The 500 - #405 - Radio City - Big Star

 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 # 405

Album Title: Radio City
Artist: Big Star
Genre: Power Pop
Recorded: Ardent Studios, Memphis
Released: February, 1974
My age at release: 8
How familiar was I with it before this week: Fairly
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Back of a Car

This week, we finish off the Big Star trilogy with their sophomore offering, Radio City, from 1974.

Radio City - Big Star (1974)

Last December, in a time we might soon call PC (Pre-Covid), I wrote about their final record, Third/Sister Lovers, which was #449 on The 500 list. I highlighted Big Star's impact on popular music. They are often called The Musicians' Musicians - "the band that your favourite band is probably listening to."

Third/Sister Lovers - Big Star (1978)

Then, in April of this year, we arrived at their debut, and my favourite album from the band, Number 1 Record. I wrote about my relationship with the band and the magnificence of this "red letter moment" in music, "when everything falls in place."

Number 1 Record - Big Star (1972)

For many, I am sure, the question must be: Why would a band with all three of their studio records on The 500 list not be more popular? In fact, I'll go so far as to say that many of the people who read my blog, except perhaps the musicians, are unfamiliar with Big Star. 

I conducted a quick Twitter Poll with the question: "How familiar are you with the band Big Star?" I only got 23 responses but, as you can see below, the majority had little to no familiarity with the music. 

Twitter Poll conducted September 3-5, 2020

A 2013 article from The Atlantic magazine calls them "The Greatest Band You've Never Heard Of" and a music review from NPR in 2010 dubbed them "The Unluckiest Band in the World". Was it bad luck? There are some who think the audacious decision to call themselves Big Star and then double-down and name their debut release Number 1 Record was tempting fate.

I don't buy into the notion of fate. I bristle when people say, "Everything happens for a reason."  

It doesn't. Things happen and we retroactively ascribe meaning to them.

This week on The 500 Podcast, host Josh Adam Meyers welcomed Jody Stephens, drummer and only surviving member of Big Star. He dismissed the idea that it was "bad luck" and looks back on his career with positive affection, saying:

"It all worked out. The records are finding an audience and I had an amazing career. (We) got to create the way we wanted to create and, financially, he (Guitarist & Singer Alex Chilton) could support himself from songs he had written for Big Star. I'm in Love with a Girl was used in a Heineken commercial and he co-wrote In the Street with Chris (Bell) which was used in the credits of That 70s Show. Once that television program went into syndication...the income got appreciable. (Bassist) Andy Hummel went on to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA in Finance and raised a beautiful family. Maybe things wouldn't have turned out so well if we got recognition with the first album. Who knows, the whole thing could have been finished."  

Drummer Jody Stephens at Ardent Studios

The track for my The 500 Spotify Playlist is, Back of a Car, selected by friend (and drummer) Steve Crew. In a text to me, he credited Jody Stephens as an important influence. As he put it..."I stole every lick."

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.

The 500 - #449 - Big Star -Third / Sister Lovers

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. 

My plan (amended). 

• One record per week (ish) & at least two complete listens.
• A blog post for each, highlighting the important details and, when possible, a background story that relates to the record.
• No rating scale - just an effort to expand my appreciation of diverse forms of music.
• Listen to Josh and his guest on The 500 podcast to gather additional information and insights.

Album # 449

Album Title: Third / Sister Lovers
Artist: Big Star
Released: March, 1978
My age at release: 12
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Kizza Me
Great Lyric:
"That I am
Flustered and erratic
'Cept when I lie with you
Naked on a southern love
Give down
Rub downs
Lie downs
Any downs at all." (Downs)

I've been a big fan of comedy for most of my life. I like it all, sketch, improv, situational, absurd. However, I love the art of stand-up comedy the most. A stand-up comedian, particularly at the club level, has to enter a room of strangers and for five to 90 minutes and generate joy. It is one of the few professions where the product of earnest labour is laughter. A club comic has to entertain everyone from a group of seniors who got free passes through the casino to the table of nine drunks who decided that Yuk Yuk's was the best place for Chris to celebrate turning 25.

In the world of stand-up, there are performers who garner respect from their peers at a level that far surpasses their commercial success. These are the "Comedian's Comedians". When they perform, the other comics stay at the back of the room or listen from the side of the stage. Artists such as Doug Stanhope and Colin Quinn, Patrice O'Neal and Greg Giraldo are among the best examples. 

Doug Stanhope

Big Star falls into a similar category. They are often called "the band that your favourite band is listening to". Many of the artists I have written about in this blog cite Big Star as a major influence, including R.E.M., Kiss and Wilco.

I really like Big Star, so I was excited to see a record from them coming up on The 500 list. However, I had never heard this record and, when I first played it, I unimpressed. It didn't seem like a Big Star record at all. As I listened, I just kept thinking "why can't this be more like the first album? Shouldn't that record be on the list?" 

It is, and so is the second record. I'll encounter Number One Record at #438 (probably this March) and Radio City at #403 (in late autumn of 2020). I will have many flattering things to say about those records but, for now, I am listening to their final record Third, (also called Sister Lovers) which featured two members who were dating sisters at the time this recorded. 

Alternate Cover

The story behind the release of the record is far more interesting than the tracks that are on it:

• It was recorded in the Fall of 1974 but would not be released for another four years.
• Although critically acclaimed, the first two records were commercial failures. Consequently, Third was recorded by only two remaining band members accompanied by what biographer Bruce Eaton described as "a large and revolving cast of Memphis musicians".
• The album documents the band's disintegration and deteriorating mental health of singer/guitarist Alex Chilton. It has even been suggested that this is an Alex Chilton solo record more than a Big Star album.
• Third was finally released in March, 1978, and numerous reissues followed. Consequently, there is no definitive version and Chilton distanced himself from the record. It was not a commercial success but has enjoyed cult status and is well regarded by music critics and die-hard fans. 

I listened to it at least six times and I really tried to connect with the material. It just didn't land for me. Perhaps my musical knowledge is insufficient to appreciate it. However, I am looking forward to hearing the other Big Star albums that I will feature in the coming weeks.