Big Star is often cited as a prime example of power pop. Drawing upon pop music traditions — especially The Beatles, The Byrds, The Kinks, The Zombies, Badfinger, The Who, Moby Grape, The Beach Boys and Free — Big Star's music was lyrical, powerful, and at times melancholic pop for the post-1960s generation. Their approach not only recalled the British Invasion groups but the spare, relaxed style of Stax Records, the Memphis soul label, as well as the edgy rockabilly of early Sun Records. In an era of singer-songwriters and heavy-metal groups, they played melodic, concisely written songs. Their reputation, negligible in 1974 beyond a small coterie of admirers, has steadily grown, and they are today considered one of pop's classic groups.
Big Star was formed in 1971 in Memphis, Tennessee, United States by guitarist/vocalist Chris Bell, bassist Andy Hummel, drummer Jody Stephens, and guitarist/vocalist Alex Chilton. All four at times contributed to the songwriting and lead vocals, with Chilton and Bell singing and writing the majority of the early songs as a team modeled after Lennon and McCartney's collaborative style. Chilton, a former teen pop idol, and Bell had a musically fruitful but difficult relationship. The band's first two albums had a string of great reviews but sold almost nothing, not helped by Stax's struggle to know how to sell a bunch of white guys playing retro rock. The failure to break through was a huge blow to Chilton and Bell, and their relationship deteriorated, and by the time their third album Third/Sister Lovers came around, Bell had left to pursue a solo career that was cut short by his untimely death.
Chilton and Stephens have toured since 1993 under the Big Star name with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of The Posies in the band. This lineup released the album In Space in 2005.
After the EP Live Tribute to Alex Chilton was released in June 2011, Stephens wrote on the Ardent blog that the tribute performance in May 2010 was the last performance for Big Star as a band.
On March 17th, 2010, Alex Chilton passed away in a New Orleans hospital at the age of 59. Big Star was scheduled to play at SXSW that week. Andy Hummel died of cancer in Weatherford, Texas, on 19 July 2010 .
Big Star has gained more recent exposure with bands like Superdrag, Weezer, R.E.M., The Replacements, Primal Scream, the Posies, Bill Lloyd and the dB's citing them as an influence. Three of Big Star’s albums, Radio City, #1 Record, and Third/Sister Lovers were included in Rolling Stone magazine’s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003.
Big Star's biggest champions have been Teenage Fanclub who have been involved in re-issuing some of their work and even named one of their albums after one Big Star's most affecting songs, "thirteen". It was a song covered live on occasion by Elliott Smith who was clearly influenced by Chilton's vocal style (the similarities in the higher vocal register are notable there and on Give Me Another Chance and I'm in Love with a Girl). The Bangles also scored a hit in the 80s with their cover of "September Gurls". Cheap Trick have recorded several covers of "In The Street" for use as the theme song for the sitcom That '70s Show.
Paul Westerberg wrote and recorded ( with his band, The Replacements) the song "Alex Chilton", which contains the line, "I never travel far, without a little Big Star." Westerberg lists Chilton as one of his greatest influences, and has covered "September Gurls" live, both solo and with his band.
FEEL
Big Star Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You're driving me to ruin
The love that you've been stealing
Has given me the feeling
I feel like I'm dying
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been trying
I feel like I'm dying
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been trying
It's getting very near the end
Wondering, what are you doing?
You're driving me to ruin
The love that you've been stealing
Has given me a feeling
I feel like I'm dying
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been trying
It's getting very near the end
I feel like I'm dying
I feel like I'm dying
The lyrics to Big Star's song "Feel" seem to be about a person who is feeling defeated and hopeless in a romantic relationship. The opening line "Wondering, what are you doing?" indicates that the person is questioning the actions of their partner and feeling uncertain about the direction of the relationship. The second line "You're driving me to ruin" suggests that the person's feelings are being negatively impacted by their partner's behavior, which is ultimately causing them to feel like they are "dying."
The lines "The love that you've been stealing" and "It's getting very near the end" suggest that the relationship has been one-sided, with one person taking more than they are giving. The feeling of dying could be referring to a sense of loss of oneself and the relationship. The repetition of the lines "I'm never gonna live again" and "It's getting very near the end" give a sense of finality, as if the relationship is coming to a close.
Overall, the lyrics to "Feel" convey a sense of despair and hopelessness in a relationship that seems to be on the brink of ending. The repetition of the feelings of dying and the end coming suggest a sense of finality and defeat.
Line by Line Meaning
Wondering, what are you doing?
Questioning what actions the other person is taking.
You're driving me to ruin
The other person's actions are causing the singer to suffer greatly.
The love that you've been stealing
The other person has been taking and not reciprocating the love in the relationship.
Has given me the feeling
This has caused the artist to experience a certain emotion.
I feel like I'm dying
The emotion experienced is extreme pain and suffering.
I'm never gonna live again
The singer believes that the pain will never go away and they will never feel alive again.
You just ain't been trying
The other person is not putting in effort to make the relationship work.
It's getting very near the end
The relationship is reaching an inevitable end.
I feel like I'm dying
The intense pain and suffering is repeating.
I feel like I'm dying
The intense pain and suffering is repeating.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Alex Chilton, Christopher Bell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Brianna Bush
Lyrics
Wond’ring what are you doing
You're driving me to ruin
The love that you've been stealing
Has given me a feeling
I feel like I'm dying
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been trying
It's getting very near the end
Feel like I'm dying
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been trying
It's getting very near the end
Wond’ring what are you doing
You're driving me to ruin
The love that you've been stealing
Has given me a feeling
Feel like I'm dying
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been trying
It's getting very near the end
Feel like I'm dying
Feel like I'm dying
denyyourmaker
Wondering what are you doing?
You're driving me to ruin
The love that you've been stealing
Has given me the feeling
[Chorus]
I feel like I'm dying
I'm never gonna live again
You just ain't been trying
It's getting very near the end
[Chorus]
[Verse]
[Chorus]
I feel like I'm dying
melodymakermark
I was 11 or 12 years old when these cats were cutting this record just a few miles from my house at Ardent. A few years later in high school years, I was hanging one afternoon at a friend’s who had an astonishingly large album collection, and I pulled out Big Star’s #1 Record. I asked him about it and he said yeah, great album, Memphis band, but first I want you to hear this (A Rush Album, the one with Working Man). Before we got back to Big Star, I had to head home. Opportunity missed, because never again did the words Big Star appear on my radar until the YouTube age some 35 years later. I will say however, I’ve made up for lost time. Great band.
Andy Z
damn dude. glad you got to discover them
Eduardo C
Cool story
Mackey Dirk
Big Star's influence is immense and far reaching on future bands. Sadly a case of the innovator failing to reap the rewards of their innovation.
sieteocho
Big Star got screwed out of their share of the takings. But all of them other than Chris Bell lived to see their music cast a big shadow on the 90s. They lived long enough to become legends, so what's so bad about that.
By the way anybody notice that the introduction sounds a bit like "You're All I Need to Get By"
Kelechi
The innovators never get their fair share, only the imitators. "They can imitate, but I teach" - Mark E. Smith c. 1981.
dj
@Kelechi Mark E. Smith is amazing! I love him and The Fall!!!
Chris Westin
big star is everything great about the 70's sound of rock and roll
OldMusicOnVinyl1
If I had lived in the 70's, I would have absolutely PRAYED for this album to be a success.
tuxguys
I completely missed this band when they were happening in the early '70's...
I came across a couple of rave reviews for the stuff on the first LP recently, so I checked it out, out of curiosity, and I've gotta tellya:
If I'd heard it when it came out, I would have probably loved it, but 40+ years later, it just sounds to me like "T. Rex meets George Harrison."