Great Magazine Reads: Chris Bell's extremely sad rock n' roll story
Although Big Star is one of my very favorite bands, I’ve honestly always had trouble getting into co-leader Chris Bell’s heralded solo album I Am the Cosmos. So I listened to it again—both intensely and in the background while I read Bell’s story in an excellent article in the October 2024 issue of Uncut Magazine.
Big Star’s two masterpieces are immediately lovable. But this one has taken me a while, and although I don’t think it comes close to matching #1 Record and Radio City, I’m beginning to be really happy about its existence.
The first song, “I Am the Cosmos,” could easily be on a Big Star album. Then the record goes straight into an odd number about Jesus called “Better Save Yourself.” It has cool chiming 1970s’ guitars but not many real hooks. The real keepers sprinkled through the 12-song collection are “Speed of Sound,” “Look Up,” “I Got Kinda Lost,” and the Lynyrd Skynyrd-like “There Was a Light.” The there is “You and Your Sister,” which is as good as anything from Big Star, and that band’s Alex Chilton sings backup on it as an added bonus.
Here are some of the most interesting things I learned in Uncut article about Bell:
Big Star was named after a local Memphis grocery chain.
Big Star’s debut album, #1 Record, didn’t sell well, at least partly because Stax and CBS didn’t promote it well. Bell thought the band was surely headed towards being the next Beatles and when that didn’t happen, it basically began to destroy him. One of the studio musicians for #1 Record said, “When that record came out, he’d come in every day at Ardent [Studio] and check with the promotions people to see what was happening with it. He put his heart and soul and everything into that album.”
Bell left before the excellent second record, Radio City, although some of the songs had been co-written by him, and bassist Andy Hummels’ exit made their third, Third/Sister Lovers, essentially a two-piece production.
I Am the Cosmos, recorded with his brother in France, was not released—by Rykodisc—until 14 years after Bell’s 1978 death. His car hit a telephone pole, killing him instantly.
In the years between leaving Big Star and his death, Bell dabbled in heroin, bourbon, and Jesus, and even worked at a fast-food restaurant.
Even after Bell died, Big Star remained rooted in obscurity all through the 1980s, except for an occasional mention by other bands and The Bangles covering “September Gurls.”
Even though Chilton has also since passed away, drummer Jody Stephens still tours as Big Star with a lineup that includes Mike Mills of R.E.M.