pretty fine...star burned out too quick. Still, Alex Chilton; Box Tops...come on

Without Big Star New Wave would never have existed They influenced everyone from R.E.M To the Replacements, The Jam, and Many many more

alex chilton

no

The review by MadeinCanada, and the information to the left sums up this enormously influential act better than I could ever hope to. The 4 stars I give them is for how I regard them musically,and not for their worthiness in the HOF, which I view as a nonsense institution, because it's rigged IMO and because music is subjective anyway. Formed out of the ashes of The Box Tops, a successful pop/ soul act of the late 60's, this band had 2 powerful songwriters and vocalists- Alex Chilton and the late Chris Bell. They were influenced by The Who, The Byrds, The Beatles and other acts of the mid 60's more than more recent acts, kind of vaguely similar to Todd Rundgren's early band The Nazz, though even poppier and less experimental. I regard the eponymous debut as the best one, and though they were practically unknown outside of music writer circles at the time, their brand of power pop produced such masterful songs as 'Feel," "The Ballad of El Goodo,' 'Don't Lie to Me," and the timeless 'September Gurls,' among others. A huge influence as previously noted, on R.E.M., The Replacements, and numerous other alternative and power pop acts, one of those bands whose record sales are dwarfed by their influence, worth investigation by any serious student of pop and rock. Chilton is a cult figure who continues to record to this day, and is still regarded as an influential legend in alternative and power pop circles.

With out big star There would be no bands like Cheap trick, The Posies, Jellyfish,Nirvana, hell anyband with a hit in the last 30 years would be at a loss They are great pop rock music along with Badfinger & the raspberries & Cheap trick as the most deserving bands not in the hall of fame

The quintessential American power pop band, Big Star remains one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll. Originally led by the singing and songwriting duo of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, the Memphis-based group fused the strongest elements of the British Invasion era the melodic invention of the Beatles, the whiplash guitars of the Who, and the radiant harmonies of the Byrds into a ramshackle but poignantly beautiful sound which recaptured the spirit of pop's past even as it pointed the way toward the music's future. Although creative tensions, haphazard distribution, and marketplace indifference conspired to ensure Big Star's brief existence and commercial failure, the group's three studio albums nevertheless remain unqualified classics, and their impact on subsequent generations of indie bands on both sides of the Atlantic is surpassed only by that of the Velvet Underground. The story might have ended there, but in 1978 the third Big Star album was finally issued overseas various titled Third and/or Sister Lovers, it appeared for years in essentially unauthorized versions containing neither the complete session nor the proper sequencing. Still, the record earned a significant cult following, and with the emergence of the nascent power-pop movement, it became increasingly clear just how prescient Big Star's music had been. Countless alternative rock bands R.E.M., the Replacements, the dB's, and Teenage Fanclub, to name just four cited the band's enormous influence in the years to follow, and in 1993 the Posies' Jonathan Auer and Ken Stringfellow backed Chilton and Stephens for a reunion gig at the University of Missouri, a performance captured on the Columbia live disc. To the surprise of many, the Big Star reunion continued with tours of Europe and Japan, and most shocking of all even an appearance on television's The Tonight Show, although no new studio recordings were forthcoming.

If you do not think that they belong and you gave them a 1 or 2 it is because you don't know who they are. This is one of the most influential bands to have never sold any records. Their most famous song became popular 25 years after it was recorded -- the theme song for the TV show "That Seventies Show". But for Big Star, there probably would not have been an REM. Thirteen and September Gurls are two of the best songs of all time.

The best group on the list, and it's not close. Sold few albums but launched a million bands.