think we've got it in us."<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Chilton, however, told an interviewer in 1992, "I'm constantly surprised that people fall for Big Star the way they do... People say Big Star made some of the best rock 'n roll albums ever. And I say they're wrong."<ref name="Mojo2009" />

In 2014, Paul Stanley cited Big Star as an influence to early Kiss moments: "We've always been about verses, choruses, bridges (...) It's called a hook for a reason, because it grabs you. And that's my mentality. Give me the Raspberries. Give me Small Faces. Give me Big Star."<ref name="RS-Stanley" />

The band was also an inspiration for the Replacements, who recorded the song "Alex Chilton" on their Pleased to Meet Me album.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

"While the band no longer exists, the music that Alex, Chris, Andy and I originally made together under the auspices of John Fry still calls a community of those of us with like minds to come together and have fun with it," Stephens wrote in 2017 in a note published in the liner notes of The Best of Big Star.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Critics have continued to cite Big Star's first three albums as a profound influence on subsequent musicians. Rolling Stone notes that Big Star "created a seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations of rockers, from the power-pop revivalists of the late 1970s to alternative rockers at the end of the century to the indie rock nation in the new millennium".<ref name="BigStarBio" /> Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, identifies Big Star as "one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll", whose "impact on subsequent generations of indie bands on both sides of the Atlantic is surpassed only by that of the Velvet Underground".<ref name="Ankeny" /> Ankeny describes Big Star's second album, Radio City, as "their masterpiece—ragged and raw guitar-pop infused with remarkable intensity and spontaneity".<ref name="Ankeny" />

In 1992, Rykodisc generated further interest in the band when it reissued Third/Sister Lovers and released a posthumous compilation of Bell's solo material, I Am the Cosmos.<ref name="Borack" />Template:Rp In his 2007 book Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide, John Borack ranks the #1 Record/Radio City double album at No. 2 in his chart "The 200 Greatest Power Pop Albums".<ref name="Borack" />Template:Rp Rolling Stone includes #1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time<ref name="RS500-RC" /><ref name="RS500-1R" /><ref name="RS500-3rd" /> and "September Gurls" and "Thirteen" in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.<ref name="RS500-SG" /><ref name="RS500-13" /> In addition to R.E.M.,<ref name="Influence_R.E.M." /> artists including Teenage Fanclub,<ref name="BigStarBio" /><ref name="Ritchie1996" /><ref name="Ritchie1998" /> The Replacements,<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp Primal Scream,<ref name="Buckley" /> the Posies,<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp and Bill Lloyd and the dB's<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp cite Big Star as an inspiration, and the band's influence on Game Theory, Matthew Sweet, and Velvet Crush is also acknowledged.<ref name="Harrington2002" />

On their 2022 album Tremblers and Goggles by Rank, Guided By Voices paid tribute to Big Star with the song "Alex Bell". The lyrics include the refrain "Walking down Alex Bell, thinking of Alex...I see you around every time there's a ghost in town."Template:Cn

  • A cover version of "September Gurls" appeared on the Bangles' 1986 triple platinum album Different Light. "September Gurls", Borack wrote, "was and is the sine qua non of power pop, a glorious, glittering jewel with every facet cut and shined to absolute perfection.... a peerless, aching distillation of love and longing. 'September Gurls' may not actually be the greatest song ever recorded, but for the duration of its 2:47 running time, you can be forgiven for believing it is."<ref name="Borack" />Template:Rp
  • The 1987 tribute song "Alex Chilton", co-written by three members of the Replacements, was released as a single from the album Pleased to Meet Me and contains the lyric "I never travel far without a little Big Star."<ref name="Rhapsody" />
  • "I'm in Love with a Girl" from Radio City features in the soundtrack of the 2009 film Adventureland.<ref name="Advland" />
  • In 1998, an ad hoc, shortened version of #1 RecordTemplate:'s "In the Street" (recorded by Todd Griffin) was used as the theme song for the sitcom That '70s Show, and in 1999, a new version titled "That '70s Song (In the Street)" was recorded by Cheap Trick also specifically for the show.<ref name="Jovanovic" />Template:Rp<ref name="Rosen1999" /> "That '70s Song" and Big Star's own "September Gurls" are included on the 1999 album That '70s Album (Rockin') released by the television program's producers.<ref name="Boldman" />
  • The 2006 tribute album Big Star, Small World includes Big Star covers by the Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Gin Blossoms, Wilco, the Afghan Whigs, and Whiskeytown, among others.<ref name="World" />
  • Lucero, a Memphis, Tennessee-based alternative country band, covered "I'm in Love with a Girl" on their 2015 release All a Man Should Do, an album which takes its title from a lyric in the song.<ref name="HearYa" /> Founding member Jody Stephens, and later additions to Big Star, provide backup on the track.<ref name="WSJ2015" />
  • "Thirteen" from Big Star is featured in the 2020 Disney+ film Stargirl. The song is then sung by the two leads, Grace VanderWaal as Susan "Stargirl" Caraway and Graham Verchere as Leo Borlock.Template:Cn

PersonnelEdit

  • Alex Chilton – guitars, piano, vocals (1971–1974, 1993–2010; died 2010)
  • Jody Stephens – drums, vocals (1971–1974, 1993–2010)
  • Chris Bell – guitars, vocals (1971–1972; died 1978)
  • Andy Hummel – bass guitar, vocals (1971–1973, 2010; died 2010)
  • John Lightman – bass guitar, backing vocals (1974)
  • Jon Auer – guitar, vocals (1993–2010)
  • Ken Stringfellow – bass guitar, vocals, keyboards (1993–2010)

TimelineEdit

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:90 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1970 till:15/05/2010 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1970 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1971

Colors = 

 id:lvoc value:red       legend:Vocals
 id:bvoc value:pink      legend:Backing_vocals
 id:g    value:green     legend:Guitars
 id:k    value:purple    legend:Keyboards
 id:b    value:blue      legend:Bass
 id:dr   value:orange    legend:Drums,_percussion
 id:alb  value:black     legend:Studio_release
 id:bars value:gray(0.95)

BackgroundColors = bars:bars

LineData = 

 at:24/04/1972 layer:back
 at:01/02/1974 layer:back
 at:18/03/1978 layer:back
 at:27/09/2005 layer:back

BarData = 

bar:AChilton      text:"Alex Chilton"
bar:CBell         text:"Chris Bell"
bar:JAuer         text:"Jon Auer"
bar:AHummel       text:"Andy Hummel"
bar:JLightman     text:"John Lightman"
bar:KStringfellow text:"Ken Stringfellow"
bar:JStephens     text:"Jody Stephens"

PlotData = 

 width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,–4)
 bar:AChilton       from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:lvoc
 bar:AChilton       from:01/03/1973 till:01/11/1974 color:lvoc
 bar:AChilton       from:01/01/1993 till:17/03/2010 color:lvoc
 bar:CBell          from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:g
 bar:JStephens      from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:dr
 bar:JStephens      from:01/03/1973 till:01/11/1974 color:dr
 bar:JStephens      from:01/01/1993 till:end color:dr
 bar:AHummel        from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:b
 bar:AHummel        from:01/03/1973 till:01/03/1974 color:b
 bar:JLightman      from:01/03/1974 till:01/11/1974 color:b
 bar:JAuer          from:01/01/1993 till:end color:g
 bar:KStringfellow  from:01/01/1993 till:end color:b
 bar:AHummel        from:17/03/2010 till:end color:b

 width:7 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,–4)
 bar:AChilton       from:start till:01/01/1973 color:g
 bar:AChilton       from:01/03/1973 till:01/11/1974 color:g
 bar:AChilton       from:01/01/1993 till:17/03/2010 color:g
 bar:KStringfellow  from:01/01/1993 till:end color:k

 width:3 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,–4)
 bar:AChilton       from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:k
 bar:AChilton       from:01/03/1973 till:01/11/1974 color:k
 bar:AChilton       from:01/01/1993 till:17/03/2010 color:k
 bar:CBell          from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:lvoc
 bar:JAuer          from:01/01/1993 till:end color:bvoc
 bar:AHummel        from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:bvoc
 bar:AHummel        from:01/03/1973 till:01/03/1974 color:bvoc
 bar:JLightman      from:01/03/1974 till:01/11/1974 color:bvoc
 bar:KStringfellow  from:01/01/1993 till:end color:bvoc
 bar:JStephens      from:start      till:01/01/1973 color:bvoc
 bar:JStephens      from:01/03/1973 till:01/11/1974 color:bvoc
 bar:JStephens      from:01/01/1993 till:end color:bvoc

</timeline>

DiscographyEdit

Studio albums

Live albums

CompilationsTemplate:Cn

  • Biggest (Line Records, 1994) – greatest hits
  • The Best of (Big Beat Records, 1999) – greatest hits
  • Big Star Story (Rykodisc, 2003) – greatest hits with one new track
  • Keep an Eye on the Sky (Rhino, 2009) – box set with a live disc
  • Nothing Can Hurt Me (Omnivore Recordings, 2013) – soundtrack to movie
  • Playlist (1972–2005) (Legacy Recordings, 2013) – first compilation to cover all eras of band
  • Complete Third (Omnivore, 2016) – complete recordings from the Third sessions
  • The Best of Big Star (Craft Recordings, 2017) – greatest hits with some rare mixes and edits of songs

Big Star's Third

  • Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live... and More (2017, Concord) – Big Star's Third concert, recorded live in April 2016 (3 CDs)<ref name="Deming2017" />

VideographyEdit

Big Star

Big Star's Third

  • Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live... and More (2017, Concord) – concert documentary of Big Star's Third live performance in April 2016 (2 DVDs)<ref name="Kreps2017" />

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project links

Template:Big Star Template:Authority control Template:Featured article

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