Song of the Day 8/29: Big Star, “The Ballad of El Goodo”

Power pop was, in a way, the first alternative rock. In the early ’70s, a time when the heavy rock of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple was ascendant, three bands assembled power pop from the discarded sounds of the second British invasion and the Byrds. Badfinger and the Raspberries actually sold some records at the time, but Memphis-based Big Star has had the most lasting influence.

Now remembered as the band Alex Chilton joined after the Box Tops, Big Star was founded by Chris Bell, who shared guitar, vocal and songwriting roles with Chilton. He wrote the majority of the tunes on their debut album, “#1 Record,” and his shimmering production helped put it atop critics’ lists of the best LPs of 1972.

Unfortunately, their record label was failing at the time so the album got little distribution. It wasn’t until the post-punk period, when it was packaged with the band’s second LP, “Radio City,” for release in the UK, that bands like R.E.M. heard it and incorporated the sound into the movement that became known as alternative rock.

“The Ballad of El Goodo” was one of the songs Chilton brought with him when he joined the band, but Bell added the harmonies that make the song ache. Chilton said the song emerged from his anxieties about being drafted.

I don’t know who’s behind the Big Star media presence – drummer Jody Stephens is the last surviving original member, so I suppose he’s involved. The neon logo featured in the graphics of this lyric video, based on the cover photo of “#1 Record,” was actually the sign for a chain of grocery stores that operated in the Mississippi Delta and adjacent areas of the South.