In one of his typically erudite posts, Greg Sager referred to "September 
Gurls" as "the Rosetta Stone" of power pop.  I want to avoid any discussion 
of the definition of power pop, as it's as pointless as reasoning with Judge 
Roy Moore.  But, I wanted to discuss Big Star and where they stand in power 
pop.

While, if I'm explaining to some hipster the parameters of power pop, I'll 
name Big Star as a power pop artist, I've never thought of them as truly 
being a power pop band.  Of course, that has more to do with my subjective 
definition of the genre.  Objectively, however, I think that Big Star's 
place in power pop history has been vastly overrated.

I don't think it is possible for Big Star to have recorded any "Rosetta 
Stone", due to the simple fact that Big Star's influence on the development 
of the power pop genre is negligible.  Big Star were contemporaries of 
Badfinger and The Raspberries, and sold about 5 or 10 percent of what they 
sold.  They were a cult band, and that cult was very small through most of 
the '70s.  As the '70s went on, and more bands played power pop.  And none 
of them really displayed any Big Star influence -- whether it's Dwight 
Twilley Band, The Scruffs, The Shoes, Cheap Trick, The Knack, 20/20, 
Pezband, and a host of skinny tie bands, you can't really find any Big Star 
in their music, except to the extent that any of those bands shared similar 
influences.

It really wasn't until some Southern bands came up that you really began to 
see more Big Star influence -- in particular, The dBs, though artists like 
R.E.M. and The Windbreakers also showed some of that influence too.  Still, 
you had folks like Marshall Crenshaw and other who were immune from any Big 
Star mojo.  The only other artists I could really link to the band from that 
era would be Tommy Keene, who covered a Chilton solo tune, and Game Theory.

Indeed, the Stamey-era dB's and Game Theory had the most overt Big Star 
influence.  And notably, both Chris Stamey and Scott Miller seemed really 
taken by RADIO CITY and the quirkier side of that brilliant album.

The next wave of bands to really solidify a consistent Big Star influence 
were The Replacements (though, IMO, very superficially), The Posies and 
Teenage Fanclub.  And, notably, all three bands really emphasized the least 
challenging elements of Big Star music.  No knock on "Thirteen" and 
"September Gurls", but they aren't really groundbreaking songs, as opposed 
to let's say "Good Vibrations" or "Go All The Way", they are simply great 
(and, really, perfect) songs.

There is nothing wrong with Big Star's accessible material becoming so 
influential, but the inspiration of Big Star on rock music, and specifically 
power pop, if often pretty reductive.  Like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and 
The Velvet Underground, using just three examples, there is no signature Big 
Star sound.  Each album is a unique entity and many of the more difficult 
elements of their music have not found their way into the vocabulary of many 
of the bands who most like to fly the Big Star flag high.

However, in any discussion of the impact of their music, it must be noted 
that they are an influence that got absorbed into power pop after it went 
through its first one or two phases, and really only got absorbed as part of 
the foundation of the music about a decade after power pop got going as 
genre.

This is akin to the way that The Sonics became an extremely influential band 
in garage rock many years after their hey day.

That's all --

Mike Bennett

NP:  Pansy Division -- TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT!



Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com

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