- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate (1 Nov 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007149085
- ISBN-13: 978-0007149087
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 430,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Big Star
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Product Description
Review
‘Devotees of Big Star often bewail the band’s failiure to win popular acclaim, even though their influence has been carried forward in the work of REM, Primal Scream and Teenage Fanclub. A quick whizz through the Big Star story is enough to explain why this ill-fated outfit will always be filled under “damaged and enigmatic”. In between knocking out slices of harmony pop like September Gurls or Thirteen, they travelled to some bleak archipelagos of the soul in the some of the strangest recordings ever made in the name of pop.’ Adam Sweeting, Guardian
Product Description
"I want to make an album of real genius, to sit alongside the Stones' 'Exile On Main Street', and Big Star's 'Third'" (Peter Buck, R.E.M. 1991)
The definitive biography of Big Star, the most influential band of the last 30 years.
Although Big Star were together for less than four years and had little commercial success, the influence of their three albums – #1 Record, Radio City and Third – are still felt today. Big Star bucked the musical trend of the Seventies. In an era of glam and prog rock they wrote catchy, radio friendly Power-pop tunes that remain influential today. Artists such as Primal Scream, R.E.M., the Bangles, the Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Jeff Buckley, Garbage, St. Etienne, Pavement and Travis regularly speak of the Big Star legacy.
After singing in 1960s boy-band The Box Tops, Alex Chilton joined up with Andy Hummel, Jody Stephens and Chris Bell to form Big Star in late 1970. Chilton and Bell quickly formed a Lennon-McCartney type partnership at the heart of band and began turning out tunes laced with the best pop sensibilities of the Beatles and Badfinger, the guitars of the Byrds and the harmonies of the Beach Boys. But creative tensions, haphazard distribution, and marketplace indifference sent the band into a series of splits, solo-projects and short-lived reunions that left them on the brink of oblivion. Thirty years later though, and most guitar bands in the world will admit a debt to Big Star and their three albums remain unqualified successes.
Drawing on interviews from surviving band members (including Andy Hummel's first interview for 30 years) and the major players at the Memphis based record label Ardent, Rob Jovanovic has written the definitive history of Big Star, the forgotten band.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In 1985 I had the opportunity to see a band called R.E.M. play in a little college town in Virginia, USA. Being a student then I had all the typical excuses for not getting my ticket and going - I HAD to study, I must do this, I must to that, etc. I was only missing one of the years best shows by a band who seemed to dominate "Alternative Rock" throughout the decade, and who's members had been influenced by the rock's forgotten band.
I love how this book opens with the rock group Big Star playing at their one and only gig in Oxford, Mississippi in 1972. Like the author, Rob Jovanovic, states: "The music world was full of contradictions. The previous months had seen number-one singles achieved by acts as diverse as Donny Osmond and Alice Cooper, Don McLean and Slade. Iggy Pop was holed up in a studio recording 'Raw Power' and David Bowie had just given birth to Ziggy Stardust..."<xv> Rock was severely missing the Beatles at this point and album rock and heavy metal was the underground cool. This one band, Big Star, came out with an album of guitar-oriented pop that tried to keep the Beatles legacy going. They wrote great music (especially between the two frontman Alex Chilton and Chris Bell)and despite Chilton being a teen star, they would only make another two albums (minus Bell) and disappear. Never to become "Big Star's". By the time the band was playing in Oxford, their albums, due to record company problems, are nowhere to be found. In fact the ensuing years would be a repeat. Needless to say, at that time in the music business, it spelled an early death.
...In 1978, when rock was turning punk and people were tired of the radio, someone rediscovered this band. The rest, as they say is history. Jovanovic writes with insight and amazing clarity: Impeccably researched and wonderfully documented, he leaves few stones unturned. For many years the history of this band was mentioned in two books that I know of, magazine articles, and word of mouth. Any fan of Alex Chilton, Big Star, Chris Bell, and the 70s Memphis scene will find it MUST reading. Die-hard fans won't be able to put it down in just one sitting. They are all there, plus Dickinson, Roseborough, Lightman, Lesa, and more. You say the revolution is over -we say it's just begun
I love how this book opens with the rock group Big Star playing at their one and only gig in Oxford, Mississippi in 1972. Like the author, Rob Jovanovic, states: "The music world was full of contradictions. The previous months had seen number-one singles achieved by acts as diverse as Donny Osmond and Alice Cooper, Don McLean and Slade. Iggy Pop was holed up in a studio recording 'Raw Power' and David Bowie had just given birth to Ziggy Stardust..."<xv> Rock was severely missing the Beatles at this point and album rock and heavy metal was the underground cool. This one band, Big Star, came out with an album of guitar-oriented pop that tried to keep the Beatles legacy going. They wrote great music (especially between the two frontman Alex Chilton and Chris Bell)and despite Chilton being a teen star, they would only make another two albums (minus Bell) and disappear. Never to become "Big Star's". By the time the band was playing in Oxford, their albums, due to record company problems, are nowhere to be found. In fact the ensuing years would be a repeat. Needless to say, at that time in the music business, it spelled an early death.
...In 1978, when rock was turning punk and people were tired of the radio, someone rediscovered this band. The rest, as they say is history. Jovanovic writes with insight and amazing clarity: Impeccably researched and wonderfully documented, he leaves few stones unturned. For many years the history of this band was mentioned in two books that I know of, magazine articles, and word of mouth. Any fan of Alex Chilton, Big Star, Chris Bell, and the 70s Memphis scene will find it MUST reading. Die-hard fans won't be able to put it down in just one sitting. They are all there, plus Dickinson, Roseborough, Lightman, Lesa, and more. You say the revolution is over -we say it's just begun
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rob has written a stunningly researched, hyper-thorough bio of one of the (at least) top ten most important bands of all time. The first book EVER published on the subject of BIG STAR and their unbelievable & pervasive influence. A fascinating read and mesmerizing in its details of Memphis in the 1970s, the Box Tops (Chilton's first band), the tragic career and life of Chris Bell, and the impact of their music beyond the 1970s. (Ever listened to the PLEASED TO MEET ME album by the Replacements? "Alex Chilton" is track two. Examples such as this just go on and on.) Compelling, insightful, thoughtful.
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