I'm not sure I agree regarding Big Star's influence.  You are right that
their blip on the radar screen was meager during their active career.  But
like the Velvet Underground, they are a band where everyone who heard them
started a band.  You mention some of the obvious descendents of Big Star:
TFC, Posies, Replacements, dBs.  I'd add Mitch Easter and bands he's worked
with (I hear Big Star in Mayflies USA); the Bangles; Matthew Sweet;
Lemonheads; and others.  At this point I think the influence of Big Star--
through second and third generation adherents-- is indelibly etched into the
genre I won't name.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Bennett" <mrhonorama@hotmail.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2003 1:18 PM
Subject: Big Star and Rosetta Stones


> 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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