Great story Bobby

Steve


> Your points are well thought out and pretty much on the money.  
During the
> brief time time they were around they were a virtual non entity in 
any sort
> of national way. Alex told me that Radio City sold 5000 copies when 
it was
> released. As for groundbreaking songs like Good Vibrations etc... I 
think
> Big Star had a few on the 3rd album. Holocaust comes to mind...
> 
> For what it's worth, I don't even consider Big Star to be truly a 
power pop
> act - whatever the hell that even means. I just think of them as a 
band that
> released a few almost perfect records that somehow managed to merge 
Memphis
> and the Beatles in a very sublime way. In 1974 I was 17 and 
perfecting my
> southern rock guitar chops. I could play almost everything by the 
Allman
> Bros. and Z Z Top fairly correctly. The Beatles were still my first 
love but
> to be a successful musician in the south in those days you had be 
adept at
> the southern boogie that ruled the area. I heard a tape of 
September Gurls
> at a friend's party that year and my brain pretty much melted down. 
It was
> possible to be from the south and not have to write bad copies of 
Freebird.
> My path was set that evening and I never looked back. Over the 
years I've
> heard many, many bands described as sounding like Big Star but I've 
only
> heard a very few come close to their true essence. A bit of Game 
Theory,
> Chris Stamey era dBs and some Let's Active tracks. The thing that 
set Big
> Star apart from everyone else is that Chilton (along with Bell) was 
a
> brilliant lyricist. You can borrow the chords and melodic content, 
but if
> you don't have anything to say there's just no point. I gave up a 
long, long
> time ago trying to follow in their footsteps. It's an almost 
hopeless task.
> I did record one homage on a latter Windbreakers disc - it's 
called "On The
> Wire", and it comes close, but not close enough.
> 
> By the way - I sang Way Out West with Alex and his trio live once 
while he
> taught the song to the band. That's got to be my strangest live 
experience.
> 
> Bobby Sutliff
> 
> ----- >