I discovered them back in my middle school years through the 4AD music collective This Mortal Coil's album "It'll End In Tears" with their haunting covers of Kangaroo" and "Holocaust" and that ultimately led me to discover their albums and my most favorite by them is "Third/Sister Lovers" because that album is so haunting and poetic. So how did y'all discover Big Star??
shareBack in the day which must of been the middle 70's to early 80's my friends and I practically wore out our copies of "Radio City". We had a friend Stan who was a musical historian of sorts, he turned us on to Big Star. We now can't wait to see the movie, but it might look like we might have to wait for the DVD or stream. I wonder when that will happen?
Cheers, Macgurrl
The first song of theirs I heard the Bangles' "September Gurls" (I bought Different Light sometime in the early '90s when I was 11 or 12). Though Alex Chilton was credited as the song's writer, I had no idea of the band he'd been in that originally recorded it!
The first recording I actually heard from the band was "Thank You Friends," when I stumbled across TIME-Life's Punk and New Wave compilation -- it was the late '90s and I was a senior in high school at the time. Loved it.
A year or two later, when I was in college, I finally heard Big Star's original "September Gurls" on a free-form radio station (as well as the Replacements' affectionate ode "Alex Chilton").
It wasn't until a few years after that I found and bought #1 Record / Radio City at Border's; and a few years after that I bought Third / Sister Lovers through Amazon.com Marketplace. I've played the heck out of both ever since; besides the two aforementioned tracks, some of my other Big Star faves include "The Ballad of El Goodo," "In the Street," "Thirteen," "You Get What You Deserve," "Way Out West," and the holiday classic "Jesus Christ."
"I know I'm not normal -- but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding
While Evan Dando's cover of "The Ballad Of El Goodo" was my favorite track off the Empire Records soundtrack, I had NO idea it was a cover at the time. I didn't really KNOW Big Star till I started doing a power-pop show on my college radio station, to which my friend was amazed at the fact that I didn't know Big Star. He gave me #1 Record and I was shocked to find El Goodo on it. Since then, it was love.
"That's the karma again, I didn't help Kenny so she beat me up with a telephone"
I first heard their music on That 70s Show. But I didn't know who the band that made it was. Just this year I somehow discovered their music online and listened to it on YouTube. Then I bought some of their songs via iTunes. I first heard about this documentary because my brother was watching the preview for it on On Demand. Haven't watched it yet, but I plan on doing so.
shareThe Replacements' released a 12" single of "I Will Dare" and one of the B sides is a live cover of Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'". What's this bit of trivia have with Big Star? Somewhat mysteriously, at the very end of the song (and not part of the live performance) you can hear the first few guitar notes from "Feel". I don't know whether it's the actual recording or whether it's Bob or Paul or how it got put on the end of the track, but I count that the first time I heard Big Star, even though I didn't know who it was. I've heard various explantions as to why it's there, from Westerberg doing it, Peter Jesperson adding it, or it being a mistake in dubbing and production.
I bought "Big Star" on vinyl a couple of years after and only after hearing the end of "Hey Good Lookin'" again after several listenings to the Big Star record did I figure out that those notes at the end were Big Star.
I'm way older, and I discovered them on a compilation tape with September Gurls in the late 80's, and through Westerberg advocating them so heavily.
"LSD, golly gee,
DDT, wowee!
Daddy's broke
Holy smoke
My future's bleak
Ain't it neat?"
Truly, with this documentary. I remember shopping in a Big Star in 1976 but it became Food Lion. A great band that I am just really now hearing after all these years of reading about them.
The world economy will crash in 2016, so for now, have fun!
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I heard Radio City's "I'm In Love With A Girl" in the movie Adventureland. I immediately loved the song when it played in the film and I looked up their other music. I was surprised to discover "In The Streets" was a Big Star song because I had heard it and loved it on That 70's Show.
shareI discovered Big Star via This Mortal Coil too. I think a lot of college age people in the 80s and 90s did. Kim Deal of The Pixies covered "You and Your Sister" for TMC too. When I heard the original, I imagined Kim's voice being there. They did "I Am The Cosmos" too...I know those are solo things, but the way TMC does them is so lush and amazing.
These Immortal Souls, which had members of Swell Maps and the Birthday Party in it, covered, "Hey, Little Child" by Alex Chilton. I was glad they included a snippet of the original in the doc, because I had never heard of it before. It was hard to find Big Star related stuff at the time but I found both the TIS and TMC's covers fanastic. I know, their band names are really close. Funny.
And yes, did see a credit for Alex Chilton too for That 70s Show's theme. Those three areas are where I got to know the music and now, thank God, you can actually find the recordings.
I did not know Alex was part of The Box Tops, so that's new information for me.