Day 71: Big Star – #1 Record
Album cover courtesy of Ardent Records
I was drawn to doing Big Star today and I can’t really explain why, I had them playing in my head last night but I’m only passingly aware of them. I’ve heard a few songs here and there but the band is only sort of barely on my radar. However, I’d sadly lose my membership to the Esoteric Ladies’ Association if I didn’t follow my intuition absolutely blindly at any given moment, so it’s Big Star time.
I didn’t actually know much of anything about the band itself, but it’s a surprisingly sad one to research. Big Star were first active between 1971 and 1975, consisting of Alex Chilton, a singer-guitarist who’d already had a number one hit at 16 years old with his band the Box Tops, as well as Chris Bell, who also sung and played guitar, with drummer Jody Stephens and bassist Andy Hummel.
They released #1 Record in 1972 to massive critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone calling it exceptionally good – the reviewer struggled to find something to compare it to and found the closest thing to be Todd Rundgren, but added “even Rundgren hasn’t made a whole album as impressive as this one.” Other publications even deemed it to be album of the year and said things like “Big Star will be around for many moons.”
Despite this, the record suffered from extremely low sales due to issues with their distributor, Stax Records. The label failed to promote it, but whatever buzz they generated themselves also went to waste as there were severe distribution issues and Stax didn’t manage to get enough records on sale. Then, Stax was sold to Columbia Records, who refused to deal with Stax’ independent distributors and pulled copies of #1 Record off the shelves. It’s estimated that it only sold a few thousand copies at the time.
The lack of success of the album caused tension in the band, which escalated into physical fights. Chris Bell took the failure of the record so hard that he had a mental health episode where he snuck into the studio and erased the master tapes for #1 Record and went home and attempted suicide. He went to a psychiatric hospital for an extended stay and was out of the band thereafter.
Big Star released a second album, Radio City, which also had rave reviews but poor sales, because Columbia refused to distribute it. Their third album was deemed commercially unviable and shelved for years before its release. #1 Record didn’t take off until it was released in the UK as a double album #1 Record/Radio City, but unfortunately Bell didn’t live to see the success that the band would generate, as he died in a car crash shortly after the release. He was buried with a copy of #1 Record.
I didn’t expect this to be so sad today, but it is pretty devastating. Imagine pouring your heart out into making an album that ends up being that good, with critics telling you how good it is, with publications saying how great your band is and how far you’ll go, and then it all sort of falls apart due to logistics. I can see why Bell struggled. Frankly, who wouldn’t?
It really is a very good album. I like the sort of George Harrison-y “The Ballad of El Goodo” and the sort of Zeppelin-y “Feel”, but they don’t really sound like either of those acts. Officially, they’d fall under the label of power pop that’s been heavily inspired by bands like the Byrds and the Beatles. The standout on the album is the sweet and earnest song about youth and innocence, “Thirteen”. It’s one of those where you just have to close your eyes to listen to it whenever you hear it. Also, they did the theme for That ‘70s Show? Who knew!
The main thing you hear on the record is their potential. It’s bonkers to think that this was a debut album that barely sold at all. It’s hard to even imagine where they might have gotten if they just would have been dealt different cards. It makes for a pretty bittersweet listening experience, but I still enjoyed it a whole lot. Apparently Third/Sister Lovers is a bit of a masterpiece so that’s going on the list. #1 Record gets a 9/10.