Thoughts on Big Star


I've read a little about Big Star after getting two of their songs on a southern music CD sampler. I really like "For You" and "Stroke it Noel". After sampling some of their other stuff I found that I also like "September Gurls".

I really like those three songs but I'm having a hard time finding other stuff of theirs that I like.

Just wondering if anyone else is into them, which albums you might like best, which songs you like best, best approach to getting into them, which recordings/format you prefer? 

They seem to have been one of those 'influential' bands with critical acclaim and with a strong but small following. Sometimes I find that I just don't see the magic in some 'cult' bands of that sort but liking the three songs mentioned above I feel like they might be worth getting to know. My only streaming is low end iTunes....for now.
n80

Showing 4 responses by loomisjohnson

radio city is one of my all-time top ten, although at various times i prefer "third"---all the studio records are brilliant. i would also pick up chris bell's solo record, "i am the cosmos", which is just as worthy.
i forgot about the "keep an eye" set--it's got excellent versions of most of their best songs + its live tracks cut the sorta sloppy "live at missouri university" and "big star live" discs, altho the latter has a killer version of the loudon wainwright song "motel blues"
i'm a little surprised at the polarized reactions--to my ears big star (unlike most "cult" artists) is all about melody and  should have very broad appeal, like the beatles or the hollies. at the end of the day, though, either you dig it or you don't.
it's a pretty big leap from big star to captain beefheart (who i never got into; never was a zappa fan either despite earnest effort). what i suspect may be offputting to some about big star is how they pushed the boundaries of traditional melodic pop--there's an abrasiveness to some of their tunes + at least on the first two records they sing in such a high register as to sound unnatural.
as a related aside, check out "thank you, friends: big star's third live," a very nicely done tribute by various dbs/rem/posies, etc.