Post by petrolino on Mar 15, 2024 0:07:10 GMT
Big Star & Raspberries : 'Power Pop Launchpad ~1972'
Power pop has always struck me as a somewhat vague term when it comes to defining a particular form of popular music. I like that it was coined by the Who. It's like Suicide advertising one of their early gigs as a "punk mass", some years before punk became a musical term adopted by music critics and industry types who were aiming to lump bands together, compartmentalise them for public consumption, and then further commercialise and monetise. In America, as far as I'm aware, the different bands most strongly associated with the power pop movement were spread out across the country, so the idea of power pop wasn't built around the actions of any particular scene, nor was it applied to the roster of a particular music label.
The American power pop bands I like from the 1970s were more refined than garage rock, carried more amp power than beat pop, exchanged ribaldry for the cheeky humour of bubblegum pop, and lacked the unifying aesthetics of glam rock. They were less ornamental than baroque pop, though their compact song structures often housed similarly complex musical arrangements. They were stylistically more contained than psychedelic pop and space rock, though they used similarly unusual chord structures, and the best of them, such as Big Star and Raspberries, were also highly experimental inside the studio. All of which are somewhat crass generalisations that I'm making, but I'll go out on a limb and state that power pop fans know a power pop anthem when they hear one, as these songs do tend to carry distinct stylistic and musical commonalities.
The American power pop bands I like from the 1970s were more refined than garage rock, carried more amp power than beat pop, exchanged ribaldry for the cheeky humour of bubblegum pop, and lacked the unifying aesthetics of glam rock. They were less ornamental than baroque pop, though their compact song structures often housed similarly complex musical arrangements. They were stylistically more contained than psychedelic pop and space rock, though they used similarly unusual chord structures, and the best of them, such as Big Star and Raspberries, were also highly experimental inside the studio. All of which are somewhat crass generalisations that I'm making, but I'll go out on a limb and state that power pop fans know a power pop anthem when they hear one, as these songs do tend to carry distinct stylistic and musical commonalities.
"On the album Pete Yorn recorded with actress Scarlett Johansson, the pair covered early Big Star member Chris Bell’s woefully underrated "I Am the Cosmos." They handled the delicate track with grace -- and got us thinking about the Big Star influence on Yorn’s own work. Critics love to namedrop Bruce Springsteen when they talk Yorn, because he’s a Jersey guy, but his masterful layering of power-pop chords, acoustic guitars and virile lyrics smack of Big Star lead singer Alex Chilton. See albums Musicforthemorningafter and Day I Forgot for what we’re talking about."
- Will Levith, Diffuser
- Will Levith, Diffuser
Big Star ~ Chris Bell, Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel & Jody Stephens
Power pop is also about attitude. This aligned it to the emerging glam rock movement which was becoming prevalent in the U K, though some of the artier glam rockers prided themselves on exhibiting a certain kind of boyish insouciance. In America, it also led to power pop coming to be described as punk's kindly step-sister, as these concurrent art movements both drew heavily from the jagged edges of garage rock and the wild abandon of psychedelia. Punks and power poppers seemed to actively seek to distance themselves from what they perceived as being the pomp and circumstance of the progressive rock movement, largely eschewing the excesses of lengthy, classically-inspired stadium anthems which were taking the rock world by storm (only a genuine musical prodigy like Eric Carmen could have concocted a compacted, 8-minute power pop epic like 'I Can Remember' in 1972 and done it with such panache).
In the case of heavy metal, too, musicians had witnessed the influence of 3-minute beat rockers turned psych pioneers like the Beatles, the Hollies, the Kinks and the Who. Ozzy Osbourne has said on numerous occasions that he owes a great debt to the Beatles, adding that the first time he heard their song 'She Loves You' was a watershed moment. As avowed psychedelicists of an experimental bent, Black Sabbath knew their garage rock too. On their first album, 'Black Sabbath' (1970), they recorded a cover of Crow's song 'Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me'); Crow had mainstays of the Minnesota rock scene in their line-up, including former members of the Castaways.
In the case of heavy metal, too, musicians had witnessed the influence of 3-minute beat rockers turned psych pioneers like the Beatles, the Hollies, the Kinks and the Who. Ozzy Osbourne has said on numerous occasions that he owes a great debt to the Beatles, adding that the first time he heard their song 'She Loves You' was a watershed moment. As avowed psychedelicists of an experimental bent, Black Sabbath knew their garage rock too. On their first album, 'Black Sabbath' (1970), they recorded a cover of Crow's song 'Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me'); Crow had mainstays of the Minnesota rock scene in their line-up, including former members of the Castaways.
"Most lists of the greatest-ever powerpop tunes feature Raspberries' Go All The Way at or near the top, usually duking it out with Todd Rundgren's Couldn’t I Just Tell You or Big Star’s September Gurls. It’s got it all: Beach Boys harmonies, Beatles melody, Who power with a dash of Stones raunch (that title/lyric). A US top five hit in July 1972, Go All the Way was also one of the few powerpop success stories. The Raspberries are why many think of powerpop as a simple, sustained act of homage to a bygone era, probably because, unlike their peers, they wore matching suits, at least when they started.
But their music offered more than Fabs fetishism. It helped that they had at the helm the bouffant boy wonder, Eric Carmen, one of several powerpop dreamboats who looked like David Cassidy’s fucked-up older brothers – they could, in another universe, have been teen idols themselves. Carmen wrote a mean ballad, and indeed he became a sort of American Elton when he went solo in 1976 with All By Myself. But there’s nothing sappy about Go All The Way.
“I’d never had an easy relationship with a woman that didn’t degenerate into some kind of deception or bad feeling,” Alex Chilton once said, neatly capturing the powerpop ethos of drama and dishevelled desperation. That powerpop has become synonymous with the grinning dorks of the “skinny-tie” scene is a joke. These were barbed love songs that often deconstructed or subverted pop-romance tropes. The spelling of “gurls” in September Gurls is key: this is an askew take on female worship. “I loved you, well, never mind,” drawls Chilton in that disconcertingly high voice of his, followed by: “I’ve been crying, all the time.” If you want to find out what he’d been up to during the summer of 1973 when he wrote this song, read all about it in Holly George-Warren’s fascinating 2014 tome, A Man Called Destruction. And if you want to know why Big Star are rated as highly as the 60s gods who inspired them, check out 1974’s Radio City, their second album, from which this object lesson in warped dynamics and daisy-glazed harmonies is taken."
- Paul Lester, The Guardian
But their music offered more than Fabs fetishism. It helped that they had at the helm the bouffant boy wonder, Eric Carmen, one of several powerpop dreamboats who looked like David Cassidy’s fucked-up older brothers – they could, in another universe, have been teen idols themselves. Carmen wrote a mean ballad, and indeed he became a sort of American Elton when he went solo in 1976 with All By Myself. But there’s nothing sappy about Go All The Way.
“I’d never had an easy relationship with a woman that didn’t degenerate into some kind of deception or bad feeling,” Alex Chilton once said, neatly capturing the powerpop ethos of drama and dishevelled desperation. That powerpop has become synonymous with the grinning dorks of the “skinny-tie” scene is a joke. These were barbed love songs that often deconstructed or subverted pop-romance tropes. The spelling of “gurls” in September Gurls is key: this is an askew take on female worship. “I loved you, well, never mind,” drawls Chilton in that disconcertingly high voice of his, followed by: “I’ve been crying, all the time.” If you want to find out what he’d been up to during the summer of 1973 when he wrote this song, read all about it in Holly George-Warren’s fascinating 2014 tome, A Man Called Destruction. And if you want to know why Big Star are rated as highly as the 60s gods who inspired them, check out 1974’s Radio City, their second album, from which this object lesson in warped dynamics and daisy-glazed harmonies is taken."
- Paul Lester, The Guardian
The Choir & The Yardbirds in 1967
Crossing the bridge between garage rock and psychedelia in America was instrumental in the development of power pop and punk. It was there in the Routers' much-imitated cheerleader anthem 'Let's Go (Pony)' from 1962 (as referenced by Beth Thornley's 2010 indie anthem 'You're So Pony'), a band that at times featured Ohioan Scott Walker on bass. It was there when Texan guitarist Roky Erickson developed regional hits he'd recorded with the Spades to become psychedelic mindbenders for the 13th Floor Elevators. And it was there when power pop progenitors, the Flamin' Groovies of San Francisco, California, and the Nazz of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, started pushing a new kind of sound. Here in the U K, the job fell to the formidably-named Badfinger.
“We thought that before any of us die, this would not be a bad time to do it,” says Eric Carmen in describing why the Raspberries chose 2005 to mount a ten-date reunion tour. The last stop on this trek, at Hollywood’s House of Blues, was recorded by Mark Linett and recently released as a two-disc set by Rykodisc entitled Live on Sunset Strip.
Perhaps Carmen’s recent jaunt with Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band gave him new urgency to reunite the band. After all, only Starr and Paul McCartney are left from the Beatles, making any future Fab Four reunion anticlimactic.
Unlike the Beatles, the Raspberries weren’t together nearly long enough to get sick of each other. They released only four studio albums, the last one ironically titled Starting Over. But rather than being crushed by the weight of personality clashes — an all-too-common cause of death for many rock bands — Ohio’s Raspberries quickly realized their unusually melodic rock just didn’t fit well in the midst of the overblown ’70s progressive rock age.
“The Raspberries was formed as kind of a reaction to prog rock, which we didn’t like.” Carmen explains. “‘Let’s bring some songwriting and harmonies back to music.’ And we did that. And the idiots that we were, we actually had hits, which is the absolute kiss of death. Rock critics seemed to get what we were about. The 16-year-old girls seemed to get it. But their 18-year-old album-buying brothers, who were listening to Jethro Tull, didn’t get it; didn’t want it. So eventually our sense of frustration caused the band to implode, which we did in about 1974. We had banged our head on the wall long enough and said, ‘This isn’t going to work.’ And I guess we weren’t the only ones that felt that way. From what we read, Big Star and Badfinger were kind of feeling the same way.”
These days, the Raspberries are viewed as a groundbreaking band. The music they made, along with Big Star and Badfinger, inspired oodles of great modern acts. But while the critics picked up on this quartet’s rare beauty — as did guys like Bruce Springsteen, who wore out his Raspberries cassette tape — the wider public did not.
“It was easy for people to be derisive about our music because they saw what we were doing as retro,” Carmen elaborates. “But we were like barbarians trying to crash the gates of the bloated progressive rock that we despised. A lot of people just didn’t get it. But over the years, it seems like they [began to] get it. Sometimes it takes a while, but now there’s a whole different kind of reverence for what we’re doing, which didn’t happen at the time.”
Carmen is sometimes surprised by the Raspberries’ unusual fan demographic.
“Some of our biggest fans are musicians, which you would have thought in 1972 that the musicians would have really been big fans of Jethro Tull [instead], not these lightweight Raspberries,” he marvels. “When I was on tour with Ringo, we had Jack Bruce, the bass player/singer of Cream, who was their head songwriter; we had Simon Kirk on drums, who was from Bad Company and Free; the great rock guitarist Dave Edmunds; and Ringo and me. We were sitting in a room one day doing an interview and the interviewer said to the band, “Whose songs were hardest to learn?” And without a second beat, the entire band wheeled around and pointed at me: ‘Eric’s!’ I think Dave Edmunds said, ‘There’s a fucking chord for every word!’ He’d never seen anything like that when I tried to show him ‘Go All The Way’. ‘I’ve got to sing and play all these chords and remember all this stuff?'”
- Dennis MacIntosh, Pop Matters
Perhaps Carmen’s recent jaunt with Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band gave him new urgency to reunite the band. After all, only Starr and Paul McCartney are left from the Beatles, making any future Fab Four reunion anticlimactic.
Unlike the Beatles, the Raspberries weren’t together nearly long enough to get sick of each other. They released only four studio albums, the last one ironically titled Starting Over. But rather than being crushed by the weight of personality clashes — an all-too-common cause of death for many rock bands — Ohio’s Raspberries quickly realized their unusually melodic rock just didn’t fit well in the midst of the overblown ’70s progressive rock age.
“The Raspberries was formed as kind of a reaction to prog rock, which we didn’t like.” Carmen explains. “‘Let’s bring some songwriting and harmonies back to music.’ And we did that. And the idiots that we were, we actually had hits, which is the absolute kiss of death. Rock critics seemed to get what we were about. The 16-year-old girls seemed to get it. But their 18-year-old album-buying brothers, who were listening to Jethro Tull, didn’t get it; didn’t want it. So eventually our sense of frustration caused the band to implode, which we did in about 1974. We had banged our head on the wall long enough and said, ‘This isn’t going to work.’ And I guess we weren’t the only ones that felt that way. From what we read, Big Star and Badfinger were kind of feeling the same way.”
These days, the Raspberries are viewed as a groundbreaking band. The music they made, along with Big Star and Badfinger, inspired oodles of great modern acts. But while the critics picked up on this quartet’s rare beauty — as did guys like Bruce Springsteen, who wore out his Raspberries cassette tape — the wider public did not.
“It was easy for people to be derisive about our music because they saw what we were doing as retro,” Carmen elaborates. “But we were like barbarians trying to crash the gates of the bloated progressive rock that we despised. A lot of people just didn’t get it. But over the years, it seems like they [began to] get it. Sometimes it takes a while, but now there’s a whole different kind of reverence for what we’re doing, which didn’t happen at the time.”
Carmen is sometimes surprised by the Raspberries’ unusual fan demographic.
“Some of our biggest fans are musicians, which you would have thought in 1972 that the musicians would have really been big fans of Jethro Tull [instead], not these lightweight Raspberries,” he marvels. “When I was on tour with Ringo, we had Jack Bruce, the bass player/singer of Cream, who was their head songwriter; we had Simon Kirk on drums, who was from Bad Company and Free; the great rock guitarist Dave Edmunds; and Ringo and me. We were sitting in a room one day doing an interview and the interviewer said to the band, “Whose songs were hardest to learn?” And without a second beat, the entire band wheeled around and pointed at me: ‘Eric’s!’ I think Dave Edmunds said, ‘There’s a fucking chord for every word!’ He’d never seen anything like that when I tried to show him ‘Go All The Way’. ‘I’ve got to sing and play all these chords and remember all this stuff?'”
- Dennis MacIntosh, Pop Matters
Raspberries ¬ Jim Bonfanti, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley & Eric Carmen
So, I sometimes ask myself, how do I personally perceive power pop to be? Well, for me, it does come down to several things I've outlined above. Challenging arrangements, which were the backbone of 1960s pop and rock development, aligned to driving rhythms. Engaging chord progressions, soaring harmonies, and perhaps more than anything, the conjuring of strong melodic hooks within a relatively complex composition, which I feel is what makes great power pop songs so darned catchy.
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8 Defining Power Pop Plays Of The 1970s
01) Todd Rundgren
I consider Todd Rundgren to be the godfather of the power pop movement. His work with the Nazz became a primary influence on the subgenre, he continued to evolve relevant musical templates with Runt, and his solo work included songs that would go on to be embraced as power pop staples, including a "bouquet of ear-catching melodies" heard on the album 'Something/Anything?' (1972) which was released during power pop's ground year zero.
Essential Template : 'Couldn't I Just Tell You' (Released : February, 1972)
Nazz drummer Thom Mooney was a member of Tattoo in the mid-1970s alongside Raspberries guitarist Wally Bryson. The band recorded just one studio album, 'Tattoo' (1976), for the music label Prodigal Records who were based in Detroit, Michigan.
Power Pop Masterpiece : 'I Saw The Light'
Power Pop Masterpiece : 'I Saw The Light'
02) Raspberries
The Raspberries came fast out of the gate. What's especially significant about their contribution to the emergence of the power pop sound is that they carefully maintained the essence of this style across four albums. What's equally notable is that their first two albums, 'Raspberries' (1972) and 'Fresh Cream' (1972), both arrived in 1972.
Wally Bryson (who was born in Gastonia, North Carolina) brought country music stylings to Raspberries for 'Last Dance', while Eric Carmen explored gospel with compositions like 'I Saw The Light' and 'I Reach For The Light'. As a group, they continually weaved different musical styles into their compositions which added an element of unpredictability to their songwriting.
Raspberries were able to absorb line-up changes better than some of their contemporaries. When their rhythm section left following the recording of their third album, Carmen and Bryson brought in bassist Scott McCarl who'd been a member of Yellow Hair, and drummer Michael McBride who'd played alongside Carmen in the Quick and Cyrus Erie.
Essential Template : 'Don't Want To Say Goodbye' (Released : April, 1972)
Fotomaker were a power pop group formed in the late 1970s by Wally Bryson and members of rock 'n' roll band the Young Rascals. They recorded three albums in less than two years, between 1978 and 1979. Their self-titled album, 'Fotomaker' (1978), has been called the most disturbing 33rpm power pop record ever committed to vinyl. Today, rightfully or wrongfully, I suspect they'd be cancelled within a New York Minute due to a latter-day, online controversy apparently provoked by one of their three album covers (~ though it appears to my ill-informed English eyes to rather accurately depict a proud American subculture of launching child beauty pageants and anointing teen queens). Regardless, some of Bryson's guitar work with the Rascals was as good as you'll ever hear.
Power Pop Masterpiece : 'Ecstasy'
03) Big Star
Big Star's sound shifted quite dramatically across the three albums they recorded in the 1970s because the band kept getting smaller. On their first album, '#1 Record' (1972), guitarist Chris Bell really drove the power pop sound forward by applying a hard edge. Guitarist Alex Chilton brought elaborate song constructions to the table, and songs like 'Thirteen', 'Try Again' and 'I'm In Love With A Girl' were noted more for their country-tinged, acoustic balladry.
Essential Template : 'In The Street' (Released : August, 1972)
Their second album, 'Radio City' (1974), followed Bell's departure. Chilton filled the void by writing some of the great power pop tunes of the 1970s, songs like 'You Get What You Deserve', 'She's A Mover' and 'September Gurls' (which was later covered by the Paisley Underground's budding power pop icons, the Bangles).
By the time of their third album, 'Third/Sister Lovers' (1977), bassist Andy Hummel had quit Big Star, leaving Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens to record with a line-up of session musicians at Ardent Studios. For the good at least, they were able to keep playing back home in Memphis, Tennessee and the results were quite extraordinary, though a long way from their power pop roots.
Power Pop Masterpiece : 'Back Of A Car'
04) Milk 'N' Cookies / The Nerves
In the middle of the decade, punk was the talk of the town and power pop had been deemed a commercial failure by record labels. Milk 'N' Cookies had a foot in both camps. Though they only recorded one studio album, 'Milk 'N' Cookies' (1975), it became a cult favourite among punks and power poppers alike.
The Nerves were equally unlucky in their commercial endeavours. They only recorded one 4-track EP in 1976, but their influence has remained palpable. One of their songs, 'Hanging On The Telephone', was covered by New York punk group Blondie who wrote the original playbook on bubblegum power-punk pop alongside their contemporaries, the Ramones. After their sudden dissolution, members of the Nerves went on to play in a number of key power pop groups including the Breakaways (which also featured ex-members of Milk 'N' Cookies), the Beat and the Plimsouls.
'Chance To Play'
05) Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick once enjoyed a bad reputation for being a raucous underground rock 'n' roll band based in crime-crazy Rockford, Illinois, so it came as a surprise to some when they started crafting clean, melodic power pop tracks fit for radio airplay. Their seminal live album, 'Cheap Trick At Budokan' (1978), which was recorded on tour in Tokyo, Japan, has been hailed as the greatest live power pop album of all time; in 2020, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
'Takin' Me Back'
06) The Cars
The Cars were initially described as a new wave band but were embraced by hardcore power pop fanatics looking for an alternative to novelty power pop acts like Elton Duck and the Rubinoos. The Cars became one of the four pillars of American power pop, bookending the late 1970s alongside Cheap Trick, to stand opposite subgenre innovators Big Star and Raspberries. Together, these four pillars created a power pop temple akin to Mount Rushmore. The Cars possessed a sharp, synthesised edge which they were able to meld into powerful power pop compositions.
'Bye Bye Love'
07) The Shivvers
The Shivvers never got to record a full studio album and might have been lost to this world, had it not been for the emergence of the Wisconsin-based rock 'n' roll compilation, 'Lost Hits From Milwaukee, 1979 - 1982'. They could have been serious contenders for the power pop crown if things had worked out different, but alas, it wasn't to be.
'Teen Line'
08) The Knack
There were plenty of bands active in 1979 who might have put a lid on power pop, as well as bands ready to take up the mantle for the 1980s like the emerging dB's. The Knack were a highly experienced musical outfit who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Their compulsive superhit 'My Sharona' became a rock 'n' roll anthem, finally bringing power pop to the forefront of the musical landscape when it reached the number 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100.
'Maybe Tonight'
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Eric Carmen & Alex Chilton : 'Hyperballadeers'
It might be said that power pop bands were an emotional bunch. Great Britain's power pop progenitors Badfinger composed the power ballad 'Without You' (1970) which was successfully covered by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey. Sadly, the band's co-writers Tom Evans and Pete Ham both committed suicide.
Eric Carmen was one of America's great balladeers. His 1975 solo recording 'All By Myself', built around the music of classical piano virtuoso Sergei Rachmaninoff, was a seismic power ballad that went on to be covered by many. Carmen's solo work was often rooted in the sincere, blue collar balladry of Raspberries compositions like 'Don't Want To Say Goodbye' and 'Waiting'.
Big Star were noted for their country-tinged, acoustic balladry which reflected their roots in Memphis, Tennessee. Songs like 'I'm In Love With A Girl', 'Thirteen' and 'Try Again' are now acknowledged as a primary influence on the mellow country pop subgenre, "sunkissed acoustica". Alex Chilton's balladry reached extraordinary heights while plumbing emotional depths during the recording of 'Third/Sister Lovers' (1978) which produced haunting compositions like 'Big Black Car' and 'Holocaust'.
"None of the Big Star albums were commercially successful upon their release; each was its own preposterous farrago of record company hijinx, poor timing, and possibly the full-borne fruits of a highly defeatist attitude. (It is generally taken that both the name Big Star and the album title #1 Record were intended ironically.) Nevertheless, each has become a key touchstone to contemporary pop music.
Who knows what difference it might have made for good or ill in the life of Alex Chilton (or Chris Bell for that matter) had those records been codified as the classics they are as soon as they were released? Would Chilton have been the same broken man who released Sister Lovers and went on to alternately resent and occasionally indulge in his cult status? Could Big Star ever really have become the American Beatles? It’s an odd thought, but it doesn’t matter, really.
One would think with only three albums to choose from, ranking 10 songs couldn’t be that difficult. In fact the opposite is true — you could rank 28 of these fuckers and not hit on a bad one. But no one ranks the top 28 anything, so for all of us who never travel far with out a little Big Star, let’s give this a shot."
- Timothy Bracy & Elizabeth Bracy ('The 10 Best Big Star Songs'), Stereogum
'Feel'
One would think with only three albums to choose from, ranking 10 songs couldn’t be that difficult. In fact the opposite is true — you could rank 28 of these fuckers and not hit on a bad one. But no one ranks the top 28 anything, so for all of us who never travel far with out a little Big Star, let’s give this a shot."
- Timothy Bracy & Elizabeth Bracy ('The 10 Best Big Star Songs'), Stereogum
'Feel'
Though often referred to as a soul group, the Box Tops recorded songs written by established country songwriters like Wayne Carson, Mark James and Mickey Newbury. They also recorded a number of compositions by Alabaman songwriting partners Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. Box Tops singer Alex Chilton later produced the debut album of psychobilly punks the Cramps, 'Songs The Lord Taught Us' (1980).
The intersection that brought Chilton together with songwriter Chris Bell is said to have been his on-stage participation in concerts given by garage band the Jynx, of which Bell was a core member. Bell played in several bands in Memphis in the 1960s, including the groups Icewater and Rock City which both featured a revolving line-up of local musicians that included bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens - this became the nucleus of Big Star.
Bell was a close associate of multi-instrumentalist Terry Manning (the Wild Ones & the Wallabies). He played some wild licks on Manning's psychedelic album 'Home Sweet Home' (1970), a production experiment awash with studio effects that included a clanging cover of Johnny Cash's rockabilly staple 'Guess Things Happen That Way' (1958).
Big Star's regular record producer was John Fry, founder of Ardent Records in Memphis. In addition to producing the band's first two albums, Fry had a hand in recording their third album which was overseen by producer Jim Dickinson (the Dixie Flyers).
"Alex Chilton defined the term cult hero. He was difficult, mercurial, endlessly self-sabotaging and, for a brief time, utterly brilliant. His 70s group Big Star remain almost unknown to the mainstream but are one of the key abiding influences in rock music of any calibre, their short life only fuelling their near-mythical status. "I never travel far without a little Big Star," sang the Replacements on their strange love song, "Alex Chilton". Several influential rock groups, from REM to Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub to Wilco, would echo that sentiment. REM's Peter Buck once described Big Star as "a Rosetta stone for a whole generation".
Chilton found fame early, aged 16, as lead singer of the Box Tops, who scored a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in the summer of 1967 with the tough blue-eyed soul song "The Letter". He formed Big Star in 1971 with Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel, and, the following year, their debut album, No 1 Record, was greeted with critical acclaim but disappointing sales. That set the tone for much of what was to follow in their brief tempestuous lifespan. The follow-up, Radio City, was also lauded by music writers but failed to even dent the charts. The group's swan song, Third/Sister Lovers, was made by Chilton and Stephens with the help of the great Memphis producer Jim Dickinson in 1974. By then, Chilton was out on the edge. "I was getting pretty crazy and into some pretty rotten drugs and drinking a lot," he told the music writer Barney Hoskyns years later. The result was a darker, more raggedy affair that was deemed too uncommercial for release on its completion. It finally surfaced in 1978 and remains, arguably, Chilton's most influential, if uneven, album. On songs such as "Holocaust" and "Kangaroo", Chilton sounds just this side of unhinged.
In 1978, Big Star's other troubled genius, Chris Bell, died in a car crash, having ingested downers and alcohol before speeding away from a Memphis studio into the night. By the mid-80s, Chilton was everywhere and nowhere, having fallen out of sight while a whole generation of British guitar groups were in thrall to the lost genius of classic jangly pop-rock.
Chilton himself, post-Big Star, surfaced only intermittently, most notably on his wilfully lo-fi solo album Like Flies on Sherbert, from 1979, and as a producer of the Cramps album Songs the Lord Taught Us, released the following year. "There were guys with guns, man, all sorts of crazy things," the late Lux Interior told the music writer Nick Kent when quizzed about the making of the album. "He's a real southern boy, is Alex. He believes in the Lord and the Lord sure as hell takes care of him."
Or maybe not."
- Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian
Chilton found fame early, aged 16, as lead singer of the Box Tops, who scored a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in the summer of 1967 with the tough blue-eyed soul song "The Letter". He formed Big Star in 1971 with Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel, and, the following year, their debut album, No 1 Record, was greeted with critical acclaim but disappointing sales. That set the tone for much of what was to follow in their brief tempestuous lifespan. The follow-up, Radio City, was also lauded by music writers but failed to even dent the charts. The group's swan song, Third/Sister Lovers, was made by Chilton and Stephens with the help of the great Memphis producer Jim Dickinson in 1974. By then, Chilton was out on the edge. "I was getting pretty crazy and into some pretty rotten drugs and drinking a lot," he told the music writer Barney Hoskyns years later. The result was a darker, more raggedy affair that was deemed too uncommercial for release on its completion. It finally surfaced in 1978 and remains, arguably, Chilton's most influential, if uneven, album. On songs such as "Holocaust" and "Kangaroo", Chilton sounds just this side of unhinged.
In 1978, Big Star's other troubled genius, Chris Bell, died in a car crash, having ingested downers and alcohol before speeding away from a Memphis studio into the night. By the mid-80s, Chilton was everywhere and nowhere, having fallen out of sight while a whole generation of British guitar groups were in thrall to the lost genius of classic jangly pop-rock.
Chilton himself, post-Big Star, surfaced only intermittently, most notably on his wilfully lo-fi solo album Like Flies on Sherbert, from 1979, and as a producer of the Cramps album Songs the Lord Taught Us, released the following year. "There were guys with guns, man, all sorts of crazy things," the late Lux Interior told the music writer Nick Kent when quizzed about the making of the album. "He's a real southern boy, is Alex. He believes in the Lord and the Lord sure as hell takes care of him."
Or maybe not."
- Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian
'My Life Is Right'
Raspberries were often noted for their evocation of music associated with the "British Invasion" of the 1960s. I think it's important to note that they themselves were active musicians in the 1960s, just like the members of Big Star. The thing I admire about Raspberries is they filled their songs with so many riffs, hooks and musical ideas, if one musical part did bring an earlier group or song to mind, they were usually already on to the next section before it had even registered.
A good example of Raspberries' ability to do this can be heard on the title track from their fourth album, 'Starting Over' (1974). It's been speculated that John Lennon (the Beatles) may have had a hand in co-producing the band's song 'Overnight Sensation' during the recording sessions for this album, which has tended to cause English music critics to overlook the rest of the songs on the album. The E Street Band members have debated possible influences behind 'Starting Over' long in to the night, a song they consider to be a pop rock masterpiece. I will say its central piano motif is almost certainly a nod to the piano riff used by Elton John to anchor the song 'Tiny Dancer'. When Eric Carmen went solo, he worked with members of John's regular band and undertook some studio recording sessions with Gus Dudgeon who'd produced that song's parent album, 'Madman Across The Water' (1971). But far from being a song that simply sounds like 'Tiny Dancer', 'Starting Over' develops in to a composition of such stirring, unerring complexity, it transcends any influences, be they conscious or otherwise. Once the soloing begins, the group take an extended trip through the baroque period of 1960s pop.
"Our Top 10 Raspberries songs list takes a look at an early 1970s band that released their first album in 1972 and over the course of two years released four studio albums and then broke up. That’s rock and roll! However during that course of two years from 1972 to 1974, the Raspberries became a very influential band on future rockstars. The Raspberries were an interesting group. They crossed the genres of rock and pop music blending a British Invasion influence stirred up with sweet melodies fueled by power chords and brilliantly addicting songs. Their top five hit “Go All the Way,” released in 1972 still sounds as fresh and as fun in 2021 as it did 48 years ago.
While The Raspberries sound certainly was influenced by The British Invasion, the group was actually from Cleveland, Ohio. The group’s original lineup consisted of Eric Carmen on bass and lead vocals, Wally Bryson on lead guitar and vocals, Dave Smalley on rhythm guitar and vocals and Jim Bonfanti on drums. That lineup would be responsible for their first three albums. Their first album was released in 1972 entitled Raspberries. The band followed up their debut album that same year in 1972 with an album entitled Fresh. The Raspberries third album was released in 1973 and titled interestingly Side 3.
In 1974, The Raspberries had a major lineup change. There was a 50% turnover in the group. Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson continued on as the Raspberries but both Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti were replaced by Scott McCarl and Michael McBride. The Raspberries fourth and final album entitled Starting Over was released in 1974. It was a spectacular album filled with a much heavier sound that fans and critics loved. One year later in 1975, The Raspberries broke up."
- Brian Kachejian ('Top 10 Raspberries Songs'), Classic Rock History
'Play On'
While The Raspberries sound certainly was influenced by The British Invasion, the group was actually from Cleveland, Ohio. The group’s original lineup consisted of Eric Carmen on bass and lead vocals, Wally Bryson on lead guitar and vocals, Dave Smalley on rhythm guitar and vocals and Jim Bonfanti on drums. That lineup would be responsible for their first three albums. Their first album was released in 1972 entitled Raspberries. The band followed up their debut album that same year in 1972 with an album entitled Fresh. The Raspberries third album was released in 1973 and titled interestingly Side 3.
In 1974, The Raspberries had a major lineup change. There was a 50% turnover in the group. Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson continued on as the Raspberries but both Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti were replaced by Scott McCarl and Michael McBride. The Raspberries fourth and final album entitled Starting Over was released in 1974. It was a spectacular album filled with a much heavier sound that fans and critics loved. One year later in 1975, The Raspberries broke up."
- Brian Kachejian ('Top 10 Raspberries Songs'), Classic Rock History
'Play On'
Like Big Star, Raspberries were blessed with having multiple songwriters who exerted strong, individual voices within the band. They were all totally up front about their feelings regarding musical fandom and songwriting inspirations, which is something I respect in any musician (effectively, they were nerds). Everybody is influenced by somebody.
Raspberries once evoked the intricate, melodic interplay and close-set harmonies of the Hollies so successfully, with their track 'It Seemed So Easy', it was positively eerie. Their Beach Boys-styled rock stomper 'Drivin' Around' neatly presaged Eric Carmen's later composition, 'She Did It', which was hailed upon its release as being "the best Beach Boys song Brian Wilson never wrote ..." - yet this was no accident, as Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnstone provided backing vocals on the song's parent album, 'Boats Against The Current' (1977). The direct inspiration for the song 'Drivin' Around', which was later given the companion piece 'Cruisin' Music', was the Beach Boys' influential surf pop record, 'Do It Again' (so, the Raspberries did it again while cruisin' ...) ...
"The Top 10 Raspberries Songs demonstrate why they remain the definitive power pop band. Early examples of this equally loved and misunderstood sub-genre can be found on records by the Who, Hollies and others, but from the moment the Raspberrries burst out of radios in 1972, it was clear they had perfected the art of wedding power chords to pure pop melodies. Though dismissed by the rock elite at the time as being unhip, pre-teen fodder, songs like 'Go All The Way' and 'Ecstasy' have stood the test of time some 40 years on. If we go a bit overboard in our enthusiasm, too bad. It is with great pride that we salute the Raspberries!"
- Dave Swanson ('Top 10 Raspberries Songs'), Ultimate Classic Rock
- Dave Swanson ('Top 10 Raspberries Songs'), Ultimate Classic Rock
'It Seemed So Easy'
Both Alex Chilton and Eric Carmen were held in high regard in Ohio and Minnesota, the American Midwest's first two states of punk. Having been warmly embraced by the punk scene, Chilton produced the Cramps' debut album, 'Songs The Lord Taught Us' (1980). The Cramps had roots in California and Ohio.
Punks had long acknowledged the Raspberries as an influence. When the Dead Boys of Ohio disbanded, Stiv Bators undertook recording sessions for his debut solo album, 'Disconnected' (1980), announcing to the music press he wanted to be the "thinking punk's Eric Carmen." Bators recorded a cover of 'It's Cold Outside' (1966) by the Choir in 1979.
It's said that Paul Westerberg of the Replacements was inspired to become a rock star after seeing Raspberries on television. The Replacements were huge fans of 1970s power pop and brought in Chilton, Jim Dickinson and the Memphis Horns to record their album 'Pleased To Meet Me' (1987) which included the song 'Alex Chilton'. They even undertook recording sessions at Ardent Studios.
Bob Mould, of Minnesota hardcore pioneers Hüsker Dü, channeled the textural soundscaping and unusual song structuring of Big Star and Raspberries in the writing of his next band Sugar's debut album 'Copper Blue' (1992).
Baby doll punk pioneer Kat Bjelland left the west coast of America for Minnesota and formed Babes In Toyland in Minneapolis. The group recorded a harrowing cover of Carmen's powerballad, 'All By Myself'.
Baby doll punk pioneer Kat Bjelland left the west coast of America for Minnesota and formed Babes In Toyland in Minneapolis. The group recorded a harrowing cover of Carmen's powerballad, 'All By Myself'.
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Big Star
'#1 Record' (Ardent/Stax, 1972)
"It was great, because back then, Beck was heavy into experimenting with open tunings and unusual scales, listening to a lot of Indian music. Liz Phair has had this strange fascination with India for as long as, you still hear this in her music today, she'd even referenced Andy Hummel's India Song in demo lyrics. They sparked off each other, got along real well."
- Celestine Fontaine, 'Candy, Kit-Bags & Cartwheels : Out On The Road Again'
- Celestine Fontaine, 'Candy, Kit-Bags & Cartwheels : Out On The Road Again'
'When My Baby's Beside Me'
'Radio City' (Ardent/Stax, 1974)
“A band I really continue to dig is Big Star. I would suggest their Radio City album as a start, but also the off-the-rails followup, Third (also called Sister Lovers). #1 Record is also a classic, and features tremendous stuff by band mate Chris Bell.
Alex Chilton had a commanding slant in the delivery of his various personal sides, and was as unafraid of extreme musical intimacy as he was delivering a raging rant. In this regard, Alex, to me, was like a John Lennon, someone who put all his feelings into song and had a great courage in his reaching.
Beyond all this, crazy great guitars and drums are to be had throughout Big Star’s work. I highly recommend checking them out!”
- Matthew Sweet, Rock Torch
- Matthew Sweet, Rock Torch
'Way Out West'
'Third/Sister Lovers' (PVC, 1978)
"This Mortal Coil often relied on covers rather than their own written material, their interpretations were very characterful. Featuring on It’ll End In Tears, Howard Devoto provides the vocal part for This Mortal Coil’s cover of Alex Chilton’s ‘Holocaust’, which originally depicted the increasingly strung-out and emotionally unhinged side of the Big Star songwriter. The album also features another Chilton cover, ‘Kangaroo’.
The musical arrangements of ‘Holocaust’ were provided by Simon Raymonde, and it has a similar feel to Cocteau Twins in terms of its murky quality. As with much of This Mortal Coil’s material, processing ‘Holocaust’ requires a lot of emotional investment from the listener; the song refers to a particularly low point in Chilton’s life, with strong allusions to the destructive nature of his addictions."
- Lottie Brazier, The Quietus
- Lottie Brazier, The Quietus
'Nighttime'
'In Space' (Rykodisc, 2005)
"As far as guitar playing goes, I was totally in my element with Throwing Muses. I’m really attracted to intricate, mathematical stuff, but as far as being a songwriter, I’m more attracted to straightforward, universal songs, though for me, it’s less The Go-Go’s or girl groups and more Big Star and Neil Young."
- Tanya Donelly, 'Rhode Island Odyssey'
- Tanya Donelly, 'Rhode Island Odyssey'
"Baby wyatt used to dance to Big Star in the french quarter."
- Kristin Hersh, Twitter
- Kristin Hersh, Twitter
'Take Care'
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Raspberries
'Raspberries' (Capitol, 1972)
“I remember when I first heard the Raspberries. Big Star were in a van travelling around doing some dates and we heard 'Go All the Way' on the radio, and we said, ‘Wow, those guys are really doing it!’ I thought that was a great song.”
- Alex Chilton, The Guardian
- Alex Chilton, The Guardian
"All the parts fit : There's not too much bridge, and the chorus doesn't repeat too many times. It's exciting."
- Rick Nielsen selects 'Go All The Way' by Raspberries at number 1, 'Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen : Five Songs I Wish I’d Written'
- Rick Nielsen selects 'Go All The Way' by Raspberries at number 1, 'Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen : Five Songs I Wish I’d Written'
'Go All The Way'
'Fresh/Fresh Raspberries' (Capitol, 1972)
"A monster hit in 1972, “Go All The Way” put Raspberries on the musical map. Through the years, the band has boasted some serious heavyweight fans numbering the likes of John Lennon, Tom Petty, Paul Stanley, Rick Springfield, Axl Rose and Jon Bon Jovi. Bruce Springsteen, in particular, has been a fervent champion of the iconic power pop group, dedicating a song to the band at a few concerts in the summer of 2005: “I had this white Ford pickup. It had a cassette player in it — there weren’t any CDs at that time. Around the late ‘70s, I kept this small cassette of the Raspberries Greatest Hits. They still haven’t gotten the respect they deserved — the Raspberries. Why, I don’t know? They wrote a bunch of great songs. They had an especially great record called ‘Overnight Sensation,’ which was a classic and beautiful pop record. It’s one of the best little pop symphonies you’ll ever hear. If you haven’t heard it, go get ‘Overnight Sensation.’ It’s a great record.”
Years after their dissolution in April of ‘75, the Raspberries are hailed as the quintessential power pop group, inspiring a string of power pop groups, from Cheap Trick to the Gin Blossoms. With classic hits like “Go All The Way,” “I Wanna Be With You,” “Let’s Pretend,” “Tonight”, “Ecstasy” and “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record),” the band fused elements of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Who, The Small Faces, The Left Banke, Phil Spector and the girl group sound into a thrilling tsunami of slashing power chords, melody, hooks and harmonies. For years, the group’s loyal fan base held out hopes for a reunion of Cleveland’s Fab Four. And finally, 31 years after the original band splintered, Raspberries answered the call and reunited to perform a sold out show at Cleveland’s House of Blues on November 26, 2004. That historic show, now preserved on the new 2-CD set, “Pop Art Live,” captures that unforgettable night. Oh what a night"
- Bernie Hogya & Ken Sharp, Goldmine
Years after their dissolution in April of ‘75, the Raspberries are hailed as the quintessential power pop group, inspiring a string of power pop groups, from Cheap Trick to the Gin Blossoms. With classic hits like “Go All The Way,” “I Wanna Be With You,” “Let’s Pretend,” “Tonight”, “Ecstasy” and “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record),” the band fused elements of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Who, The Small Faces, The Left Banke, Phil Spector and the girl group sound into a thrilling tsunami of slashing power chords, melody, hooks and harmonies. For years, the group’s loyal fan base held out hopes for a reunion of Cleveland’s Fab Four. And finally, 31 years after the original band splintered, Raspberries answered the call and reunited to perform a sold out show at Cleveland’s House of Blues on November 26, 2004. That historic show, now preserved on the new 2-CD set, “Pop Art Live,” captures that unforgettable night. Oh what a night"
- Bernie Hogya & Ken Sharp, Goldmine
"I was looking for a lighter guitar because my Les Paul was heavy and it was starting to hurt my shoulder. They heard that Eric Carmen, who played in this great power pop band called the Raspberries, was selling his Melody Maker and thought it would be perfect for me and they were right. I put a Velvet Hammer pickup in it, and it became my number-one guitar and the Les Paul became my backup. I didn't really know the history of the guitar and I started wondering whether it was the one Eric used on their classic songs like "Go All The Way." Much later I found out it was.
I used that Melody Maker on "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," "Crimson and Clover," "Do You Wanna Touch Me" and "Bad Reputation," so it has quite a history. Not only was it on all our hits, but it was used on all the Raspberries hits as well. I recently took it off the road, because I was afraid something was going to happen to it. The white paint is all cracked and it's sort of yellowing, but in an awesome way. That's my baby."
- Joan Jett, Guitar World
I used that Melody Maker on "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," "Crimson and Clover," "Do You Wanna Touch Me" and "Bad Reputation," so it has quite a history. Not only was it on all our hits, but it was used on all the Raspberries hits as well. I recently took it off the road, because I was afraid something was going to happen to it. The white paint is all cracked and it's sort of yellowing, but in an awesome way. That's my baby."
- Joan Jett, Guitar World
'Let's Pretend'
'Side 3' (Capitol, 1973)
"You know, it's only been in the last couple of years that we became aware of it. I'd heard rumors in the past. We both worked in the same studio – The Record Plant, in New York – and it was kind of right after we did; we were there from '72 to '74, and I think Bruce Springsteen started in '74 or '75. But we worked with the same engineers in the same studio, and I think Bruce and I are about a month apart, birthdaywise – mine's this Saturday (Aug. 11), and his, I think, is about a month after that (Sept. 23) – so all of us came up at that moment in music. We came of age … I mean, we were 14 in 1964, when The Beatles were on "The Ed Sullivan Show" for the first time, and it had such a huge impact on everything. On the world.
In those days, we were coming out of the Pat Boone era, and, all of a sudden, you've got the British invasion, you've got the Ronettes, you've got Motown, and for the first time, music really began to drive the culture. And I think that, throughout the '60s and '70s, it really did. Particularly in the '60s. I mean, The Beatles just changed everything, and that was a really amazing time to be a teenager, and to hear these changes taking place. The difference between hearing Pat Boone's "Tutti Frutti" on the radio and then hearing "I Can See For Miles" (laughs) I mean, it was, like, "WOW! What is THIS?!?" Or "Satisfaction," by The Rolling Stones. This was some big changes going on, and it was all great. And I think it inspired a lot of people, and I think the primary difference between Bruce and me is that he spent more time listening to Dylan, and I spent more time listening to The Beatles! (laughs) But a lot of the other influences are very, very similar, and I hear it in his records.
Oddly enough, when I was writing my second solo album, Boats Against The Current, I used to play Born To Run every day, just to get me started. And when Bruce and I met the first time, he said, "Wow, I think I wore out that Raspberries' greatest-hits album!" And I said, "And, you know, I think I wore out Born to Run!" But I think you can see, there are things, if you listen closely. If you listen to "Jungleland," and then listen to The Raspberries' "Starting Over," from our 1974 album, those piano intros sound kind of similar. And we had heard that Bruce had listened to "I Wanna Be With You" and wanted to do an intro kind of like that for "Born to Run." And then I recently read somewhere where someone was talking about they got the idea from "The Locomotion," which is exactly where I took the idea for "I Wanna Be With You" from! (laughs) We actually played "Locomotion" at Carnegie Hall in 1973 because I just loved that record. And when it came time for me to write something, I thought, "Wow, that's a great intro! I think I'll just work that into this song!" And that's how that all works."
- Eric Carmen, Bullz-Eye
- Eric Carmen, Bullz-Eye
"When I was playing and recording with Grin, we enjoyed listening to Raspberries."
- Nils Lofgren, Warehouse Tapes
- Nils Lofgren, Warehouse Tapes
'I Wanna Be With You'
'Starting Over' (Capitol, 1974)
'One of the greatest bands of all time. Extraordinary records. Arguably the most powerful records ever produced. For real."
- Steve Van Zandt on Raspberries, Twitter
- Steve Van Zandt on Raspberries, Twitter
“Give me the Raspberries. Give me Small Faces. Give me Big Star.”
- Paul Stanley, The Guardian
- Paul Stanley, The Guardian
The Raspberries : In Concert In 1973 [ _ "Country Coda" _ ]
{ : 'Go All The Way' / 'Tonight' / 'I Can Remember' / 'Drivin' Around' / 'I'm A Rocker' / 'Last Dance' : }
# 'Eric Carmen & The Chairman Of The Board' : Frank Sinatra got hooked on the music of Eric Carmen, guitarist-pianist in power pop band Raspberries, and couldn't let go. He performed 'Never Gonna Fall In Love Again' in concert in Chicago, Illinois, a song recorded by John Travolta whose 'Grease' co-star Olivia Newton-John recorded Carmen's song 'Boats Against The Current'. Eyewitness reports suggest Sinatra sang the Raspberries' 'Let's Pretend' in his dressing room. When asked if this was true, he replied, "I never pretend, baby, it's all real."