A Short History of the Band Big Star

Big Star only recorded three albums. Each of the three was different, yet in some way they were all the same. They were grandaddies of college rock and alternative music. They were recording in an era, the early- to mid-seventies, when rock had gone progressive and was fast disappearing. Big Star managed to provide some clarity and perspective on proceedings because they brought some realism and honesty back to rock.

On their debut album, Chris Bell wrote many of the songs as Alex Chiltern took on the backseat driver roll. All the tracks are traditionally structured and inflected with some wonderful harmonies and great jangly guitars. However the spotlight was very much focused on Chiltern, even though Bell had contributed most of the songs. After all he had the pop pedigree with his previous solo work and his band the Box Tops. This led to the band splitting. When they reformed two years later Bell did not return. So Big Star became a trio and went on to record their finest album, 'Radio City', in 1974.

For this album, the band used a more direct approach to recording. Where previously they had recorded each song part and then mixed the songs at the point of production, they now used old amps and experimented with the placement of mics. The weird texture and strange sounds on the album were all captured live. It gave the music an organic feel. For some songs the guitar was used in conjunction with an oscillator to adapt the sound. For this album it was Chiltern who took on main songwriting duties and his songs are full of the melodic and lyrical twists and turns and harmonies which informed future bands like the Replacements, REM and Teenage Fanclub.

In 1978 Big Star made their third album, it was called 'Third'. The mood for their final album grew a little darker. The songs are still set within their classic bass, drums and guitar format though. Although released under the Big Star moniker, the album is really an Alex Chiltern solo project. After the band split Chiltern went on to work with the Cramps and recorded an early session for them, which was direct, simple and startlingly effective. His approach to recording and producing has always been simple and direct and was a pre-cursor to punk in some ways. But what Big Star are remembered for more than anything is their wonderful harmonies, the truthful and honest melodies and hooks, and the candle for pop that they kept alight while all around them were creating dense works of monolithic prog sludge. Without them college rock would have been a very different thing indeed.