This is a book that I just finished, and I know that I'll be re-reading it in the future, as well as using it as an encyclopedia for all things Big Star.
This is a really great book, although it can be a little slow at times. In the beginning they list so many high school bands and their members that you can feel a little lost in all the names, once it gets around to about 1970 however, it's fantastic. I never could have imagined the wealth of information I got from reading this book. Not only is it an excellent story of how Big Star came to be and the aftermath and eventual resurrection that followed, it has a complete listing of all Big Star albums, and their individual members' solo albums as well. I was pleasantly surprised with it. I wish there was a hardback version available, because I know that the soft cover is going to become quite damaged.
Big Star never really quite lived up to their name. The faced a lot of indifference and problems in the early '70s, both of which led to their demise. A problem with their label and it's parent company led to the album mostly only being available locally in Memphis, despite receiving mostly positive reviews from all across the country. Their first album had what is probably their most famous song, In The Street, despite the fact that most people know it from it's covered and retitled version as the theme song to That 70's Show, as played by Cheap Trick. #1 Record is probably the first power-pop album ever made in America. (Badfinger take the title for England and the world.) It shows an influence of and would be appealing to fans of the original British Invasion music of the early-to-mid 1960's. All the members were the type who took up electric guitars after The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan for the first time on February 9th 1964.
After their first album, Chris Bell left, and a definite change was felt in the group. After two more albums, Big Star split up, only to reform in 1993, minus founding member Chris Bell who died in the mid-seventies.
I remember the first time I became aware of Big Star, I was already a huge fan of The Box Tops, mostly their first album, but all of their music too. When I was about twelve or thirteen I got ahold of some kind information about them on the internet, and it mentioned that their singer, Alex Chilton had gone on to a band called Big Star. eBay was brand new at that point, and I found someone in Memphis selling all three albums on vinyl for $5. I got outbid as time went on, but ended up winning with about a $15 bid. After about three weeks (mailing a check to them as PayPal didn't exist and then waiting to get the albums back) I finally heard the LPs. I played them in their chronological order, and I was amazed. I liked the first and third albums best, but #1 Record was, and still is, my favorite of the trilogy. I still remember hearing The Ballad of El Goodo and being so excited and impressed. It was one of those songs that not only inspired me to go and write music and play the guitar myself, I also knew that I could never be that good. This was during the same period that I got heavily into The Beatles, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, and other power pop and Beatles inspired music, something that left an amazingly large impression on me for the rest of my life.
Download 'Thirteen' by Big Star, from their first album "#1 Record."
Purchase this book and Big Star albums @ Amazon.com:
For more information:
Big Star @ Wikipedia
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