My Top 5 Big Star Songs

This band is one of the big reasons I started to blog in the first place. To meet more Big Star fans and if I got just one person who didn’t know them to listen… my mission was a success. Want a great documentary?  Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

I thought I would list some songs that would be in my top 5 of their catalog. So maybe one of you reading this will take a listen. Here are Graham’s top 10 Big Star songs on his site. These songs are up there with the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, and Who to me. They didn’t have the quantity those bands had, but they had the quality.

Let’s make it 6. My bonus pick is:

BONUS: In The Street – I would say, hands down, the most known song by them besides September Gurls because it was the theme of That Seventies Show. Cheap Trick covered it and someone else for the intro…I wish they had used the original version. 

5: Life Is White –  Love this driving song by Big Star. It was on Radio City, their second album. Some say it is a response to the Chris Bell song off the first album called My Life Is Right…or a message to his girlfriend Diane (Don’t like to see your face Don’t like to hear you talk at all) that he was splitting with at the time.

4: When My Baby’s Beside Me: Great riff by Alex Chilton and full of the hooks that Big Star is known for. This song was the A-side to In The Street released in 1972. Both songs are on Big Star’s album #1 Record.

3: September Gurls: If Big Star had been heard, this would have been a top-ten hit or at least top 20. It was one of the best pop songs that didn’t chart. September Gurls was rated #180 by Rolling Stone in the magazine’s top 500 songs of all time.

Released as a single, it did not chart despite receiving excellent reviews, due mainly to poor marketing and distribution. It was on their second studio album Radio City. The song was later covered by The Bangles on their album Different Light.

2: Thirteen – This song is an absolutely perfect song about adolescence. I played it to my then 14-year-old son, and it made him a Big Star fan, now 10 years later. This song is the most covered song by Big Star, with 49 different covers. It’s almost a perfect acoustic song. The song is about an adolescent guy and his girlfriend who are rock fans, being what 13-14-year-olds are…confused and lost.

1: The Ballad of El Goodo – There are some songs that I hear, and I think…damn I wish I would have written this. This is one of those songs. To me, it’s a perfect song and represents everything I like. The way they transitioned into the chorus is magical to me. It comes very close to being my favorite song of all time. 

The Ballad of El Goodo

Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh
And I’ve been trying hard against unbelievable odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
But guns they wait to be stuck by, at my side is God

And there ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round

There’s people around who tell you that they know
And places where they send you, and it’s easy to go
They’ll zip you up and dress you down and stand you in a row
But you know you don’t have to, you could just say no

And there ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round

I’ve been built up and trusted
Broke down and busted
But they’ll get theirs and we’ll get ours if you can
Just-a hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on

Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh
Though I’ve been trying hard against strong odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
Well, I’ll fall if I don’t fight, and at my side is God

And there ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

34 thoughts on “My Top 5 Big Star Songs”

  1. I know very little about them, but have the vaguest memory that they might have played at my uni around 72/73. I can see why you like them: these are all very good.

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    1. They were touring at that time and during 74 they opened for Badfinger on a few dates…Clive…if could go to those…I wouldn’t have to go to another concert…power pop heaven.

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      2. Sorry to keep commenting but I have to ask. Another concert or group of concerts I would have loved to see were the NME concerts. A few had the Beatles, Stones, and Who on the same bill. I can’t imagine that Clive. You were probably way too young to go.

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      3. Those sound great but I don’t remember them. We did get pop concerts in one of the local cinemas but parents deemed that 10/11 was too young to go. We had The Beatles in 1963, when they were just becoming huge here, and Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, but mostly it was pop acts like Cliff Richard and Cilla Black that I wouldn’t have wanted to see anyway.

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  2. I only know a few Big Star songs and I have never listened to a whole album by them, but if I ever come down to Nashville. I would enjoy listening to them with you, Max. I will be writing a post about September Gurls in September for Glyn’s music challenge. I wish someone would remake their videos, because that would make their music more interesting. Chilton was mowing his lawn in New Orleans when he collapsed and was taken to the hospital and died of a heart attack in 2010 at the age of 59.  So much talent thrown away and wasted.

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    1. Yea only one member is still alive and that is the drummer and there is hardly any film of them. I guess if they remastered the albums someone may make a proper video. Now there is live film of Big Star in the 90s with two original members.

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  4. Oh man, what a band. If only Chris Bell could have lived to see them respected like they are now. (Have you heard his solo album, “I Am the Cosmos”?) And like you, I prefer “#1 Record” to “Radio City.”

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    1. I “read” books on audible on my way to work…and suddenly one day a book about Chris Bell popped up. It was like the holy grail to me. I agree with you…he would have been so happy to see the respect they are getting. I think if he would have lived they would have regrouped…they talked about it around the time he died in that car crash.
      Yes I’ve heard that album…love it. The title cut is as good as any Big Star song and I’ve posted a few like Better Save Yourself and You and Your Sister I think. He had a complicated personality…seemed like a great guy though.

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    1. If you ever get a chance watch it. It’s really sad because their albums were HIGHLY rated…and they influenced bands like REM, Cheap Trick and others. Their record company Stax was about finished…their songs would be played on radio…then people would go to the record store to buy them…and no records were shipped. They are the best band that never was.

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    1. That was everyone Randy. You can’t buy an album if it’s not at the record store! Their history is not tragic like Badfinger but it sucked.

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  8. They certainly had an over-sized influence on musicians to come relative to their sales. I think ‘September Gurls’ might be my fav of theirs but I’m no expert. I totally get your point though of feeling like if even you can gain a band you love one or two fans, you’re achieving something positive!

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    1. Yes…and I think I have succeeded in that a few times which makes blogging worth it. Plus its cool for me to meet other Big Star fans…someone stopped and commented this morning who knew about Chris Bell.

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  9. When I listened to these 6 again today it’s a travesty as well as a tragedy that they had the most appalling luck, in so many ways. The commercial appeal, the lyrics, it’s all there. Oddly enough about a month or so ago I mentioned them to my younger brother and he didn’t know them. I said-‘ ‘What!? Now kid, you listen to your older wiser brother-sit your butt down and listen to these three- ‘El Goodo’ ‘Thirteen’ ‘In The Street.’ I’ll have to see if he did next time we catch up. If not, I’ll be having stern words with him! Or disowning him!

    ‘Thirteen’ IS being a young teen.

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    1. You said it all for me. What would your 5 be Obbverse?
      Now that is being a great brother because you are steering him right!
      You are so right about Thirteen. That is why it’s so high on my list.

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      1. Off the top of my head, 13, Don’t Lie To Me, El Goodo, Way Out West, September Gurls, Back of… ummmm, I’ve gone over the limit already.

        My brother has steered me to some I wouldn’t have looked at, ones I once thought were ‘beneath me.’ Some time(s) I was such a stuck-up kno- snob!

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      2. I can’t argue with that list at all. I forgot about Way Out West. Yea I would have done 10 but I wanted the page to load. I could have put a Spotify list but some won’t click on it.
        Oh I could/can be stuck up as well about music.

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  10. In The Street is my favorite, probably due to familiarity–and it’s a great tune.

    I really like The Ballad of El Goodo…like you say, “…the transition into the chorus is magical.” It really is. It just wells up inside you…very inspirational. My only criticism–the title.

    September Gurls has hit written all over it, like you say. Great band.

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  11. All fantastic picks, Max. Well, you can count me among the folks you introduced to Big Star. You’ve also definitely made me dig this band.

    Because of your intro, I previously featured “The Ballad of El Goodo” as part of my Wednesday song series – probably my favorite Big Star song, along with the seductive “September Gurls.” Both tracks are perfect examples of great power pop!

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    1. Yea I would say Power Pop’s definition would be September Gurls… and the Ballad of El Goodo is in my top 3 of all time… Thanks for giving them a try!

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