The 500 - #434 - Big Star - Number 1 Record

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 434

Album Title: Number 1 Record
Artist: Big Star
Genre: Power Pop
Recorded: 1972
Released: August, 1972
My age at release: 7
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: 
The Ballad of El Goodo 
(Suggested by my friend, musician Steve Crew, who ranks Big Star drummer Jody Stephens in his Top Three Influences.)

For the first time on my journey through The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, a band I've already discussed has another record on the list. When I wrote about Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers, I made the following three observations:

1. Big Star is "the band that your favourite band listens to." Many musicians with albums on The 500 list have cited Big Star as an important influence.
2. Although it was called a Big Star record, many consider Third/Sister Lovers, a side project by Alex Chilton (singer/guitarist of Big Star). It is nothing like the other Big Star records. In many ways, it documents the band's disintegration and Chilton's declining mental health due to addiction.
3. Over time, Third/Sister Lovers grew on me but I remain a bigger fan of their first album. This one. 

Number 1 Record is the debut release from the Memphis-based, power-pop band Big Star. Singer and guitarist Alex Chilton had already experienced success as the 16-year-old frontman for the band The Box Tops, best remembered for their 1967 hit The Letter. 

After leaving the band, Chilton was offered the role of lead vocalist for jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears, but he turned it down because he felt it was "too commercial". Instead, he reconnected with childhood friend Chris Bell. Bell declined Chilton's offer to form a Simon & Garfunkle-style duo and invited him to join his three-piece band, Icewater. The foursome clicked and began sharing and collaborating their material. The name Big Star was co-opted from Memphis grocery store chain "Big Star Markets". A band member suggested the name after returning from a shopping trip for snacks during a lengthy recording session.

Number 1 Record was recorded in early 1972, all four members contributing to the songwriting and vocals. However, Chilton and Bell worked most collaboratively as a duo, modelling their approach after their childhood influences McCartney and Lennon of The Beatles. The title, Number 1 Record, was inspired by the "playful hope" that any record by a big star would go to Number 1.

It was released in August, 1972, to critical acclaim. However, it was poorly promoted by The Stax Record Company which also failed to distribute it effectively. Consequently, it received little radio airplay despite Billboard magazine's claim that "every cut could be a single". Things went from bad to worse when Stax Records made a deal with Columbia which had no interest in smaller, independent releases. They even removed existing copies of the records from stores.

My relationship with Big Star began in the mid-eighties when I heard them at a house party of a high school acquaintance. However, I encountered them again in 2012 when their documentary, Nothing Can Hurt Me, aired on Netflix. 

It was late on a Saturday night and I was looking to relax after a long night bartending. Netflix was fairly new to Canada and the streaming company's catalogue was far more limited than it is now. Small, independent documentaries, like this one, made up a significant portion of their viewing inventory. I settled down with a bottle of wine and, over the next hour, solidified my appreciation for the band. I also learned many of the facts I shared in the first half of this post.

For the next few weeks, this debut record and their 1974 release, Radio City (which we'll get to at #405), dominated my headphones.  Cashbox Magazine described the recording of Number 1 Record as "one of those red-letter moments when everything falls together as a total sound". However, as if a premonition of the album's eventual commercial fate, it continued: "it is an important record that should go to the top with proper handling". Unfortunately, that "proper handling" never materialized and it was years before the public recognized how marvelous the album is, fully justifying its place on The 500 list.