It's the early-mid 70's: Had you heard/seen Big Star?

Like (I suspect) many people, I didn't learn of them until they were long over.

Anyone here actually see them play back then or buy the album? How did you hear about them in the 70's?

I wonder how good they were live. It just seems to me they were so obscure, hardly anyone even knew they had existed for 10 years.

 

Way Out East

I remember seeing the Ardent "#1 Record" as a cutout in a Washington, D.C. record store circa 1973. I'd never heard of it, but was impressed by the cool laminated cover. I ended up buying a Stooges cutout instead (I only had money for one record that day! Ah, teenage poverty...) In 1978 a friend at an Austin, Texas record store sold me a cutout of "Radio City" which I'd heard about in 'Who Put The Bomp' or some other fanzine. Less than a year later I got to see Alex and Jody do their legendary two-night stand at Raul's Club.

 

I've still not heard them. Should I get some of their records?

 

I never heard of them until this forum. Now that I have one of their songs on a power pop comp CD, I vaguely recall hearing it on the radio back then. But, I am not really interested in them.

 

Yes!

 

I don't have any of their records and I have no plans to start!

 

Doug, if you like really well-crafted pop songs then Big Star is a must. The first two albums #1 Record and Radio City are really perfect pop rock records that deserved a better fate. There are songs on those two releases that are so good it hurts.

If you are into The Beatles, Badfinger, and that sort of beautiful music, then you really can't go wrong with Big Star's first two, which are available on a two-fer CD. Also, the original Ardent vinyl pressings aren't that hard to come by in the eBay age.

 

The first radio job I got following graduation from college in the summer of 1973 was at a country station. However, they had been a Top 40 station prior to that, and they still got a lot of singles and albums in that genre.

Somehow, they had got in a promo copy of #1 Record, and I stumbled across it and fell in love for life (as you can plainly see!). About that time, I started reading about Big Star -- probably in The Rock Marketplace or BOMP!.

I'm not sure how I came by Radio City, though it is true that both albums did show up in the cut-out bins (I scored several copies of Radio City that way, and still have a couple). I also know that through trading circles, I got a reel copy of the stuff from Third/Sister Lovers a few years before it came out officially on PVC. I also got the WLIR broadcast, which was eventually given an official release.

As for live stuff, there have been a couple of things released officially, though I'm not aware of any live recordings by the original four-piece band with Chris Bell. That would be something amazing to hear. Alex is a fine guitarist, but there are just a few too many holes when you've only got three up there playing and singing.

 

Did they have any hits?

 

I was at a friend's party in 1974 and he played Radio City. That was my first exposure to them. I thought they were the greatest band since the Beatles. I still do...

Bobby Sutliff

 

Thanks for that.

That disc has just been ordered from Amazon. I don't know how I managed to miss this group. I was pretty active in the early 70's, but OTOH I was pulling away from top 40 big time. But I surely bought a lot of albums in that period.

I did see there was some talk about this group here a few years ago. At that time I couldn't believe there could be a group that had so much acclaim that I totally missed. Once again, I don't know how that was even possible, but obviously it was.

Well I look forward to getting this disc.

 

Saw them in May 1974 at the Overton Park Shell in Memphis, just a brilliant show attended by only a very few. Got their albums the next day, and been a fan ever since.

Ya'll might want to know there's a terrific 2-disc album coming out, curated by Alec Palao, called Thank You Friends: the Ardent Story on Ace/Big Beat. It has loads of previously unavailable Big Star songs and '60s garage/pop/psych from various pre-Big Star lineups including Christopher Bell, Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson, and Terry Manning. It's absolutely brilliant and essential. 12 of the 13 Big Star tracks are previously unissued on CD.

 

I grew up in the 70's and still haven't heard of them. What is their biggest hit??

 

No hits. Mostly ignored in their time. Became known well after they were gone, developed a following among power pop and alternative music fans from the 80's on. Kind of a 70's equivalent to The Velvet Underground, in that not many people bought their albums, but they were very influential on many bands that followed.

Two songs you might be familiar with, "September Gurls", recorded by The Bangles on Different Light, and "In The Street" which became famous in re-recorded versions, as the theme for That 70's Show.

 

Well, did you ever hear the song "Thirteen"? They didn't have a lot of "hits" per se..

How about the theme to the televison program "That 70's Show"..(Not sung by them for the show, it's a remake, but it's their song..)

They are well worth exploring IMO..

 

This is great news! Do you have link for this?

 

There is a recent topic somewhere on the music forum here about it..sorry I don't have a link..a quick search should find it for you..

 

No, it's being manufactured now. I think late March/early April.

48 tracks, 24 are 'new' copyrights (i.e., just copyrighted for this issue), and just loads of stuff that's only been heard by a few hardcore fans. It's really the first time anyone's ever dug thru the vaults to see what's there.

Will post more later.

 

Like The Raspberries, Big Star's sound reflected late-period Beatles pop, which was out of fashion at the time. That, and poor distribution for their label, Ardent Records (distributed by Stax, who were more or less in their death throes), doomed them to obscurity until people started discovering them in the 80's.

Their following and stature are enough to warrant a fine bio, Big Star: The Short Life, Painful Death, and Unexpected Resurrection of the Kings of Power Pop by Rob Jovanovic:

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Star-Painful-Unexpected-Resurrection/dp/1556525966/

 

PLEASE do post more info when you can Kent!

 

There was a TV store, on Bell Blvd., in Bayside, that carried promo LPs for $1.39, that I used to frequent. One day, I saw the just-released #1 Record in the pile. I knew who Chilton was, but was NOT a Box Tops fan, but something (maybe the lamination) intrigued me about the LP, so I bought it & fell in love!

 

I'm not Kent, but...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thank-You-Friends-Ardent-Records/dp/B0013NBBHO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1203531001&sr=8-1

 

Thanks Kent. Any details you can share about the alternate versions will be greatly appreciated. Also, do you know why Knoxville and the Big Star version of There Was A Light weren't included?

Thanks!

 

I didn't discover the glory of Big Star until 13 years later, Bobby, but you just summed up my take on them too.

 

It kind of bugs me that it's renamed on a Cheap Trick best of comp. that I own (i say "kind of" simply because of the things that bug me, this is certainly at the bottom of the list... ).

If you're looking for some live recorded (and legit!) material, I recommend the live/ rehearsal release from Norton called Nobody Can Dance. As far as I know it's still in print.