In the days since Alex Chilton’s death from a heart attack at 59, others have covered his musical legacy, many doing a far better job than I could ever hope to. But it bears repeating that Big Star, the early ’70s outfit he co-founded to little commercial success, influenced many bands who later enjoyed greater exposure. Among those for whom Big Star’s power-pop struck a resounding chord are R.E.M., The Bangles, The dB’s, The Posies, and perhaps most obviously, The Replacements, who famously honored their musical hero in song for 1987’s Pleased To Meet Me (“Alex Chilton”).
That tip of the hat from Minneapolis’ own is how a lot of folks got turned on to Big Star. And though I had that Replacements album (on cassette), it wasn’t until Rykodisc reissued Third/Sister Lovers on CD in 1992 that I dug any deeper. I recall reading about the release in either Rolling Stone or the now-defunct CD Review (or both), intrigued by Big Star’s history of missed opportunities.
The band’s first two LPs (1972’s #1 Record and 1974’s Radio City) were praised by critics but were under-promoted and poorly distributed. Big Star’s third album, recorded in 1974, was deemed uncommercial by their label label and shelved. Various versions of the Third LP appeared beginning in 1978, but the arrival of Third/Sister Lovers in 1992 was cause for celebration. Rykodisc handled the CD’s release, having earned a reputation as one of the premier reissue labels (alongside Rhino Records) for its attention to detail and sound. Artists like David Bowie and Elvis Costello had assigned Rykodisc the rights to give their back catalogues the spiffed-up treatment on CD, and Third/Sister Lovers was the closest to a complete document of Big Star’s final LP as fans would likely ever hear.
Turned on by Third/Sister Lovers, I began to search among the many branches of the Power-Pop Family Tree, a giant, still-growing thing firmly rooted in what Big Star had begun years before, even if unbeknownst to most. So for helping to start what today still gives us so much joy, thanks, Alex Chilton. You made this all so probable.
Purchase Big Star – “Thank You Friends” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.
