Am I the only person who thinks Big Star's "Radio City" is completely overrated?

tl;dr but fuck you miccio for this thread btw i'm drunk

listening to radio city i almost feel guilty for enjoying myself so much. there's definitely something dark and unnerving about it, but its so tuneful and consistently engaging in such an uplifting way. 'back of a car' breaks all kinds of records for number of hooks within the one song, 'what's going ahn'' has a sort of tragic wisdom about it and is glorious in its resigned melancholy and measured soul-searching, and 'september gurls' is blissfully carefree. it's a real shining jewel - good fun, tender, naive, and wise all at once.

yeahhhhhh!!!!! took me so long to fall in love with this album. the thing is, lol, i was like my first love was with #1 record because all of the impacted guitars and immediate hooks.... but radio city has so much space.. wait for it.. hook.. wait for it.. fuk you??? and funk you. i think the key here is to listen to jody stephens the fucking drummer.... AMAZING. he just KILLS and everything else kills but it just follows along on certain songs you know?

Taking Sides: Bangles' "September Gurls" vs Big Star's "September Gurls"

I just bought Keep an Eye on the Sky wit a little help from the US govt and also drunk.,
Radio City rules all time.

My mom hates this record.

I tried to get into this, didn't really gel outside of the big hits. maybe another try is in order

from what I remember I would agree with the OP

"#1 Record" >> "Radio City".
The latter has "September Gurls", which as a song is perfect in every possible way, but the album generally lacks those wonderful vocal harmonies that Chris Bell provided on the debut.

This record is more consistent than #1 Record. Both are great, though.

As for Cheap Trick, they would never ever get better than the "Heaven Tonight" album, which has the slickness and production values the first two are in lack of, plus it is also stylistically more varied, but without ever losing touch of pop songwriting at its best.

lol @ "big hits"
this is the best big star record

SBd you and Bruns and every other amusical cunt just in case it really was yr moms

Oh yeah...after ten years of trying to like Big Star I've given up--there's no there. As Woody Allen once wrote, "another one for the Academy of the Overrated" (and he should know!)

there's no there there. there.

this record is underrated.

^^^^^

i know who iago g. is

go ahead, spill it velko! the name's doug eklund...who are you?

hi doug

hey doug big star rules

i just think that the shorthand for this record being, you know, "classic power pop" isn't quite nailing what is so great about it. it's classic power pop, but it's a lot more too. Recent thing that knocked me out while listening: the end of "What's Going Ahn," that anguished Chilton vocal echoing back and forth, the booming drums, that brutal guitar. It's genius.

this record is wonderful

yeah, I know, I know, everyone loves them, great. i kinda just felt like trolling, some of their stuff is OK--Radio City is sure a lot better than #3 sister lovers or whatevs. the question is, who are you, velko? you get one more chance after this!

hey doug sister lovers is golden

my name is rafael

rafael what? one more shot then you get a big old piece of chicken

i don't really like big star but i do love the chris bell record and recently i've been thinking of buying those cheap big star reissues and forcing myself to like them, do i do it in the name of science?

do it in the name of spring

rafael is also my last name

someone was telling me that big star was music for the beach & firm young tits. xp

i would add beer and warm, pre-summer breezes to that list

que otm

thought so...

i'm worried that big star is gonna be like gaddis with us, que--i love so much of what you do and then completely i am lost.

maybe try third first then? it's probably closest in spirit to that Chris Bell record

but third is not available for $12 new on LP! i'd have to like, buy a CD or get a tape or something. my friend r0b3rt mcn3ill (do you know him from teh crypt daze??) said he was gonna tape it for me in his preferred running order. i should maybe ask him about that.

#1 Record is probably the better overall album (barely), but Radio City has my favorite Big Star song ("Daisy Glaze"), so haters can fuck the fuck off.

hmmm the only r0b3rt from those daze that i know lived/lives in Holland. is that him? i dunno, i don't wanna lead you astray, they might not be your thing. this time of year is the time of year when i fell in love with them and i fell hard.

ah, r0bert plays in the country teasers but is wholly american. lived in uh, wales? for a while? anyway, yeah we're gonna see.
i will just listen to the first two records at work tomorrow and see what happens.

there's some other thread where we argue about what the best track order for 3rd is (I agree w/Shasta, whose favorite originated from some Italian bootleg of it iirc). Third was my intro to Big Star and is an amazing record but in a lot of ways it doesn't bear too much resemblance to what came before.

That twangy guitar riff on "O, My Soul" has forever reminded me of "Footloose."

Heh

Fun fact:

Loggins: “On the session, I asked my guitarist, ‘Gimme that Chilton thing, you know, like on Radio City.’ The guy looks at me like I have two heads. I said, ‘You know, Big Star? Radio City?’ He just looks more confused. So I ran out to my car, grabbed my tape that has #1 Record on one side and Radio City on the other — I’m telling you, that tape never leaves my car — and put it on for him. There’s that little riff just before Alex starts singing, and I said to my guitarist, ‘That! That’s what I’m looking for!’ So he picked up on it, and it became the main riff in ‘Footloose.’”

(OK, I just made that up.)

Well done.

It totally sounds like a rip-off, it’s even the same notes no?

I can totally imagine the singer of "I Met Her at Church" singing "Kick off your Sunday SHOEZZZ!"

Bowie: "I said to Stevie Ray Vaughan, 'Stevie, have you heard of this obscure band called Big Star? There is a song of theirs with this great little guitar intro. Do you think you could maybe tweak it a little for a song I am currently working on?' And boy, did he ever. He listened to the Big Star, paused a moment, then picked up his guitar and immediately worked his magic. And that's how 'Modern Love' was born, and a guitar hero was made."

there is a clip on youtube of Loggins on Live from Daryl's House that is almost this exact scenario except he's trying to get the drummer to play "Modern Love" so they can start the song, we may have unlocked the secret to Footloose