172: Big Star - #1 Record (1972)
“I never travel far / Without a little Big Star.”
—The Replacements
Big Star are your favorite eighties band’s favorite band; but while you've heard their influence, you may not have heard their music. In the early 1970s, this Memphis-based band recorded two albums filled with jangly power-pop and yearning balladry that should have been huge but that had to settle for being mysterious and legendary. Ben found those albums on his 19th birthday, and he's loved them ever since. Joined by Rich and Phil, he explores the band’s sparkling debut album, #1 Record.
Miscellany
For more information on Big Star, we recommend checking out the 2012 documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, which as of this episode’s release is available to stream on Kanopy, Plex, the Roku Channel, Tubi, and Prime Video. For obvious reasons, the documentary lacks any input from Chris Bell or Alex Chilton, so there will always be something of an enigmatic quality to the band and its motivations. But you get a sense of how far-reaching their influence was, especially the number of musicians who came together to celebrate Big Star after Chilton’s passing.
The personnel listed below come from the #1 Record liner notes, which are incomplete, leaving out contributors like Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love providing the horn section on “Feel.” As an album and band whose reputation grew over time, a lot of the details are somewhat hazy.
Big Star’s complete ‘70s recordings, including the Rock City clips in this episode, were eventually compiled on the four-disc 2009 box set Keep an Eye on the Sky, in addition to a (sadly no longer available) eight-disc fan comp titled I Got Kinda Lost, which used the catalog number ST100/6.
We experienced some technical difficulties recording this episode, which explains why the audio sounds slightly off, though Producer Mike did his usual masterful work smoothing it all out.
Other links
Big Star's official page on Stax Records (Staxrecords.com)
That '70s Show title sequence with "In the Street" (YouTube)
Steve Hoffman forums #1 Record thread (forums.stevehoffman.tv)
Discord & Rhyme’s #1 Record playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme’s merch store (TeePublic)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Ben Marlin (host)
Rich Bunnell (moderator)
Phil Maddox
#1 Record tracklist
Feel
The Ballad of El Goodo
In the Street
Thirteen
Don’t Lie to Me
The India Song
When My Baby’s Beside Me
My Life Is Right
Give Me Another Chance
Try Again
Watch the Sunrise
ST 100/6
Other clips used
Big Star:
O, My Soul
September Gurls
Jesus Christ
You Get What You Deserve
Others:
The Replacements - Alex Chilton
The Box Tops - The Letter
The Rolling Stones - Rocks Off
The Byrds - The Ballad of Easy Rider
Evan Dando - The Ballad of El Goodo
Cheap Trick - That '70s Song (In the Street)
Wilco - Thirteen
Garbage - Thirteen
Håkan Hellström - 13
Rock City - My Life Is Right
George Harrison - The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord)
Chris Bell - Better Save Yourself
The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun
Joni Mitchell - All I Want
David Crosby - Song with No Words (Tree with No Leaves)
Rock City - The Preacher
Chris Bell - I Am the Cosmos
Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbert
Matthew Sweet - I've Been Waiting
The Posies - Golden Blunders
The Who - Sparks
Band/album personnel
Chris Bell – guitar, vocals
Alex Chilton – guitar, vocals
Andy Hummel – bass guitar, vocals
Jody Stephens – drums
Terry Manning – electric piano, harmony vocals
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Big Star - When My Baby’s Beside Me (this episode only)
You can buy or stream #1 Record and other albums by Big Star at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.