One was from San Francisco, another came from Memphis, Tennessee, and the other was from Cleveland, Ohio. And by the time the late sixties drew to a dark and foreboding close, they had very little in common aside from an affinity for rock and roll, and a revulsion to it’s widening array of structures, sounds, and forms.
They were all, in a term, rock-classicists, and in their own varying ways practitioners of a dying art form. Though they all lovingly looked toward the past, they would be no mere copyists and not yet revivalists. In fact, all three were innovators whose narrow path would soon widen but by that time neither would be on it anymore.
When the following decade came to yet another worrisome close, two of the bands were miserably shattered, and the other was mounting a slow descent into the shadows. For a while in the Seventies however, they were all three blazing one of the last trails for guitar-based pop and setting a musical high water mark in American Music. Most of it though, fell on the deaf and unknowing ears of a listening populace in the throes of a musical recession.
The Flamin’ Groovies, Big Star, and The Raspberries were directly rooted in the fertile soil of American rock and roll in the sixties. The Flamin’ Groovies — power pop’s elder statesmen — had been a famously unwelcome fixture in San Francisco throughout the mid to late sixties. In 1968, while the boho-hippies were eating acid and noodling endlessly on their guitars, The Groovies released a backward looking roots-rock record Supersnazz.
Alex Chilton, guitarist, vocalist and co-founder of Memphis’ Big Star, had been the babyish singer for blue-eyed soul bubble-gummers The Boxtops, and the whole of The Raspberries, aside from lead singer Eric Carmen (who was in a group called Cyrus Erie) had played in a legendary Cleveland garage group called The Choir.
By the time the seventies were in its dark twilight, these iconoclasts had barely scratched the surface and were on the fade. Though American power pop would soon have its day on the charts (Cheap Trick, The Knack, The Romantics), in the early to mid seventies these three bands made very few commercial ripples aside from the relatively small blast of billboard love The Raspberries conjured for their first single, “Go All the Way.” (The Raspberries charted 7 singles, but only “Go All the Way” climbed higher than 16 on the Billboard Chart). They still though, in my eyes, remain the holy trinity of Power Pop.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mike B., San Diego
QUOTE-- "Like almost every band that felt they did not receive their just deserts, The Raspberries reformed as old men. The results were unspectacular and Eric Carmen wisely declined."
WRONG. In 2005 Erica Carmen reunited with the other Raspberries, and their concerts received very nice reviews. One live show is making its way to DVD. New music is still a possibility as well.
2 - bryan price
yuck
3 - zingzing
erica carmen?
hmm.
anyway. just what's spotty on third? compared to #1, it's solid... #1 had a few stinkers on it.
4 - Mike B., San Diego
Oops, I hate typos. Make that ERIC Carmen in my previous reply.
At www.ericcarmen.com there's plenty of information on the reunion of the four original Raspberries. It may be true that Eric Carmen declined to participate in earlier reunions in the 1990's. But your article should be corrected to acknowledge that he is very much part of the band today
5 - JC Mosquito
Ach - Badfinger had four good songs? I beg to disagree. Yes, the Groovies had a pile of albums, but there sure were a lot of covers - well done covers, mind you, but they never turned out the quality original material that Badfinger did. And Badfinger's covers (Nillson's Without You & Big Macca's Come & Get It) did better too.
AND - Dave Edmunds' production of the Now & Shake Some Action albums sounds so dated now, unlike Nick Lowe producing Elvis Costello, which sounds great on CD.
Still, your point is well made - Big Star, Groovies & Eric Carmen et. al. set the stage for the next round - Cheap Trick, the Knack, and much of the then called "New Wave." There's still great power popsters around - Fountains of Wayne and Sloan come to mind off the top of my head.
Thanx for the taking the time to try & sort out the much disremembered lost movements of the 60's & 70's.
Skeeter.
6 - bryan price
I like Badfinger but had to stick to my guns concerning the Groovies, the 4 song crack was a bit reductive.
I love the third Big Star album, but it has some not great songs, and it is only vaguely power pop. Alex Chilton is my one true musical hero, but the album remains a bit uneven.
b
7 - zingzing
name the not great songs on third!
i used to (until maybe a month ago) dislike "big black car," but then it got me one night. i really can't name a less than brilliant song on that album. but, as you say, it's not power pop.
as for today's stuff, check out the new pornographers. pop of the highest level.
8 - Michael J. West
Badfinger actually wrote "Without You." Nilsson covered it. But that's okay. You're defending the band so I shouldn't nitpick.
9 - JC Mosquito
Oops - I can't believe I made such an elementary mistake! Best excuse - I've been listening to Three Dog Night's version of "One" lately, which is a Nilsson song (I'm pretty sure!).
Speaking of old songwriters, whatever happened to Paul Williams? Is he still alive? I always wished someone would cover some of his "Phantom of the Paradise" material.
10 - bryan price
I don't like "kizza me" particularly, You are obstinate about this aren't you?
It is not a matter so much of bad songs as much as songs that are fine but are not as good as they should be.
I love this record, if i was forced to pick a hundred great records at bayonet-point, Sister Lovers would be one of them, but that doesn't mean i have to defend each and every song.
What are the stinkers on their first album? Aside from maybe "The India Song" which I believe was Jodie Stephens' doing.
b
11 - bryan price
oh, zing, your challenges are so fun.
I mostly hate new music. I don't want to get into it, but I like old music....blah, blah, blah. But if anyone can come up with a band that might make me think...it would be you.
I do like a song by AC Thompson called "On The Table."
I also like the Deadly Snakes.
b
12 - Bill Sherman
Though we might have some disagreements (I like Badfinger’s No Dice all the way), I’m happy to see this appreciation of early power pop get posted. Good stuff . . .
13 - JC Mosquito
Count my vote for Straight Up over No Dice.
14 - zingzing
kizza me is brilliant! what the fuck is he saying in it? that piano! that strange bass sound... it's fractured pop music, all slop and falling apart, yet it holds itself together and every time you think it's breaking down, it's really just going right where it needs to. that song is a total tight-rope act of production, performance and songwriting. i would label that one of the best songs on the album, a wondrous bit of magic! proof of god's existence! (for what else could hold that together? i jest, i jest...)
as far as #1 record goes... i don't particularily like bell's attempts at "rocking out," although i must say i don't particularily like bell's lead vocals all that much. his harmonies are divine, however. and i don't particularily like bell's songwriting compared to chilton's. i think he kind of gets in the way from time to time. that said, i think chilton is one of the best songwriters of the 70s or any other decade, so it would be pretty hard to measure up. and i like chris bell much more than i like a bunch of other songwriters. just get out of the way of chilton, i say.
15 - Christopher Rose
Alex Chilton stayed at my place a couple of times!
16 - zingzing
horse-shit!
17 - Christopher Rose
Totally true, zing, I worked with him for years.
18 - Leslie Bohn
"Kizza Me" might be my favorite song on that great, weird album.
And Mr. Price, I think you mean AC Newman, who is the leader of one of today's coolest power pop groups, the New Pornographers. "On the Table" is from his lone, terrific solo album, from 2004. The New Pornos, as well as the members' solo stuff, is some of the shiniest, smartest pop/rock out there.
19 - zingzing
chris--do tell, then.
when was this? was he an asshole? i know he toured england (with the soft boys? maybe...) in the early 80s, but i don't really know much about his european tours beyond that...
20 - Michael J. West
Also in for Straight Up over No Dice -- I actually like Head First better than No Dice, too....
21 - bryan price
Mr. Bohn,
woops. you are correct.
was drunk when I made that error.
sorry Mr. Newman...who is A.C. Thompson?
b
22 - zingzing
Adam Clay Thompson is an journalist who writes copy for the SF Bay Guardian, San Francisco's premiere alternative news weekly. Generally his interests are crime and the abuse of power.
23 - bryan price
A-ha! that's where he came from.
I just flipped through the guardian today, i don't like to read it though.
Do you generally partake of our lefty weeklies, or did you do a google search?
b
24 - zingzing
googled it, but i tend to read the lefty weekly here. cause i swing that way and they have ads for trannies and hookers in the back. oh, and the upcoming concert listings...
25 - bryan price
Trannys and Hookers-sounds the same!
I bet we have more trannys and hookers than you got.
b