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| From | "Michael Bennett" <mrhonorama@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Big Star (and Cheap Trick) |
| Date | Fri, 22 Aug 2003 22:11:10 -0500 |
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I have that issue of Bomp -- there was a lot of ink given to The Creation
too, among others. I don't really agree that The Scruffs have any overt
musical influence from Big Star -- I hear a lot of Raspberries in their
sound. That doesn't mean Big Star didn't inspire The Scruffs. And no knock
on either The Scruffs or Flashcubes (who, BTW, have a swell new disc out --
my first exposure, and I understand why you have raved about them for ages,
Carl), but my point is that Big Star's influence in the first decade of
power pop was negligible, and two bands out of dozens doesn't seem to change
my view.
Again my post was neither to bury nor praise Big Star. It was more to
provide my perspective on when they were important within the genre, as an
influence.
Onto Cheap Trick -- there's no need to speculate about their influences,
since they have freely talked about them -- other than the obvious
Beatles/Who, they were strongly inspired by The Move, The Yardbirds, Patto
and The Nazz, among others. I certainly haven't heard them talk about Big
Star -- if Big Star was such a big influence, I'm sure they'd be more vocal
about it when they perform "In the Streets."
Oh yeah -- I dug Bobby's post too. I can't say that Big Star hit me like
that, being a man with no discernable talent. But having read about Big
Star in Robert Christgau's first Consumer Guide book (sent to my high school
radio station in early 1982), I greedily grabbed a $2 cut-out of RADIO CITY.
The song that first nailed me to the floor was the first song, "Oh My
Soul". It was familiar, yet out of this world. I still find things in that
record. Both the first and third albums have their moments, but RADIO CITY
is still my fave.
Mike Bennett
NP: White Sox post-game -- first place, baby!!!
Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com
>From: CCDatsMe@aol.com
>Reply-To: audities@smoe.org
>To: audities@smoe.org
>Subject: Big Star
>Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 22:36:20 EDT
>
>While the argument against Big Star as a major power pop influence seems
>well-reasoned, I can't support it at all. By 1978, when the phrase "power
>pop"
>was entering the general lexicon, Big Star was already being hailed as an
>influence. Bomp! magazine's essential power pop issue in '78 gave a great
>deal of
>ink to the Big Star story for that very reason. The Flashcubes were doing
>"September Gurls" in their live set, and I doubt they were the only avowed
>power
>pop act mining the Big Star canon at the time.
> Mike Bennett (I think--Mike wrote the original post, if I remember
>correctly) lists The Scruffs as an act not overtly influenced by Big Star,
>and
>that's demonstrably NOT true. Not only do I hear Big Star in most of the
>Wanna'
>Meet The Scruffs? album, the group had earelier cut a (then-) unreleased
>track called "Big Star," and if you hear it, you can tell the title was not
>chosen
>lightly.
> (And yeah, I've seized upon the one overtly-Big Star-smitten band
>in
>Mike's list of '70s power pop acts he claims have no huge Big Star
>influence.
>Can't really argue with the rest of the list. As I said, the argument
>seems
>reasonable, but it doesn't jibe with my memories of the era, when I knew
>Big
>Star was of enormous importance even before I ever heard any of the group's
>recordings. When I first heard the recording of "September Gurls," I was
>disappointeed because I thought The Flashcubes did it better; it ultimately
>became one
>of my ever-changing nominees for The Greatest Record Ever Made.)
> I'll further concede that the importance of Big Star as an
>influence
>pales beside that of, say, The Beatles or the early Who--especially when
>Big
>Star's influence is measured by its effect on music geeks like me who were
>reading Bomp! magazine in '78--but I insist they were of an importance
>equal to The
>Raspberries, even though The Raspberries sold more records. I loved (and
>still love) The Raspberries, but they were actively DESPISED by many in
>their
>day; the level of respect the rock audience had for The Raspberries in the
>mid-'70s is roughly akin to the respect that audience now has for Smash
>Mouth, or
>even Justin Timberlake. Sure, The Raspberries deserved a better fate...but
>they
>didn't achieve it.
> Big Star, by contrast, was unknown to most folks, but also had none
>of
>the perceived baggage of The Raspberries. Big Star could be discovered.
>Big
>Star could be a cult band. Big Star could be COOL! It then gets back to
>The
>Velvet Underground template: Big Star sold few records, but the few who
>bought 'em all formed bands.
> (And The Flashcubes also covered The Raspberries, of course.)
>CC!
>THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO
>Sunday nights from 9 to midnight Eastern USA time (with repeats all day
>Wednesday), on the web at wxxe.org <A HREF="http://www.wxxe.org/">Syracuse
>Community Radio</A>
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