Big star

Let's talk about big star baby.

Yes big star, often considered, along the likes of the velvet underground and grateful dead, the quintessential cult band. A band that came close to stardom (he he get it?), but for one reason or another, things never worked out for them and everything just fell apart before the 80s showed it's tacky and bright and colorful head.

With just seeing the documentary "nothing can hurt me", which tells about the bands whole career from the 60s up until their second break up in 2010, i thought i'd grab chance by the balls and talk about the little band that could. That and fanboy out for god knows how many paragraphs.

I debated with myself (and continued to do as of writing this) whether or not i should go through with this blog and if i did, how am i going to make it seem so important and make anyone want to read it? Over the years, i have always gone out of my way to give recommendations to anyone i meet; tv shows, anime, movies, music artists, whether they're well known or obscure i always find time to talk about them and hope that anyone listens and gives them a try. So why not do that with big star? Even with as big (damn you unintentional puns!) as they are now, i still feel like not a whole lot of people know about these guys so i feel it's my unofficial job to help spread the word of big star.

Starting off here with one simple question: what makes big star such a damn good band? Let's take a step back in time to when the british invade america.........with music. When bands like the beatle, the yardbirds, the kinks and so forth appeared, so many people wanted to be like them, which sparked the idea for several teenage boys to buy (or beg their parents in this case) their own musical instruments and replicate the same sound that those bands did. One of these bands were the boxtops, fronted by a then 16 year old alex chilton. Before big star was ever conceived, alex sang for this wee little blue eyed soul group and soon they took off with the song "the letter" which sold millions. Chilton soon left the group and then offered chris bell to start their own simon and garfunkel type of duo group. While bell turned down the offer, he asked chilton to join his own band, icewater (who would then change their name to big star) and, as they say, the rest was history.

Though the name big star came from a local grocery store in the memphis area, when you think about it (this was also something that was mentioned in the documentary by one of the band members whose name i sadly can't remember), calling your band big star, as well as naming your debut album "#1 record" was something that came off sounding egotistical, but also in worst case, ironic, and in the latter's case, it's something that can be almost scary, if not somewhat funny for the wrong reasons.

Well those fears were surely all but vanished (temporarily i'm sure) since #1 record garnered critical acclaim. However, and this is where the problem with big star's career, the album sold poorly due to lack of promoting and distribution. Not helping that bell started to feel that he was being ignored by the critics and was feeling left out even though, out of everyone that worked on #1 record, he poured the most care and attention into the production. So yeah something like that can put a sour feel on someone like bell and for that, he eventually left the band.

From '72 until '78, it was nothing big star struggling with fame and getting some respect. Well they still did from the likes of rolling stone loving the hell out of them, but despite that, they still felt like they were being ignore and all that bitterness and sour turmoil was soon poured into the bands third and final studio album, third (aka sister lovers). And thus, big star was no more.........until 1993 where chilton, along with drummer jody stephans, gathered up members from the posies to resurrect a new big star that lasted until 2010 where they did several live events and only made one album (never heard it but from what i heard, wasn't all that great).

And that's the long and short of it. I didn't intend to go off on a history lesson about big star so i tried to provide the cliff notes version of it. Plus, if there was anything i might of left out, the best i can say just do a simple google search or go and watch the documentary, which i implore you do by the way. Anyways, going back to a question i asked earlier, and also derailed from, and that was what made this band this good?

Musically speaking, big star played a style of music called power pop. Power pop took the melodies and light hearted hooks of british guitar pop bands and combined it with the crunch and swagger of american hard rock. Other bands like badfinger and the raspberries are, along with big star, were known for popularizing and pioneering the genre during the 70s, but what made big star stood out from other bands during the early 70s, to me at least, was not only the kind of music they played, but their lyrics were incredibly personal.

While their music was hard rocking, while still somewhat melodic, most of their songs had a feeling of melancholy to them. On #1 record and their second album, radio city, it was apparent, and then third happened. I mentioned how all the turmoil the band felt was put into third, well it was, both musically and lyrically. Unlike the last two albums which were crunchy, but sweet, third is that, but more abrasive and dissonant and their lyrics were more depressing and sorrowful (one song on there, holocaust, is pretty much the equivalent of a modern day emo/screamo song except it's legitimately sad and tragic rather than whiny and obnoxious). Third can best be described as the soundtrack to a band falling apart or a man having a mental breakdown. All these factors make this easily one of the most bleakest albums ever recorded.

Now that i think about it, with what i've mentioned and talked about, big star's history is kinda sad. Let me explain, the band has gone through hell to get some recognition and, while the critics liked them, their record label, including their own manager possibly, never gave too much of a crap to give them enough attention, therefor, they were commercially unsuccessful and this put an emotional toll on both bell and chilton who were both the driving force behind big star as it. As silly as this may sound, this almost paints a tale of woe for the band. I'd say tragedy, but that be pushing it.

Even with all that said, there's still an upside. While they gained far more acclaim and recognition over the next 20 year, they're considered one of the most influential bands of all time. Big star has shown to be a huge influence on not just future power pop bands, but for alternative rock in general. Ask anyone from R.E.M., the flaming lips, meat puppets, yo la tengo, matthew sweet, robyn hitchcock, you name it, who influenced them so much, most often then not, they'll be point directly at big star.

It's always a shame when something makes it's debut and no one is there to even give a shit, only then people start to notice it a whole several odd years later. I guess that it's positive that at least people begin to notice it later as oppose to never. Big star's history is bittersweet at best, but at least the remaining band members and those that have worked or are close to the band can feel assured that big star is, well, big now. Bell and chilton will never know this since, sadly, they have both passed on with bell, passed away back '78, never knowing how popular big star would be in the future. As said, everything about big star is bittersweet, both in music, writing, and in history. It's tough, but they at least found some way, maybe out of pure luck, to become, again, big.

Yes it was intentional.