Today’s classic song of the day is one you probably know even if you don’t remember it. The tune is “The Ballad of El Goodo” and the band is Big Star, one of the least known yet most influential bands of the 1970s.
Headed by former Box Tops singer Alex Chilton, Big Star was a short-lived band that was chock full of power pop hooks and beautiful vocal harmonies. Their debut album, the audaciously named #1 Record, was released in 1972, and went on to influence countless other power pop conglomerations over the years. Just about every tune that Big Star recorded was a masterful piece of power pop, perfectly performed and exquisitely recorded. They only released two albums (#1 Record and Radio City) before breaking up in 1974, but they were both gems—overlooked gems, unfortunately. (A third album, Third/Sister Lovers, was completed before they broke up, but not released until four years later.)
Like most of Big Star’s songs, “The Ballad of El Goodo” was written by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. The words “El Goodo” don’t appear anywhere in the song; instead, it’s about what one critic called “defiant self-reliance,” nonconformity, and independence. The key line here is “There ain’t no one going to turn me ’round,” but it’s worth giving the rest of the lyrics a go:
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
It’s a very heartfelt song, and Chilton sings his heart out on the record.
“The Ballad of El Goodo” was the second track on side one of #1 Record. That album, which also included “Out in the Street” (better known as the theme from That ’70s Show), was released in April of 1972. Despite its lack of distribution (fewer than 10,000 copies distributed and sold in its initial release), #1 Record received rave reviews. Record World called it “one of the best albums of the year,” Billboard said “every cut could be a single,” and Cashbox said it was “an important record that should go to the top with proper handling.” That proper handling didn’t happen, unfortunately.
Why wasn’t Big Star bigger than they were? First up were problems with their record label, Stax Records (then distributed by Columbia Records), which resulted in their albums not receiving proper distribution or promotion. (Fewer than 10,000 copies of #1 Record were distributed and sold in its initial release, which meant few people actually heard their tunes, on the radio or elsewhere.) The bandmembers themselves contributed to their lack of success, with plenty of infighting between Chilton and his songwriting partner and co-singer Chris Bell, which resulted in Bell leaving the band after the release of #1 Record.
How, then, did Big Star become so influential? It helped that the few copies they sold eventually made it into the hands of some future big stars. The group’s revival started in the 1980s, when R.E.M. called out Big Star as one of their primary influences. Other big acts, including the Bangles and the Replacements, subsequently noted Big Star as a big influence on their sound. (The Bangles included a cover of Big Star’s “September Gurls” on their 1986 album, Different Light.) And, of course, the producers of That ’70s Show picked Big Star’s “In the Street” as the theme for that extremely popular television program.
As to Big Star’s original members, Chris Bell died in an automobile accident in 1978 and Alex Chilton and bassist Andy Hummel both passed away in 2010. Drummer Jody Stephens (who played with Chilton in the Box Tops) is still with us, aged 72.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Counting Crows’ cover of “The Ballad of El Goodo” from their 2012 album, Underwater Sunshine. It’s a remarkably faithful version that exposed this wonderful song to an even broader audience.
