Big Star, a lesson to all artists. It’s fleeting and no
matter what you have going for you it probably will never happen. If it does,
it doesn’t last long.
Alex Chilton had the name. He was the lead singer of The Box
Tops and had a hit record with “The Letter.” Then there was Chris Bell, the
talented guitarist and lead singer. Two really legit songwriters and artists,
one with a claim to fame. Furthermore, the band was based in Memphis along with
the distribution power of Stax Records.
On top of all that, Big Star was a power pop band built
around melodies and hooks. They weren’t anything out of left field with its
foundation based in The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Critics loved them.
Yet, their career probably peaked recently when a
documentary about the group was released and interest in the band probably hit
an all-time high.
What went wrong?
Stax Records couldn’t promote the band appropriately. This responsibility
was eventually given to Columbia Records, who did not want to mess with
small-label band so copies of the record couldn’t be found in the record
stores.
Bell later quit the band as they continued recording and continued
finding a dead end through distribution and marketing. He would die in a car
accident at age 27.
So, before you declare a band as being eternal or some sort
of pillar of the zeitgeist, remember that there’s thousands of better bands and
artists that never got the chance.
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