132-607: In Space is the fourth and final studio album by American rock group Big Star , released in 2005. It was the first new Big Star studio album since Third/Sister Lovers , recorded in 1974 and released in 1978. The album features original Big Star members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens on guitar and drums respectively, with two more recent recruits, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow who play second guitar and bass. Auer and Stringfellow had been members of The Posies before joining Big Star in 1993 for sporadic live performances and tours. The four band members share lead vocal duty across
264-611: A "blueprint" for future incidents of police brutality nationwide. The incident also resulted in the disbanding of the city's "SCORPION" unit, which had been mandated with directly combating the most violent crimes in the city. All the officers charged with involvement in Nichols's death were members of the unit. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 324.0 square miles (839.2 km ), of which 315.1 square miles (816.0 km )
396-454: A "glorious, glittering jewel" of power pop. Borack notes too that Third/Sister Lovers is "slower, darker and a good deal weirder" than the first two albums, identifying "Holocaust" as "Alex Chilton at his haunting best", yet finds "Thank You Friends" exemplifying "left-field gems" also present in which "the hooks are every bit as undeniable" as before. Jovanovic writes that when recording what Peter Buckley in his Rough Guide to Rock terms
528-412: A Beatles performance, " Thirteen ", referred to the event with the line "rock 'n' roll is here to stay". Chilton asked Bell to work with him as a duo modeled on Simon & Garfunkel ; Bell declined, but invited Chilton to a performance by his own band, Icewater, comprising Bell, drummer Jody Stephens, and bassist Andy Hummel. Attracted by Icewater's music, Chilton showed the three his new song "Watch
660-406: A Car". Shortly before the album's release, Hummel left the band: judging that it would not last, and in his final year at college, he elected to concentrate on his studies and live a more normal life. He was replaced by John Lightman for a short tenure prior to the band dissolving. Rolling Stone ' s Ken Barnes, describing the musical style of Radio City , opens by noting as a backdrop that
792-502: A Chilton led song which was originally recorded by the band in 1997 as its contribution to the tribute album Big Star, Small World , a project delayed by a succession of record label failures before its eventual release in 2006. Also included are sketches for two songs Jon Auer cowrote for the album, an acapella track of Stringfellow's "Turn My Back on the Sun", and a rough mix of Chilton and Auer's "Dony" featuring additional lyrics in place of
924-557: A January 2014 concert in Sydney, Australia, and a series of U.S. shows that included Seattle's Bumbershoot festival on August 31, 2014. In November 2014, Auer and Stringfellow rejoined Stephens, Easter, Stamey, and Mills for a free benefit performance in Athens, Georgia. As of 2017 , Big Star's Third were still performing. On April 21, 2017, Concord Records released a Big Star's Third live concert documentary on two DVDs, along with
1056-528: A big way". But just as #1 Record had fallen victim to poor marketing, so too did Radio City . Columbia, now in complete control of the Stax catalog, refused to process it following a disagreement. Without a distributor, sales of Radio City , though far greater than those of #1 Record , were minimal at only around 20,000 copies. In September 1974, eight months after the release of Radio City , Chilton and Stephens returned to Ardent Studios to work on
1188-630: A focal point of Spanish activity until, as Holmes summarizes: [T]he Treaty of San Lorenzo or Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 [implemented in March 1797], [had as its result that] all of the careful, diplomatic work by Spanish officials in Louisiana and West Florida , which has succeeded for a decade in controlling the Indians [e.g., the Choctaws ], was undone. The United States gained the right to navigate
1320-554: A ghost in town." Studio albums Live albums Compilations Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee . It is the county seat of Shelby County , in the southwesternmost part of the state, and is situated along the Mississippi River . With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census , Memphis is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville . Memphis
1452-403: A glance in your eyes and fell through the skies," Chilton rhapsodizes) [...] Big Star's baroque, guitar-driven pop reaches its apotheosis on songs like "Kizza Me", "Thank You Friends" and "O, Dana". [...] Without question, Third is one of the most idiosyncratic, deeply felt and fully realized albums in the pop idiom. Fry and Dickinson flew to New York with promotional copies and met employees of
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#17327939513401584-563: A large territory in the Southeast. French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto encountered the historic Chickasaw in this area in the 16th century. J. D. L. Holmes, writing in Hudson's Four Centuries of Southern Indians (2007), notes that this site was a third strategic point in the late 18th century through which European powers could control United States encroachment beyond
1716-525: A logo consisting of a five-pointed star enclosing the words "Big Star"; as well as the store's name, the band used its logo but without the word "Star" to avoid infringing copyright. Although all four members contributed to songwriting and vocals on the first album, Chilton and Bell dominated as a duo intentionally modeled on John Lennon and Paul McCartney . The album was recorded by Ardent founder John Fry , with Terry Manning contributing occasional backing vocals and keyboards. The title #1 Record
1848-625: A multicultural mix of influences: country , rock and roll , soul , and hip-hop . The city is home to a major professional sports team , the Grizzlies of the NBA . Other attractions include Graceland , the Memphis Pyramid , Sun Studio , the Blues Hall of Fame and Stax Museum of American Soul Music . Memphis-style barbecue has achieved international prominence, and the city hosts
1980-500: A number of record labels, but could not generate interest in the album. When a similar promotion attempt failed in California, the album was shelved as it was considered not commercial enough for release. Fry recalled, "We'd go in and play it and these guys would look at us like we were crazy". In late 1974, before the album was even named, the band broke up, bringing Big Star's first era to its end. Dickinson later said that he
2112-401: A profound influence on subsequent musicians. Rolling Stone notes that Big Star "created a seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations of rockers, from the power-pop revivalists of the late 1970s to alternative rockers at the end of the century to the indie rock nation in the new millennium". Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic , identifies Big Star as "one of
2244-642: A prominent saxophone solo. "Lady Sweet", the album's second track, was written and sung by Auer, and bears resemblance to the Chris Bell led songs of #1 Record , and features a lyrical quotation of a Britney Spears song in the pre-chorus. "Best Chance" and "February's Quiet" are the album's two Jody Stephens led songs, both composed in collaboration with Auer, and also bear some resemblance to Big Star's earlier material stylistically. Stephens also cowrote another two songs, "Southern Skies", written with Auer, and "Take Me", written with Stringfellow, which did not make
2376-399: A screwdriver. In November 1972, Bell quit the band. When work continued on songs for a second album, Bell rejoined, but further conflict soon erupted. A master tape of the new songs inexplicably went missing, and Bell, whose heavy drug intake was affecting his judgment, attacked Fry's parked car. In late 1972, struggling with severe depression, Bell quit the band once more, and by the end of
2508-459: A second album, Radio City , was completed in December 1973. Like #1 Record , Radio City received excellent reviews, but label issues again thwarted sales— Columbia Records , which had assumed control of the Stax catalog, likewise effectively vetoed its distribution. After a third album, recorded in the fall of 1974, was deemed commercially unviable and shelved before receiving a title,
2640-681: A sense of chaos which only added to the thrill". Although Big Star's first era came to an end in 1974, the band acquired a cult following in the 1980s when new acts began to acknowledge the early material's significance. R.E.M. 's Peter Buck admitted, "We've sort of flirted with greatness, but we've yet to make a record as good as Revolver or Highway 61 Revisited or Exile on Main Street or Big Star's Third . I don't know what it'll take to push us on to that level, but I think we've got it in us." Chilton, however, told an interviewer in 1992, "I'm constantly surprised that people fall for Big Star
2772-880: A sequence of bands, performing songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones , the Kinks , the Zombies , and the Animals . Chilton's first awareness of music came at the age of 6 when his brother repeatedly played a record by the Coasters . His father's liking for jazz then exposed him over the next few years to the music of Glenn Miller , Ray Charles , and Dave Brubeck . Chilton's enthusiasm for music took hold when at age 13 he first heard Beatles records; he recalled having known of 1950s rock 'n' roll, but "by 1959 Elvis
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#17327939513402904-465: A series of live tribute performances of the album Third/Sister Lovers , under the billing "Big Star's Third ". As of 2017 , that project has remained active. From 1967 to 1970, Chilton was the lead singer for the blue-eyed soul group the Box Tops , who scored a No. 1 hit with the song " The Letter " when he was 16. After leaving the group, he recorded a solo studio album. He was offered
3036-474: A sixteen-track tape machine, worked experimentally with the band members: "We started recording the songs with the intent that if it turned out OK we'd put it out [...] I wound up being the one that primarily worked on it: I recorded all the tracks and then they would often come late at night and do overdubs. One by one, they all learned enough engineering." Describing the mix of musical styles present on #1 Record , Rolling Stone ' s Bud Scoppa notes that
3168-693: A string section, to perform a live tribute performance of Big Star's album Third/Sister Lovers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Joined by additional performers such as Matthew Sweet , Big Star's Third was performed in a similar tribute concert in New York City on March 26, 2011, and at the Barbican in London on May 28, 2012. The project continued with concerts in Chicago and New York in 2013,
3300-580: A third album. They were assisted by producer Jim Dickinson and an assortment of musicians (including drummer Richard Rosebrough) and Lesa Aldridge, Chilton's girlfriend, who contributed on vocals. The sessions and mixing were completed in early 1975, and 250 copies of the album were pressed with plain labels for promotional use. Parke Putterbaugh of Rolling Stone described Third/Sister Lovers as "extraordinary". It is, he wrote, "Chilton's untidy masterpiece. [...] beautiful and disturbing"; "vehemently original"; of "haunting brilliance": To listen to it
3432-727: A three-CD live album, both titled Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live... and More . The concert was performed in April 2016 at Glendale, California 's Alex Theatre . In June 2011, Ardent Records released the EP Live Tribute to Alex Chilton , and Stephens confirmed on the Ardent blog that the tribute performance in May 2010 was the last performance for Big Star as a band. A documentary titled Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2012), directed by Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori, chronicled
3564-674: A yellow fever outbreak, 20,000 residents fled the city. The ensuing panic left the poverty-stricken, the working classes, and the African-American community at the most risk from the epidemic. Those who remained relied on volunteers from religious and physician organizations to tend to the sick. By the end of the year, more than 5,000 were confirmed dead in Memphis. The New Orleans health board listed "not less than 4,600" dead. The Mississippi Valley recorded 120,000 cases of yellow fever, with 20,000 deaths. The $ 15 million in losses caused by
3696-500: Is land and 9.0 square miles (23.2 km ), or 2.76%, is water. Downtown Memphis rises from a bluff along the Mississippi River . The city and metro area spread out through suburbanization, and encompass southwest Tennessee, northern Mississippi , and eastern Arkansas . Several large parks were founded in the city in the early 20th century, notably Overton Park in Midtown and the 4,500-acre (18 km ) Shelby Farms . The city
3828-492: Is no #1 Record , but at its brightest, it is Big Star in every way." The band appeared at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium on October 20, 2007. San Francisco-based band Oranger performed as opening act. Big Star performed at the 2008 Rhythm Festival , staged from August 29–31 in Bedfordshire , U.K. On June 16, 2009, the #1 Record / Radio City double album was reissued in remastered form. The same month, it
3960-626: Is the fifth-most populous city in the Southeast , the nation's 28th-most populous overall, as well as the largest city bordering the Mississippi River and third largest metropolitan statistical area behind Greater St. Louis and the Twin Cities on the Mississippi River. The Memphis metropolitan area includes West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region , which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas , Mississippi and
4092-435: Is to be "plunged into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. Songs are drenched in strings and sweet sentiment one minute, starkly played and downcast the next. No pop song has ever bottomed out more than "Holocaust", an anguished plaint sung at a snail's pace over discordant slide-guitar fragments and moaning cello [...] On the up side, there's the delicious pop minuet "Stroke It Noel", the anticipatory magic of "Nightime" ("Caught
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4224-771: The Mississippi River and won control over the Yazoo Strip north of the thirty-first parallel. The Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its lumber and iron to their locations in Arkansas. In 1796, the site became the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee, in what was then called the Southwest United States. The area was still largely occupied and controlled by the Chickasaw nation. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down
4356-601: The Missouri Bootheel . One of the more historic and culturally significant cities of the Southern United States , Memphis has a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods . The first European explorer to visit the area of present-day Memphis was Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto in 1541. The high Chickasaw Bluffs protecting the location from the waters of the Mississippi
4488-524: The Rolling Stone list of the Top 500 Albums of All-Time. Big Star's debut album, 1972's #1 Record , was met by enthusiastic reviews, but ineffective marketing by Stax Records and limited distribution stunted its commercial success. Frustration took its toll on band relations: Bell left not long after the first record's commercial progress stalled, and Hummel left to finish his college education after
4620-641: The Treaty of Tuscaloosa , signed in October 1818 and ratified by Congress on January 7, 1819, the Chickasaw ceded their territory in Western Tennessee to the United States . The city of Memphis was founded less than five months after the U.S. takeover of the territory, on May 22, 1819 (incorporated December 19, 1826), by John Overton , James Winchester and Andrew Jackson . They named it after
4752-628: The ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River . From the city's foundation onwards, African Americans formed large proportion of Memphis' population. Prior to the abolition of slavery in the United States , most Black people in Memphis were enslaved, being used as forced labor by white enslavers along the river or on outlying cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta . The city's demographics changed dramatically in
4884-402: The "snarling guitar rock" of the first album's "Don't Lie to Me", the band, deeming conventional instruments inadequate for the task, wheeled two Norton Commando motorcycles into the studio and gunned the engines to intensify the song's bridge . Bogdanov et al. reserve "snarl" for a Radio City song, "Mod Lang"; here Buckley writes that "the power of the performance and the erratic mix gave
5016-572: The 1850s and 1860s, due to waves of immigration and domestic migration. Due to increased immigration since the 1840s and the Great Famine , Irish Americans made up 9.9% of the population in 1850, but 23.2% by 1860, when the total population was 22,623. Tennessee seceded from the Union in June 1861, and Memphis briefly became a Confederate stronghold. Union ironclad gunboats captured it in
5148-453: The 1880s Memphis led the nation in sanitary reform and improvements. Perhaps the most significant effect of yellow fever on Memphis was in demographic changes. Nearly all of Memphis's upper and middle classes vanished, depriving the city of its general leadership and class structure that dictated everyday life, similar to that in other large Southern cities, such as New Orleans , Charleston, South Carolina , and Atlanta, Georgia . In Memphis,
5280-639: The 1960s, the city was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement , as its large African-American population had been affected by state segregation practices and disenfranchisement in the early 20th century. African-American residents drew from the civil rights movement to improve their lives. In 1968, the Memphis sanitation strike began for living wages and better working conditions; the workers were overwhelmingly African American. They marched to gain public awareness and support for their plight:
5412-521: The 1980s, the Big Star discography drew renewed attention when R.E.M. and the Replacements , as well as other popular bands, cited the group as an influence. In 1992, interest was further stimulated by Rykodisc 's reissues of the band's albums, complemented by a collection of Bell's solo work. In 1993, Chilton and Stephens reformed Big Star with recruits Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of
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5544-538: The 20th century, with four lynchings between 1900 and the lynching of Thomas Williams in 1928. A Tennessee Powder Company built an explosives powder plant to make TNT and gunpowder on a 6,000-acre site in Millington in 1940. The plant was built to make smokeless gunpowder for the British Armed Forces during World War II . In May 1941, DuPont (1802–2017) took over the plant, changed the name to
5676-740: The Appalachians and their interference with Indian matters—after Fort Nogales (present-day Vicksburg ) and Fort Confederación (present-day Epes, Alabama ): "Chickasaw Bluffs, located on the Mississippi River at the present-day location of Memphis. Spain and the United States vied for control of this site, which was a favorite of the Chickasaws." In 1795 the Spanish Governor-General of Louisiana , Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet , sent his lieutenant governor, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos , to negotiate and secure consent from
5808-401: The Box Tops, all of which remain unheard following Chilton's 2009 death. Penultimate track "Do You Wanna Make It?", a Chilton led blues number, was the first recorded for the album, and typifies his approach to music production, as it utilises the first take of the song recorded by the band, despite small mistakes being present on the track. Bonus tracks on the 2019 reissue include "Hot Thing,"
5940-624: The Chickasaw Ordnance Works, and produced powder for the United States Armed Forces . There were 8,000 employees. The plant was dismantled after the war in 1946. From the 1910s to the 1950s, Memphis was a place of machine politics under the direction of E. H. "Boss" Crump . He gained a state law in 1911 to establish a small commission to manage the city. The city retained a form of commission government until 1967 and patronage flourished under Crump. Per
6072-504: The DVD documents how Big Star's 1990s lineup defied expectations and endured for another 16 years: "Chilton's musicality is mesmerising as he drives the band. … Alternating between lead and rhythm, he plays with a mix of laser focus and utter insouciant cool." Bell took up guitar when 12 or 13, but only on hearing the first Beatles records was he motivated to play the instrument regularly. He acted as lead and rhythm guitarist and vocalist for
6204-499: The May 2010 tribute performance would be the group's final show as Big Star, although not his last show with Auer and Stringfellow, stating, "I can't see us going out as Big Star ... But I would hate to compound the loss of Alex by saying,'That's it' for Ken and Jon, too. I can't imagine not playing with them. There's so much fun—but an emotional bond there too." In December 2010, under the billing "Big Star's Third ", Stephens teamed with Mitch Easter , Stamey, and Mills, along with
6336-585: The Ohio River to claim the land, arriving on July 20, 1797. By this time, the Spanish had departed. The fort's ruins went unnoticed 20 years later when Memphis was laid out as a city after the United States government paid the Chickasaw for land. At the beginning of the century, as recognized by the United States in 1786 Treaty of Hopewell , the land still belonged to the Chickasaw Nation . In
6468-467: The Posies , and Bill Lloyd and the dB's cite Big Star as an inspiration, and the band's influence on Game Theory , Matthew Sweet , and Velvet Crush is also acknowledged. On their 2022 album Tremblers and Googles by Rank, Guided By Voices paid tribute to Big Star with the song Alex Bell. The lyrics include the refrain "Walking down Alex Bell, thinking of Alex...I see you around every time there's
6600-673: The Posies , and gave a concert at the University of Missouri . The band remained active, performing tours in Europe and Japan, and released a new studio album, In Space , in 2005. Chilton died in March 2010 after suffering from heart problems. Hummel died of cancer four months later. These deaths left Stephens as the sole surviving founding member. Big Star was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2014. Since December 2010, several surviving members have appeared in
6732-491: The Posies , founded by the pair in 1986. Stringfellow is also known for his work with R.E.M. and the Minus 5 . Hummel elected not to participate. First-era material dominated Big Star's performances, with the occasional addition of a song from the 2005 album In Space . Stringfellow recalled that during the 1990s, "We were working out the set list and we went to this little cafe. Little did I know we'd be playing that set for
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#17327939513406864-459: The Sunrise", and was asked to join the band. Both "Watch the Sunrise" and "Thirteen" were subsequently included on Big Star's first album, #1 Record . The now four-piece band adopted the name Big Star when one member was given the idea from a grocery store often visited for snacks during recording sessions. One of many Big Star Markets outlets in the Memphis region at the time, it had
6996-622: The Sylvers , Jay Reatard , Zach Myers , and Aretha Franklin . On December 23, 1988, a tanker truck hauling liquefied propane crashed at the I-40/I-240 interchange in Midtown and exploded , starting multiple vehicle and structural fires. Nine people were killed and ten were injured. It was one of Tennessee's deadliest motor vehicle accidents and eventually led to the reconstruction of the interchange where it occurred. On June 2, 2021,
7128-400: The album "exceptionally good", while Cashbox stated, "This album is one of those red-letter days when everything falls together as a total sound", and called it "an important record that should go to the top with proper handling". Proper handling, however, was not forthcoming: Stax Records proved unable to either promote or distribute the record with any degree of success, and even when
7260-575: The album are largely power-pop, along with the blues typical of Chilton's latter-day musical career, also incorporating influences from disco on "Love Revolution", and baroque on "Aria, Largo". The album, similarly to the band's prior three records, was recorded in Ardent Studios , being written in studio over a period of two weeks. Opening track "Dony" is a power-pop song typical of the band's prior material, written in collaboration between Alex Chilton and Jon Auer, sung by Chilton, and incorporating
7392-428: The album consisted of new material mostly co-written by Chilton, Stephens, Auer, and Stringfellow. Reviewing In Space , Rolling Stone ' s David Fricke first pointed out that the context of the release was now "a world expecting that American Beatles ideal all over again" from a band that "achieved its power-pop perfection when no one else was looking." In Fricke's estimation, this seemingly unrealistic expectation
7524-423: The album includes "reflective and acoustic" numbers, saying that "even the prettiest tunes have tension and subtle energy to them, and the rockers reverberate with power". Scoppa finds that in each mode, "the guitar sound is sharp-edged and full". #1 Record was released in June 1972, and quickly received strong reviews. Billboard went as far as to say, "Every cut could be a single". Rolling Stone judged
7656-432: The album's latter half is a cover of "Mine Exclusively", originally recorded by The Olympics in 1966, and previously recorded by Big Star in collaboration with Teenage Fanclub for inclusion on a flexi disc. The second cover is of Baroque composer Georg Muffat 's "Aria, Largo", whose arrangement was scored by Chilton, and performed by the band. According to Stringfellow, Chilton took particular pride in his arrangement of
7788-440: The album's twelve tracks, with Chilton singing the majority. In Space features new original material credited to all four members, alongside the occasional cowriter, along with two covers. According to Ken Stringfellow's recollections in the liner notes of the album's 2019 reissue, the album came about due to Chilton's reluctance to play much of Big Star's pre-existing back catalogue, preferring to record new material. The songs on
7920-401: The altercations, which were described as "heinous" and showed "a total lack of regard for human life", according to Memphis police chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis. The officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and other crimes. The relatively rapid dismissal and prosecution of the offending officers were favorably perceived by Nichols's family, and Davis called it
8052-435: The annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest , which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year. Higher-level educational institutions include the University of Memphis , Christian Brothers University and Rhodes College . Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a natural location for human settlement by varying indigenous cultures over thousands of years. In
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#17327939513408184-679: The area annexed was slightly smaller than first proposed. In 1893 the city was rechartered with home rule , which restored its ability to enact taxes. The state legislature established a cap rate. Although the commission government was retained and enlarged to five commissioners, Democratic politicians regained control from the business elite. The commission form of government was believed effective in getting things done, but because all positions were elected at-large , requiring them to gain majority votes, this practice reduced representation by candidates representing significant minority political interests. In terms of its economy, Memphis developed as
8316-449: The band broke up late in 1974. Four years later, the first two Big Star LPs were released together in the UK as a double album. The band's third album was finally issued soon afterward; titled Third/Sister Lovers , it found limited commercial success, but has since become a cult classic. Shortly thereafter, Chris Bell was killed in a car accident at the age of 27 . During the group's hiatus in
8448-583: The band performed at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in New York City. On March 17, 2010, Chilton suffered a fatal heart attack. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans. Big Star had been scheduled to play at SXSW Music Festival that same week. The remaining members, joined by special guests original bassist Andy Hummel, M. Ward , Evan Dando , R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills , and Chris Stamey , staged
8580-744: The band when it reissued Third/Sister Lovers and released a posthumous compilation of Bell's solo material, I Am the Cosmos . In his 2007 book Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide , John Borack ranks the #1 Record / Radio City double album at No. 2 in his chart "The 200 Greatest Power Pop Albums". Rolling Stone includes #1 Record , Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and " September Gurls " and " Thirteen " in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . In addition to R.E.M., artists including Teenage Fanclub , The Replacements , Primal Scream ,
8712-499: The band's debut, #1 Record , established them as "one of the leading new American bands working in the mid-Sixties pop and rock vein". Radio City , Barnes finds, has "plenty of shimmering pop delights", although "the opening tune, 'O My Soul,' is a foreboding, sprawling funk affair"; Barnes concludes that "Sometimes they sound like the Byrds, sometimes like the early Who, but usually like their own indescribable selves". Radio City
8844-451: The band's own efforts to get airplay generated interest, fans were unable to buy it as Stax could not make it available in many stores. Stax, in an effort to improve its catalog's availability, signed a deal with Columbia Records , already successful distributors in the U.S., making Columbia responsible for the entire Stax catalog. But Columbia had no interest in dealing with the independent distributors previously used by Stax and removed even
8976-544: The black settlement was left in ruins. Two whites were killed in the riot. Many blacks permanently fled Memphis afterward, especially as the Freedmen's Bureau continued to have difficulty in protecting them. Their population fell to about 15,000 by 1870, 37.4% of the total population of 40,226. Historian Barrington Walker suggests that the Irish rioted against blacks because of their relatively recent arrival as immigrants and
9108-741: The city has a majority African-American population. Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the American South . Many renowned musicians grew up in and around Memphis and moved to Chicago and other areas from the Mississippi Delta , carrying their music with them to influence other cities and listeners over radio airwaves. Former and current Memphis residents include musicians Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Muddy Waters , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , Robert Johnson , W. C. Handy , Bobby Whitlock , B.B. King , Howlin' Wolf , Isaac Hayes , Booker T. Jones , Eric Gales , Al Green , Alex Chilton , Three 6 Mafia ,
9240-496: The city population. The Union Army's presence attracted many fugitive slaves who had escaped from surrounding rural plantations. So many sought protection behind Union lines that the Army set up contraband camps to accommodate them. Memphis's black population increased from 3,000 in 1860, when the total population was 22,623, to nearly 20,000 in 1865, with most settling south of the city limits. The rapid demographic changes added to
9372-430: The city were the lower classes, such as German and Irish immigrant workers and African Americans. None had the means to flee the city, as did the middle and upper-class whites of Memphis, and thus they were subjected to a city of death. Immediately following the Board of Health's declaration, a Citizen's Relief Committee was formed by Charles G. Fisher. It organized the city into refugee camps. The committee's main priority
9504-545: The city. A massive panic ensued. The same trains and steamboats that had brought thousands into Memphis, in five days carried away more than 25,000 refugees, more than half of the city's population. On August 23, the Board of Health finally declared a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, and the city collapsed, hemorrhaging its population. In July of that year, the city had a population of 47,000; by September, 19,000 remained, and 17,000 of them had yellow fever. The only people left in
9636-406: The concert as a tribute to him. Four months after Chilton's death, Hummel died of cancer on July 19, 2010. Asked about the band's plans after the death of Chilton and Hummel, Stephens told Billboard , "It's music we all really love to play, and we love to play it together, so we're trying to figure out a way forward where we can keep doing it." In a Rolling Stone interview, Stephens said that
9768-551: The country to come home. Though yellow fever cases were recorded in the pages of Elmwood Cemetery's burial record as late as February 29, 1874, the epidemic seemed quieted. The Board of Health declared the epidemic at an end after it had caused over 20,000 deaths and financial losses of nearly $ 200 million. On November 27, a general citizen's meeting was called at the Greenlaw Opera House to offer thanks to those who had stayed behind to serve, of whom many had died. Over
9900-415: The cut. Ken Stringfellow is lead vocalist and primary writer of the album's fourth track, "Turn My Back On The Sun", which musically references The Beach Boys , who Chilton had toured with during his time with The Box Tops . "Love Revolution" is a pastiche of disco music, featuring prominent saxophone and cornet parts, with saxophonist Jim Spake and cornet player Nokie Taylor taking cowriting credits. Opening
10032-678: The danger of their work, and the struggles to support families with their low pay. Their drive for better pay had been met with resistance by the city government. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , known for his leadership in the non-violent movement, came to lend his support to the workers' cause. King stayed at the Lorraine Motel in the city, and was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968,
10164-526: The day after giving his I've Been to the Mountaintop speech at the Mason Temple . After learning of King's murder, many African Americans in the city rioted, looting and destroying businesses and other facilities, some by arson. The governor ordered Tennessee National Guardsmen into the city within hours, where small, roving bands of rioters continued to be active. Fearing the violence, more of
10296-421: The discography), Beale Street Green (acknowledging the legendary site nearby, once a focal point for Memphis blues musicians), and Sister Lovers (because during the album's recording sessions, Chilton and Stephens were dating sisters Lesa and Holliday Aldridge). Not long after the release of Third/Sister Lovers , Bell died in a car accident. He apparently lost control of his car while driving alone and
10428-567: The disease carried by river passengers traveling by ships along the waterways. During the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, more than 5,000 people were listed in the official register of deaths between July 26 and November 27. The vast majority died of yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 40,000 one of the most traumatic and severe in urban U.S. history. Within four days of the Memphis Board of Health's declaration of
10560-423: The election of all the at-large positions. Memphis did not become a home rule city until 1963, although the state legislature had amended the constitution in 1953 to provide home rule for cities and counties. Before that, the city had to get state bills approved in order to change its charter and other policies and programs. Since 1963, it can change the charter by popular approval of the electorate. During
10692-523: The end of slavery , the city continued to grow into the 20th century. It became among the largest world markets for cotton and hardwood . Home to Tennessee's largest African-American population, Memphis played a prominent role in the American Civil Rights Movement . Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 after activities supporting a strike by the city's maintenance workers. The National Civil Rights Museum
10824-596: The epidemic bankrupted Memphis, and as a result, its charter was revoked by the state legislature. By 1870, Memphis's population of 40,000 was almost double that of Nashville and Atlanta, and it was the second-largest city in the South after New Orleans. Its population continued to grow after 1870, even when the Panic of 1873 hit the US hard, particularly in the South. The Panic of 1873 resulted in expanding Memphis's underclasses amid
10956-536: The epidemic reported seeing as many as 100 to 150 patients daily. The Episcopal Community of St. Mary at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral played an important role during the epidemic in caring for the lower classes. Already supporting a girls' school and church orphanage, the Sisters of St. Mary also sought to provide care for the Canfield Asylum, a home for black children. Each day, they alternated caring for
11088-452: The existing copies of #1 Record from the stores. The frustration at #1 Record ' s obstructed sales contributed to tension within the band. There was physical fighting between members: Bell, after being punched in the face by Hummel, retaliated by smashing Hummel's new bass guitar to pieces against the wall. Hummel took revenge at a later date: finding Bell's acoustic guitar in the latter's unattended car, he repeatedly punched it with
11220-483: The fifth-busiest inland water port in the U.S. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network considers Memphis a "Sufficiency" level global city as of 2020. Memphis is a center for media and entertainment, notably a historic music scene . With blues clubs on Beale Street originating the unique Memphis blues sound, the city has been nicknamed the "Home of the Blues". Its music has continued to be shaped by
11352-487: The first era was a precursor of the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s, at the same time yielding material today considered an outstanding example of power pop. The stylistic range is evident from modern day critiques. Bogdanov et al., commenting on #1 Record in their All Music Guide to Rock , perceive in "The Ballad of El Goodo" a "luminous, melancholy ballad", whereas John Borack's Ultimate Power Pop Guide singles out Radio City ' s "September Gurls" as
11484-556: The first millennium A.D. people of the Mississippian culture were prominent; the culture influenced a network of communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. The hierarchical societies built complexes with large earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds as expressions of their sophisticated culture. The Chickasaw people, believed to be their descendants, later inhabited this site and
11616-438: The first two Big Star albums were released together in the U.K. as a double album, drawing enthusiastic reviews and interest from fans. Soon afterward, Big Star's recognition grew further when, four years after its completion, the third album too was released in both the U.S. and the U.K. By now, the hitherto untitled Third/Sister Lovers had become known by several unofficial names, including Third (reflecting its position in
11748-682: The franchise until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.) Historian L. B. Wrenn suggests the heightened political hostility of the Democratic contest and related social tensions contributed to a white mob lynching three black grocers in Memphis in 1892 . Journalist Ida B. Wells of Memphis investigated the lynchings, as one of the men killed was a friend of hers. She demonstrated that these and other lynchings were more often due to economic and social competition than any criminal offenses by black men. Her findings were considered so controversial and aroused so much anger that she
11880-683: The freedmen. Unlike the disturbances in some other cities, ex-Confederate veterans were generally not part of the attacks against blacks in Memphis. As a result of the riots in Memphis, and a similar one in New Orleans, Louisiana in September, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . In the 1870s, a series of yellow fever epidemics devastated Memphis, with
12012-531: The group's career and band members' solo efforts. In 2013, the documentary was released in theaters and on DVD, and it had a limited theatrical re-release in England in August 2014. In November 2014, Live in Memphis was released by Omnivore Recordings on CD, vinyl, and as a DVD of Big Star's performance of October 29, 1994, their only known show to be professionally filmed in its entirety. According to Mojo ,
12144-508: The local Chickasaw so that a Spanish fort could be erected on the bluff; Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas was the result. Holmes notes that consent was reached despite opposition from "disappointed Americans and a pro-American faction of the Chickasaws" when the "pro-Spanish faction signed the Chickasaw Bluffs Cession and Spain provided the Chickasaws with a trading post". Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas remained
12276-476: The mid-1990s for the Big Star tribute album Big Star, Small World . As with their prior studio release , however, the tribute album was delayed for years due to its record company going under. Originally scheduled for a 1998 release on Ignition Records , the album was eventually released in 2006 on Koch Records . In Space was released on September 27, 2005, on the Rykodisc label. Recorded during 2004,
12408-490: The middle-class began to leave the city for the suburbs. In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Memphis's population as 60.8% white and 38.9% black. Suburbanization was attracting wealthier residents to newer housing outside the city. After the riots and court-ordered busing in 1973 to achieve desegregation of public schools, "about 40,000 of the system's 71,000 white students abandon[ed] the system in four years." Today,
12540-546: The most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll", whose "impact on subsequent generations of indie bands on both sides of the Atlantic is surpassed only by that of the Velvet Underground ". Ankeny describes Big Star's second album, Radio City , as "their masterpiece—ragged and raw guitar-pop infused with remarkable intensity and spontaneity". In 1992, Rykodisc generated further interest in
12672-471: The most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll". In its first era, the band's musical style drew influence from 1960s pop acts such as the Beatles and the Byrds , producing a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Before they broke up, Big Star created a "seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations" according to Rolling Stone . Three of Big Star's studio albums are included in
12804-472: The naval Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, and the city and state were occupied by the Union Army for the duration of the war. Union commanders allowed the city to maintain its civil government during most of this period but excluded Confederate States Army veterans from office. This shifted political dynamics in the city as the war went on. The war years contributed to additional dramatic changes in
12936-424: The next ten years". The resurrected band made its debut at the 1993 University of Missouri spring music festival. A recording of the performance was issued on CD by Zoo Records as Columbia: Live at Missouri University . The concert was followed by tours of Europe and Japan, as well as an appearance on The Tonight Show . Big Star's first post-reunion studio recording was the song "Hot Thing", recorded in
13068-402: The next year property tax revenues collapsed, and the city could not make payments on its municipal debts. As a result, Memphis temporarily lost its city charter and was reclassified by the state legislature as a Taxing District from 1878 to 1893. But a new era of sanitation was developed in the city, a new municipal government in 1879 helped form the first regional health organization, and during
13200-465: The noun "city" to sort of emphasize the totality and pervasiveness of it was just a way of talking people had. If someone suggested going to a store but you had gotten a bad deal there you might say, "Oh no, that place is 'rip off city'." Calling an LP Radio City would be kind of wishful thinking. I mean we hoped it would be played on the radio a lot, making it "radio city". Of course it didn't pan out that way... Stephens recalled: " Radio City , for me,
13332-459: The only seven live performances in the original era, the last of which took place before the second album's release, all four members contributed vocally. While primarily inspired by the music of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands, acknowledging too the jangle pop and power pop of the period, Big Star also incorporated dark, nihilistic themes to produce a striking blend of musical and lyrical styles. The body of work resulting from
13464-456: The orphans at St. Mary's, delivering children to the Canfield Asylum, and taking soup and medicine on house calls to patients. Between September 9 and October 4, Sister Constance and three other nuns fell victim to the epidemic and died. They later became known as the Martyrs of Memphis. At long last, on October 28, a killing frost struck. The city sent out word to Memphians scattered all over
13596-418: The piece, being moved to tears upon listening back to it. "Hung Up With Summer" is another Chilton led number, one which bears some resemblance to his earlier Big Star songs, and became a regular part of the band's set until 2009. The song was cowritten with Bill Cunningham, a member of The Box Tops, and a songwriting collaborator of Chilton in his later years, together they also composed a number of originals for
13728-509: The poorer whites and blacks fundamentally made up the city and played the greatest role in rebuilding it. The epidemic had resulted in Memphis being a less cosmopolitan place, with an economy that served the cotton trade and a population drawn increasingly from poor white and black Southerners. The 1890 election was strongly contested, resulting in white opponents of the D. P. Hadden faction working to deprive them of votes by disenfranchising blacks . The state had enacted several laws, including
13860-416: The poverty and hardship it wrought, giving further credence to Memphis as a rough, shiftless city. Leading up to the outbreak in 1878, it had suffered two yellow fever epidemics, cholera , and malaria , giving it a reputation as sickly and filthy. It was unheard of for a city with a population as large as Memphis's not to have any waterworks; the city still relied for supplies entirely on collecting water from
13992-478: The publisher's summary of L.B. Wrenn's study of the period, "This centralization of political power in a small commission aided the efficient transaction of municipal business, but the public policies that resulted from it tended to benefit upper-class Memphians while neglecting the less affluent residents and neighborhoods." The city installed a revolutionary sewer system and upgraded sanitation and drainage to prevent another epidemic. Pure water from an artesian well
14124-408: The remains of Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest were removed from a Memphis park. On January 7, 2023, after a routine traffic stop, five African American police officers brutally beat a 29-year-old African American man, Tyre Nichols . Nichols died from his injuries in the hospital three days later. Officer body cam footage and local surveillance cameras captured
14256-403: The requirement of poll taxes , that made it more difficult for them to register to vote and served to disenfranchise many blacks. Although political party factions in the future sometimes paid poll taxes to enable blacks to vote, African Americans lost their last positions on the city council in this election and were forced out of the police force. (They did not recover the ability to exercise
14388-538: The rhythm and blues and the Stax stuff, too". Chilton abandoned his guitar-playing during his time with the Box Tops and then took up the instrument again; he met Roger McGuinn , guitarist for the Byrds , and developed particular interest in electric guitar and acoustic folk . Stephens enjoyed the music of Otis Redding , the Isley Brothers , the Who , the Kinks, and especially the Beatles. Hummel likewise
14520-424: The river and rain cisterns, and had no way to remove sewage. The combination of a swelling population, especially of lower and working classes, and abysmal health and sanitary conditions made Memphis ripe for a serious epidemic. Kate Bionda, an owner of an Italian "snack house", died of a fever on August 13, 1878. Hers was officially reported by the Board of Health, on August 14, as the first case of yellow fever in
14652-413: The role of lead vocalist for Blood, Sweat & Tears , but turned down the offer as "too commercial". Chilton had known Chris Bell for some time: Both lived in Memphis, each had spent time recording music at Ardent Studios , and each, when aged 13, had been impressed by the music of the Beatles during the band's 1964 debut U.S. tour . A song Chilton wrote nearly six years after he first witnessed
14784-440: The saxophone line. All tracks are written by Jon Auer, Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and Ken Stringfellow, unless otherwise noted with: Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis , Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American power pop band", and "one of
14916-652: The stress of war and occupation and uncertainty about who was in charge, increasing tensions between the city's ethnic Irish policemen and black Union soldiers after the war. In three days of rioting in early May 1866, the Memphis Riots erupted, in which white mobs made up of policemen, firemen, and other mostly ethnic Irish Americans attacked and killed 46 blacks, wounding 75 and injuring 100; raped several women; and destroyed nearly 100 houses while severely damaging churches and schools in South Memphis. Much of
15048-462: The uncertain nature of their own claim to "whiteness"; they were trying to distinguish themselves from blacks in the underclass. The main fighting participants were ethnic Irish, decommissioned black Union soldiers, and newly emancipated African-American freedmen . Walker suggests that most of the mob was not in direct economic conflict with the blacks, as by then the Irish had attained better jobs, but were establishing social and political dominance over
15180-473: The way they do... People say Big Star made some of the best rock 'n roll albums ever. And I say they're wrong." In 2014, Paul Stanley cited Big Star as an influence to early Kiss moments: "We've always been about verses, choruses, bridges (...) It's called a hook for a reason, because it grabs you. And that's my mentality. Give me the Raspberries . Give me Small Faces . Give me Big Star." The band
15312-547: The world's largest spot cotton market and the world's largest hardwood lumber market, both commodity products of the Mississippi Delta. Into the 1950s, it was also the world's largest mule market. These animals were still used extensively for agriculture. Attracting workers from Southern rural areas as well as new European immigrants, from 1900 to 1950 the city increased nearly fourfold in population, from 102,350 to 396,000 residents. Racist violence continued into
15444-445: The year Big Star disbanded. After a few months Chilton, Stephens, and Hummel decided to reform Big Star, and the three resumed work on the second album. The title chosen, Radio City , continued the play on the theme of a big star's popularity and success, expressing what biographer Robert Gordon calls the band's "romantic expectation". As Hummel put it: This was probably pretty lame, but in those days putting any word in front of
15576-474: Was "nailed for indulging Alex on Big Star Third , but I think it is important that the artist is enabled to perform with integrity. What I did for Alex was literally remove the yoke of oppressive production that he had been under since the first time he ever uttered a word into a microphone, for good or ill." Since quitting the band in 1972, Bell had spent time in several different countries trying to develop his solo career. In 1978, after his return to Memphis,
15708-499: Was a member of more than one band during his early musical years, again influenced by the Beatles and other British Invasion acts. The bassist also played acoustic guitar for personal enjoyment, following the styles of Simon & Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell and using finger-picking techniques to play folk and bluegrass . Most songs on the first three albums are credited to either Bell/Chilton or Chilton, but some credit Hummel, Stephens and others, as either writer or co-writer. At
15840-506: Was also an inspiration for the Replacements , who recorded the song "Alex Chilton" on their " Pleased to Meet Me " album. "While the band no longer exists, the music that Alex, Chris, Andy and I originally made together under the auspices of John Fry still calls a community of those of us with like minds to come together and have fun with it," Stephens wrote in 2017 in a note published in the liner notes of The Best of Big Star . Critics have continued to cite Big Star's first three albums as
15972-638: Was announced that a film of Big Star's history, based on biographer Rob Jovanovic's book Big Star: The Story of Rock's Forgotten Band , was in pre-production. On July 1, 2009, Big Star performed at a concert in Hyde Park, London , U.K. On September 15, 2009, Rhino Records issued a four-CD box set containing 98 recordings made between 1968 and 1975. Keep an Eye on the Sky included live and demo versions of Big Star songs, solo work, and material from Bell's earlier bands Rock City and Icewater. On November 18, 2009,
16104-522: Was contested by European settlers as Memphis developed. By 1819, when modern Memphis was founded, it was part of the United States territory. John Overton , James Winchester , and Andrew Jackson founded the city. Based on the wealth of cotton plantations and river traffic along the Mississippi, Memphis grew into one of the largest cities of the Antebellum South . After the Civil War and
16236-401: Was decided towards the end of the recording sessions and evinced, albeit as a playful hope rather than a serious expectation, the chart position to be achieved by a big star. Although Fry—at the band's insistence—was credited as "executive producer", publicly he insisted that "the band themselves really produced these records". Fry recalled how Ardent, one of the first recording studios to use
16368-439: Was discovered in the 1880s, securing the city's water supply. The commissioners developed an extensive network of parks and public works as part of the national City Beautiful movement , but did not encourage heavy industry, which might have provided substantial employment for the working-class population. The lack of representation in city government resulted in the poor and minorities being underrepresented. The majority controlled
16500-413: Was established there and is a Smithsonian affiliate institution. Since the civil rights era, Memphis has become one of the nation's leading commercial centers in transportation and logistics . The largest employer is FedEx , which maintains its global air hub at Memphis International Airport . In 2021, Memphis was the world's second-busiest cargo airport. The International Port of Memphis also hosts
16632-421: Was forced to move away from the city. But she continued to investigate and publish the abuses of lynching . Businessmen were eager to increase the city population after the losses of 1878–79, and supported the annexation of new areas; this measure was passed in 1890 before the census. The annexation measure was finally approved by the state legislature through a compromise achieved with real estate magnates, and
16764-415: Was just an amazing record. Being a three-piece really opened things up for me in terms of playing drums. Drums take on a different role in a three-piece band, so it was a lot of fun. [...] Radio City was really more spontaneous, and the performances were pretty close to live performances." Although uncredited, Bell contributed to the writing of some of the album's songs, including "O My Soul" and "Back of
16896-462: Was killed when he struck a lamp post after hitting the curb a hundred feet before. A blood test found that he was not drunk at the time, and no drugs were found on him other than a bottle of vitamins. Bell is believed to have either fallen asleep at the wheel or become distracted. Big Star returned in 1993 with a new lineup when guitarist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Stringfellow joined Chilton and Stephens. Auer and Stringfellow remained members of
17028-450: Was met in part: "It's here – in the jangly longing and ice-wall harmonies of 'Lady Sweet'" — however, Fricke found that the successful songs were interleaved with "the eccentric R&B and demo-quality glam rock that have made Chilton's solo records a mixed blessing," and that "'A Whole New Thing' starts out like old T.Rex , then goes nowhere special." Warming nevertheless to "the rough sunshine" of "Best Chance", Fricke concluded, " In Space
17160-584: Was released in February 1974 and, like #1 Record , received excellent reviews. Record reported, "The sound is stimulating, the musicianship superb, and the result is tight and rollickingly rhythmic." Billboard judged it "a highly commercial set". Rolling Stone ' s Bud Scoppa, then with Phonograph Record , affirmed, "Alex Chilton has now emerged as a major talent, and he'll be heard from again". Cashbox called it "a collection of excellent material that hopefully will break this deserving band in
17292-473: Was syrup and Jerry Lee was pretty much gone, and the rockabilly thing was sort of over so I didn't get really caught up in the rock scene until the Beatles came along". Chilton took up electric guitar at 13, playing along with Beatles songs, later saying, "I really loved the mid-sixties British pop music [...] all two and a half minutes or three minutes long, really appealing songs. So I've always aspired to that same format, that's what I like. Not to mention
17424-474: Was to separate the poor from the city and isolate them in refugee camps. The Howard Association, formed specifically for yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans and Memphis, organized nurses and doctors in Memphis and throughout the country. They stayed at the Peabody Hotel , the only hotel to keep its doors open during the epidemic. From there they were assigned to their respective districts. Physicians of
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