Big Star - The Ballad of El Goodo

Alright, folks, you’ll likely want to prepare your handkerchiefs for this one. Not only are we featuring a song full of emotional depth and weight here at Rock Song of the Week, but there’s enough tragic backstory to the band to make a grown man need to change his shirt with all the tears crashing out of him. I don’t mean that as one of my usual pan-faced jokes, either; Big Star have had about as much tragedy as any one group can take in the grand scheme of things.

Born out of Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971, the band’s origins belied their inevitable legacy. Not in any part down to the quality of their music, no sir – 1972's #1 Record and 1974's Radio City were, by pretty much any account, astoundingly accomplished works. They still are today – heavily inspired by power pop groups that came before them, but sliding towards the alt-rock horizon that wasn’t to be established for another nearly ten years yet. It made for an addictive blend, and they would likely have created a household name out of themselves but for not one, but TWO record label distribution issues, from separate labels on each album, basically cutting their throat before they had a chance to do anything. 

That is, unfortunately, just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to misfortune. The heartbreaking death of Chris Bell in a car accident in 1978 at the age of just 27, followed by two more in Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel, who died within months of each other in 2010, almost gives the impression that the band were under some sort of curse when you look at everything together. But, for all the sadness here, that’s not where it begins and ends with Big Star, thankfully. These days, you could throw a rock in any crowded music festival green room, and it would hit someone who cites the group as a direct influence on them, such was the impact of what they had to say and produce. They are truly one of those bands that changed the face of the genres they touched, and yet would quite likely not come up in conversation among people less learned; a cult act that has probably had more influence on the music you love today than you could ever know. 

That’s why this week, for our Rock Song of the Week pick, we are diving full depth into a band that deserves as much limelight as there is to shine. The Ballad of El Goodo, written as a fairly thickly veiled antiwar anthem, is a power pop cornerstone to the sort of emotional ballads that we seem to lack in and amongst the preferred musical delivery of immediate hooks and targeted demographics. A genuinely beautiful track that might have been lost to the ages of rock and roll thanks to the band’s popularity or lack thereof in their day, it’s a stark reminder that not only can life be cruelly short, but that even in the absolute dark, there is a reason to keep going. Just remember, when it all feels like it’s going wrong – hold on, hold on.