The Best Band You've Never Heard Of
Cult followings in pop culture are interesting phenomena. In general terms, a “cult following” for a band, movie, artistic movement, etc. means a small but extremely dedicated group of fans who are devoted to the subject, but the general masses are either ignorant of or indifferent towards it. Sometimes critics can be part the cult following. Many devout fans are proud of the obscurity of their object of affection, viewing it as validation for their own superior taste over the masses. (Of course, there are some cult followings that revel in the badness of whatever they follow. Fans of Ed Wood’s movies come to mind. So bad that it is good.)
The line between cult and mainstream can be hazy at times. Even casual rock fans have at least heard of Velvet Underground (“wasn’t that Lou Reed’s first band?”), yet casual listeners are not really familiar with VU’s work. That’s an example of a band with a cult following, but the masses have at least heard of the band and vaguely know that they are important for some reason. The film Rocky Horror Picture Show is a good example of this line straddling in the film arena.
Big Star is one of the greatest bands that you probably have never heard of. One of my favorite books, The Rock Snob’s Dictionary (by David Kamp and Steven Daly), starts their Big Star entry with this definition: “Anglophilic early-seventies American combo whose first two albums…have Koran-like status in Power-Pop circles…” I would amend that entry to say first three albums.
I know that I promised these essays would not be straightforward band histories, but Big Star's is an interesting one. Big Star is a story of bad decisions, egos clashing, bad timing, record company indifference and just plain bad luck. From the start, Big Star had big plans. Just look at the name they chose for the band, and the ambitious title of their debut, #1 Record. How ironic that title became. Formed by friends and Memphis music scenesters Alex Chilton and Chris Bell (along with bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens), they had the talent to back up their claims. Chilton had already had substantial success as the teen singing sensation for The Box Tops. While most musicians out of Memphis rooted their sound in the rich blues and soul of the region (afterall, both Sun and Stax studios were out of Memphis), Chilton and Bell leaned more on their British Invasion heroes Beatles, Stones, Who and Kinks, while throwing in a healthy dose of Byrds for good measure.
Viewing themselves as the next Lennon-McCartney, Chilton-Bell wrote a set of brilliant, chiming power-pop tunes for their debut record that reverberated heavily through the decades ahead in the music of REM, The Replacements and many others. They had recorded a record that lived up to its ambitious title and deserved to be a massive hit (from “Thirteen”: “Tell your Dad to get off my back / Tell him what we said about ‘Paint It Black’”…one of my favorite lyrics ever). But Stax, primarily a soul label, had no idea how to effectively market a power-pop record. Frustrated by the commercial failure, the already fragile Chris Bell quit in frustration. Chilton soldiered on, leading Big Star as a trio, and recorded their second masterpiece, the harder edged Radio City. Columbia had taken over much of the Stax catalogue, and Radio City got lost in the shuffle and Columbia basically ignored it. Exit Hummel. In frustration and bitterness, Chilton and Stephens entered the studio to record Big Star’s third record, one which Chilton knew would receive similar treatment as the first two, no matter how good. It is a dark, shambling, “who gives a f*ck” record that wasn’t even released until years later. Many consider this to be yet another Big Star masterpiece, Third/Sister Lovers. Chilton went on to have one of the most strange, willfully uncommercial solo careers ever.
But a funny thing happened. Long after they disbanded, Big Star’s music started to get noticed, mainly by other musicians. A cult following soon gained momentum, and these days Big Star is held up as one of the great cult bands of all time. Chilton and Stephens reformed in the 90’s with Big Star acolytes Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from The Posies, and toured occasionally to ecstatic crowds. They even released a decent record with this new line-up in 2005, In Space. It is nice to see that, however belatedly, Big Star has gotten the respect they always deserved, even though Bell, Chilton and Hummel are now all deceased. As Big Star fanatic and fellow cult star Paul Westerberg sang in the Replacements song “Alex Chilton" (which Chilton himself played on), “I never travel far without a little Big Star.”
What To Listen To:
Big Star has a relatively small discography, but all three of their seventies records are essential. #1 Record and Radio City are Power Pop masterpieces, and Third/Sister Lovers is a weary but brilliant mess. Alex Chilton’s solo work is a challenge, and honestly it is hard to recommend any of it, but many devoted fans swear by it. I can recommend the one Chris Bell solo record that was released posthumously from some unfinished studio sessions, I Am the Cosmos (Bell was killed in a car accident in the late 70’s). Alex Chilton gets most of the accolades, but Chris Bell was also a huge talent taken way too soon. Some of these tracks on I Am the Cosmos are clearly still in the working stage, but transcendently great single “I Am the Cosmos / You And Your Sister” is here (with Alex Chilton playing and singing back-up on both), as is the great rocker “I Got Kinda Lost” and one of the prettiest songs I’ve ever come across, “Speed of Sound.” If you want to splurge, box set Keep an Eye on the Sky is quite good, although it cannot be considered complete because it does not touch on Chilton's solo work and does not include anything from their 2005 release.
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