The formation, music, and break-up of Big Star, a band that for many was the embodiment of the 1970s, is detailed in this definitive history. Even though Big Star was together for less than four years and had limited commercial success, the legacy of their three groundbreaking albums has influenced artists as diverse as R.E.M., the Bangles, Wilco, Jeff Buckley, and Garbage culminating in their song, "In the Street," as rerecorded by Cheap Trick, becoming the theme song for "That '70s Show. The band's music and romance made Big Star a holy grail for the post-punk generation. This book recounts how band leader Alex Chilton put his heart and soul into the music and believed that he would become a big star--and how when he didn't, he engaged in a fascinating sort of musical self-sabotage. Also described is the tragic story of his coleader on their first record, Chris Bell, who after leaving the band recorded "I Am the Cosmos," a devastating adolescent love song, and then died in a car crash just months later. Featuring new interviews with the band, family members, friends, and the major players at Ardent Studios in Memphis, this book offers the complete story of this incredibly influential band.
Annotation:
Founded in the early 1970s, the band Big Star owes its legendary reputation to its role in the eyes of its founder member, Chris Bell--as well as of the legions of music nerd fans who discovered it after its demise--as an idealized version of what a pop group should sound like. Taking as its foundation the sounds of 1960s British invasion bands like the Beatles, the Hollies, and Herman's Hermits, the band created a mere two albums' worth of songs, providing listeners with a glimpse of pop perfection before imploding, perhaps appropriately for a prototypical pop group, in a haze of alcohol-fueled psychosis. Here, longtime Big Star aficionado Rob Jovanovic explores the band's genesis in the hazy, humid, eccentric environs of Memphis. He examines its mercurial collection of personalities, from the privileged, driven Bell to the teenage prodigy Alex Chilton--whose first band, the Box Tops, had had a series of hit records in the '60s before breaking up, leaving Chilton a has-been at the age of 18--and the contrast between its cheery neo-pop and the often violent atmosphere of the band itself. A fascinatingly detailed chronicle of a group whose latter-day reputation far outweighs its success during its lifetime, BIG STAR is a spellbinding tale of pop devotion betrayed by tragedy, poor business decisions, and simple bad luck.
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