Today’s classic song of the day is “September Gurls” by Big Star. It’s a near-perfect piece of power pop, influential beyond its limited recognition at the time.
Big Star’s Alex Chilton (former lead singer of the Box Tops) wrote “September Gurls” and the group released it on their second album, 1974’s Radio City. It was also released as a single in August of that year, although it failed to chart.
“September Gurls” was allegedly written about three ladies in Mr. Chilton’s life who all had birthdays in September. Big Star bassist Andy Hummel remembers it this way:
“[Alex] was going through a lot of different girls that he was having relationships with, kind of simultaneously, and a lot of what’s in those songs [including ‘September Gurls’] is him really just telling of his experiences with them and how he felt about them.”
Chilton himself was somewhat critical of the song, especially its lyrics:
“The musical structure’s fine, it’s the lyrics that were the odd bit for me at that time. ‘September Gurls’ may be one of the more coherent things that I managed to produce in that time but if I were more confident in writing lyrics I probably would have done something else. It’s not a song that really grabs me to this day. The musical structure grabs me but the overall song doesn’t.”
Others obviously felt different. Music critics have called the song “a virtually perfect pop number,” an “irresistible cut,” “the very essence of purest American pop,” and “a peerless, aching distillation of love and longing.” It’s a track that influenced a generation of other artists, not the least of which was the Bangles, who covered “September Gurls” on their 1986 album, Different Light. I’m a big Bangles fan and I think their extremely faithful version might be even better than Big Star’s original. It’s damned fine.
Big Star was possibly the most influential rock band you never heard of. The group consisted of Alex Chilton on vocals and guitar, Chris Bell on vocals and guitar, Andy Hummel on bass, and Jody Stephens on drums. They got together in 1971 in Memphis and broke up three years later. During that short time span the group released three albums: #1 Record, Radio City, and Third/Sister Lovers. They drew on influences like the Beatles and the Byrds to produce a sound that would later become known as power pop. Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Big Star created a “seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations.” They were critics’ darlings but never broke through into the mainstream, due at least in part to issues with their record label. They did, however, influence countless bands in the years following, including R.E.M., Kiss, the Replacements, and the Bangles.
You might know Big Star from their tune “In the Street,” a truncated cover of which (by Todd Griffin) was used as the theme song for That ’70s Show. Their sound was unmistakable, lots of jangly guitars, close-harmony vocals, and memorable melodies—everything that power pop is and will always be.
