Editing Big Star (section)

==First era: 1971–1974==

===Formation of the band===
From 1967 to 1970, Chilton was the lead singer for the [[blue-eyed soul]] group [[the Box Tops]], who scored a No.&nbsp;1 hit with the song "[[The Letter (Box Tops song)|The Letter]]" when he was 16. After leaving the group, he recorded a solo studio album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|76–89}} He was offered the role of lead vocalist for [[Blood, Sweat & Tears]], but turned down the offer as "too commercial".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|76–89}} Chilton had known [[Chris Bell (American musician)|Chris Bell]] for some time: both lived in Memphis, each had spent time recording music at [[Ardent Studios]],<ref name="Creswell2006" /> and each, when aged 13, had been impressed by the music of [[the Beatles]] during [[The Beatles in the United States|the band's 1964 debut U.S. tour]].<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|6–13, 27–30}} A song Chilton wrote nearly six years after he first witnessed a Beatles performance, "[[Thirteen (song)|Thirteen]]", referred to the event with the line "rock 'n' roll is here to stay".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|92}}

Chilton asked Bell to work with him as a duo modeled on [[Simon & Garfunkel]]; Bell declined, but invited Chilton to a performance by his own band, Icewater,<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|76–89}} composed of Bell, drummer Jody Stephens, and bassist Andy Hummel. Attracted by Icewater's music, Chilton showed the three his new song "Watch the Sunrise", and was asked to join the band.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|76–89}} Both "Watch the Sunrise" and "Thirteen" were subsequently included on Big Star's first album, ''[[Number 1 Record|#1&nbsp;Record]]''.

The now four-piece band adopted the name Big Star when one member was given the idea from a grocery store often visited for snacks during recording sessions.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|94, 101}} One of many [[Big Star Markets]] outlets in the Memphis region at the time, it had a logo consisting of a five-pointed star enclosing the words "Big Star"; as well as the store's name, the band used its logo but without the word "Star" to avoid infringing copyright.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|94, 101}}

===''#1 Record''===
{{Main|Number 1 Record|l1=#1 Record}}
Although all four members contributed to songwriting and vocals on the first album, Chilton and Bell dominated as a duo intentionally modeled on [[John Lennon]] and [[Paul McCartney]].<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|99–100}}<ref name="Bogdanov" /> The album was recorded by Ardent founder [[John Fry (record producer)|John Fry]], with [[Terry Manning]] contributing occasional backing vocals and keyboards. The title ''#1&nbsp;Record'' was decided towards the end of the recording sessions and evinced, albeit as a playful hope rather than a serious expectation, the chart position to be achieved by a big star.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|99–100}} Although Fry—at the band's insistence—was credited as "executive producer", publicly he insisted that "the band themselves really produced these records".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|99–100}} Fry recalled how Ardent, one of the first recording studios to use a sixteen-track tape machine, worked experimentally with the band members: "We started recording the songs with the intent that if it turned out OK we'd put it out [...] I wound up being the one that primarily worked on it: I recorded all the tracks and then they would often come late at night and do overdubs. One by one, they all learned enough engineering."<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|76–89}}

{{Listen|filename=The Ballad of el Goodo (Big Star song - sample).ogg|title="The Ballad of El Goodo"|description=Sample of "The Ballad of El Goodo" from ''#1&nbsp;Record'' (1972). The song is an example of a "luminous, melancholy ballad", contrasting with the rock and power pop in ''Radio City''.}}
Describing the mix of musical styles present on ''#1 Record'', ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s Bud Scoppa notes that the album includes "reflective and acoustic" numbers, saying that "even the prettiest tunes have tension and subtle energy to them, and the rockers reverberate with power". Scoppa finds that in each mode, "the guitar sound is sharp-edged and full".<ref name="RS-Miles2003" /> ''#1&nbsp;Record'' was released in June 1972,<ref name="Jovanovic2013" />{{rp|115}} and quickly received strong reviews. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' went as far as to say, "Every cut could be a single". ''Rolling Stone'' judged the album "exceptionally good", while ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' stated, "This album is one of those red-letter days when everything falls together as a total sound", and called it "an important record that should go to the top with proper handling".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|107}}

Proper handling, however, was not forthcoming: [[Stax Records]] proved unable to either promote or distribute the record with any degree of success, and even when the band's own efforts to get airplay generated interest, fans were unable to buy it as Stax could not make it available in many stores.<ref name="Simmonds2008" /> Stax, in an effort to improve its catalog's availability, signed a deal with [[Columbia Records]], already successful distributors in the U.S., making Columbia responsible for the entire Stax catalog. But Columbia had no interest in dealing with the independent distributors previously used by Stax and removed even the existing copies of ''#1 Record'' from the stores.<ref name="Segalsted2009" />

===''Radio City''===
{{Main|Radio City (album)|l1=Radio City}}
The frustration at ''#1 Record''{{'}}s obstructed sales contributed to tension within the band. There was physical fighting between members: Bell, after being punched in the face by Hummel, retaliated by smashing Hummel's new bass guitar to pieces against the wall.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|114–118}} Hummel took revenge at a later date: finding Bell's acoustic guitar in the latter's unattended car, he repeatedly punched it with a screwdriver.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|114–118}} In November 1972, Bell quit the band. When work continued on songs for a second album, Bell rejoined, but further conflict soon erupted. A master tape of the new songs inexplicably went missing, and Bell, whose heavy drug intake was affecting his judgment, attacked Fry's parked car.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|114–118}} In late 1972, struggling with severe depression, Bell quit the band once more, and by the end of the year Big Star disbanded.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|114–118}}

{{Listen|filename=September Gurls (Big Star song - sample).ogg|title="September Gurls"|description=Sample of "September Gurls" from ''Radio City'' (1974). Like ''#1&nbsp;Record'', the album contains a mix of rock, power pop, and acoustic reflection, but is more pop-oriented than either ''#1&nbsp;Record'' or ''Third''. This song is an example of the band's most highly acclaimed power pop.}}
After a few months Chilton, Stephens, and Hummel decided to reform Big Star, and the three resumed work on the second album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|126–130}} The title chosen, ''Radio City'', continued the play on the theme of a big star's popularity and success, expressing what biographer Robert Gordon calls the band's "romantic expectation".<ref name="Gordon" />{{rp|234}} As Hummel put it:

{{Blockquote|This was probably pretty lame, but in those days putting any word in front of the noun "city" to sort of emphasize the totality and pervasiveness of it was just a way of talking people had. If someone suggested going to a store but you had gotten a bad deal there you might say, "Oh no, that place is 'rip off city'." Calling an LP ''Radio City'' would be kind of wishful thinking. I mean we hoped it would be played on the radio a lot, making it "radio city". Of course it didn't pan out that way...<ref name="Eaton" />}} Stephens recalled: "''Radio City'', for me, was just an amazing record. Being a three-piece really opened things up for me in terms of playing drums. Drums take on a different role in a three-piece band, so it was a lot of fun. [...] ''Radio City'' was really more spontaneous, and the performances were pretty close to live performances."<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|126–130}}

Although uncredited, Bell contributed to the writing of some of the album's songs, including "O My Soul" and "Back of a Car".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|126–130}} Shortly before the album's release, Hummel left the band: judging that it would not last, and in his final year at college, he elected to concentrate on his studies and live a more normal life.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|138}} He was replaced by John Lightman for a short tenure prior to the band dissolving.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s Ken Barnes, describing the musical style of ''Radio City'', opens by noting as a backdrop that the band's debut, ''#1&nbsp;Record'', established them as "one of the leading new American bands working in the mid-Sixties pop and rock vein". ''Radio City'', Barnes finds, has "plenty of shimmering pop delights", although "the opening tune, 'O My Soul,' is a foreboding, sprawling funk affair"; Barnes concludes that "Sometimes they sound like the Byrds, sometimes like the early Who, but usually like their own indescribable selves".<ref name="RS-Miles2003" />

''Radio City'' was released in February 1974 and, like ''#1&nbsp;Record'', received excellent reviews. ''Record'' reported, "The sound is stimulating, the musicianship superb, and the result is tight and rollickingly rhythmic."<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|140}} ''Billboard'' judged it "a highly commercial set".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|140}} ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s Bud Scoppa, then with ''[[Phonograph Record (magazine)|Phonograph Record]]'', affirmed, "Alex Chilton has now emerged as a major talent, and he'll be heard from again".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|140}} ''Cashbox'' called it "a collection of excellent material that hopefully will break this deserving band in a big way".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|140}} But just as ''#1&nbsp;Record'' had fallen victim to poor marketing, so too did ''Radio City''. Columbia, now in complete control of the Stax catalog, refused to process it following a disagreement. Without a distributor, sales of ''Radio City'', though far greater than those of ''#1&nbsp;Record'', were minimal at only around 20,000 copies.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|140}}

===''Third/Sister Lovers''===
{{Main|Third/Sister Lovers}}
In September 1974, eight months after the release of ''Radio City'', Chilton and Stephens returned to Ardent Studios to work on a third album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|150–160}} They were assisted by producer [[Jim Dickinson]] and an assortment of musicians (including drummer Richard Rosebrough) and Lesa Aldridge, Chilton's girlfriend, who contributed on vocals.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|150–160}} The sessions and mixing were completed in early 1975,<ref name="Strong" /> and 250 copies of the album were pressed with plain labels for promotional use.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|161–165}}

Parke Putterbaugh of ''Rolling Stone'' described ''Third/Sister Lovers'' as "extraordinary". It is, he wrote, "Chilton's untidy masterpiece. [...] beautiful and disturbing"; "vehemently original";  of "haunting brilliance":
<blockquote>To listen to it is to be "plunged into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. Songs are drenched in strings and sweet sentiment one minute, starkly played and downcast the next. No pop song has ever bottomed out more than "Holocaust", an anguished plaint sung at a snail's pace over discordant slide-guitar fragments and moaning cello [...] On the up side, there's the delicious pop minuet "Stroke It Noel", the anticipatory magic of "Nightime" ("Caught a glance in your eyes and fell through the skies," Chilton rhapsodizes) [...] Big Star's baroque, guitar-driven pop reaches its apotheosis on songs like "Kizza Me", "Thank You Friends" and "O, Dana". [...] Without question, ''Third'' is one of the most idiosyncratic, deeply felt and fully realized albums in the pop idiom.<ref name="RS-review1997" /></blockquote>

{{Listen|filename=Holocaust (Big Star song - sample).ogg|title="Holocaust"|description=Sample of "Holocaust" from ''Third/Sister Lovers'' (recorded 1974; released 1978). ''Third'' is quite unlike Big Star's first two albums, and "Holocaust" is an example of its slower, darker songs; "Alex Chilton at his haunting best".|filename2=Thank You Friends (Big Star song - sample).ogg|title2="Thank You Friends"|description2=Sample of "Thank You Friends" from ''Third/Sister Lovers'' (recorded 1974; released 1978). Although containing a number of slow, dark songs, the album also contains material with "the undeniable hooks of the earlier albums", which this song exemplifies.}}
Fry and Dickinson flew to New York with promotional copies and met employees of a number of record labels, but could not generate interest in the album.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|161–165}} When a similar promotion attempt failed in California, the album was shelved as it was considered not commercial enough for release.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|161–165}} Fry recalled, "We'd go in and play it and these guys would look at us like we were crazy".<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|161–165}} In late 1974, before the album was even named, the band broke up, bringing Big Star's first era to its end.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|161–165}} Dickinson later said that he was "nailed for indulging Alex on Big Star ''Third'', but I think it is important that the artist is enabled to perform with integrity. What I did for Alex was literally remove the yoke of oppressive production that he had been under since the first time he ever uttered a word into a microphone, for good or ill."<ref name="Burgess2010" />

Since quitting the band in 1972, Bell had spent time in several different countries trying to develop his solo career.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|161–165}} In 1978, after his return to Memphis, the first two Big Star albums were released together in the U.K. as a double album, drawing enthusiastic reviews and interest from fans.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|205–207}} Soon afterward, Big Star's recognition grew further when, four years after its completion, the third album too was released in both the U.S. and the U.K.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|205–207}} By now, the hitherto untitled ''Third/Sister Lovers'' had become known by several unofficial names, including ''Third'' (reflecting its position in the discography), ''Beale Street Green'' (acknowledging the legendary site nearby, once a focal point for Memphis [[blues]] musicians), and ''Sister Lovers'' (because during the album's recording sessions, Chilton and Stephens were dating sisters Lesa and Holliday Aldridge).<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|148}}<ref name="Gordon" />{{rp|234}}

Not long after the release of ''Third/Sister Lovers'', Bell died in a car accident.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|211}} He apparently lost control of his car while driving alone and was killed when he struck a lamp post after hitting the curb a hundred feet before.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|211}} A blood test found that he was not drunk at the time, and no drugs were found on him other than a bottle of vitamins.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|211}} Bell is believed to have either fallen asleep at the wheel or become distracted.<ref name="Jovanovic" />{{rp|211}}