Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me Page #3

to be there 24/7, so.

Before all that got

too awfully far along,

the move

to Madison Avenue occurred

where Ardent moved

from their little storefront

on National Street

over to this big

wonderful new studio.

They just did

everything technically

that you could imagine doing

and there's still studios

to this day,

I'm sure, that don't hold

a candle to it.

I felt like I'd walked

into the Disney World

of music at that point.

John Fry likes

toys and equipment,

things like that,

so we had the first mellotron

in the United States.

We had George Harrison's

keyboard.

It had come in for service

and been swapped out,

so we ended up

getting his Moog.

Ardent provided, you know,

a real high-tech environment

and when STAX started

doing really well,

there was an overflow

of business.

I think Terry did

The Staple Singers one

which was a great record.

So that kind of work

was going on over in A Studio

and we sort

of staked out B Studio

as our own little space.

Big Star just spent

a lot of time in there

finishing up that first LP.

# Don't give up on me so fast

I had a little bit

of an attitude back then.

You know, when I would

walk through the room

and I would hear them

working on something,

you know, they struck me

as a little amateurish.

You know, I already

had it in my mind

what something would

end up sounding like,

you know, if Brian Wilson

has got his hands on it

or Phil Spector

or George Martin.

I remember hearing "#1 Record"

after it was mixed

and just being floored,

just floored.

# Girlfriend,

what are you doing? #

# You're driving me to ruin

It's 9:
29 on WMC-FM Memphis

and speaking of Big Star,

a couple of members

of the group are here,

Andy Hummel

and Alex Chilton are with us.

A lot of excitement

about this album.

Is the album out yet

in the stores?

Yeah, the album should have

hit the stores today.

"#1 Record" is the very first

from Big Star

and you won't forget, will you?

Here it is only January

and you're getting an awful lot

of critical acclaim

for your new album.

Yeah, that's nice.

I hope it sells.

We got great reviews

from "Cash Box"

and "Billboard"

and "Rolling Stone. "

That was looking good.

You know, in a way

the "Backhouse Crew"

moved over to Ardent

and I was part of that crew.

We shot some film.

We all loved music

and we'd hang out together

and then I was asked by John

to do the art and advertising.

It was pretty exciting,

especially getting the album.

Great front cover that

Carole Manning shot

and the back

that I think John Fry

actually wound up

shooting that.

Chris persuaded John

that I needed to be aboard

because we were all

going to be a success

and if I couldn't

be in the band,

I needed to be there.

And with my college

radio experience

he would like to have somebody

focusing on

Big Star all the time.

Chris was a master manipulator

and I wanted, you know,

something to do

and so Chris found me

as a willing participant.

Yeah.

Tell me about

the Ardent family.

Bizarre.

We've got a big

new studio here.

We're a real company.

We're not operating out of

anybody's backyard anymore.

We've got

a big label behind us.

Yeah, you're damn right,

there were expectations.

I realized that it was

a matter of probabilities,

but for Chris it was

100% certain

that this thing was going

to all take off.

After all these years of

just listening to music

and just looking at the covers

and studying everything

about a Beatle cover,

it was like a dream.

We were so fortunate

to have landed in this spot

doing this that I think

we kind of thought,

"Well, this is how life is. "

Will not be able to appear,

now, Friday, August 25th

at the auditorium plan to see

Cactus plus Rory Gallagher

and special guest stars

Bloodrock.

Tickets are $3.50.

I worked at Pop Tunes

from 1970 to 1973.

On every other

aisle in the store

were two record players

so people could listen

to the music.

Saturday afternoons,

there would sometimes

be everything

from John Lee Hooker,

you know, to Led Zeppelin

and Ray Coniff,

all blasting at one time.

Ardent and STAX naturally

always got

preferential treatment.

When Big Star showed up...

I mean, I even remember

where it was on the floor.

It just didn't look like

a Memphis record.

Big Star came out of the gate

with a kind of finely-tooled

precision.

The whole time

we were promoting Big Star,

STAX is sending over

posters of Isaac Hayes

"Hot Buttered Soul,"

totally distracted towards

where this big acceptance

and this big sales

were coming from,

but that's just a microcosm

of what was going on

in the whole industry.

All the resources get put

behind the big sellers,

guys that have the potential

to become the Elton Johns

of the world.

I make 50 calls a day

to radio program directors

and they'd say,

"Well, you know,

if you got any records

in the stores,

I mean, we're not getting

any report of any sales. "

What's going on?

You know, we've got

all these great reviews.

STAX seems behind it.

The record's great.

You know, what is

going on out there

and that's "out there"

is such a netherworld,

you know.

You don't know

what is out there.

# Be my friend

You know,

we were all frustrated.

Picking up "Rolling Stone"

magazine and it says,

"This is the greatest stuff

we've ever heard"

and, you know,

nobody is buying it

and you can't find it

in a record store.

People would call from

different parts of the country

and just say,

"Where can I find this record?

I just heard it on my

local radio station. "

At some point

a decision was made

that we really needed

more promotional help,

which, in fact, is probably

not what we needed.

Probably what we needed

was distribution help,

but John was brought in

on a retainer

and hired to sort of coordinate

the promotion effort.

It was like

they kind of needed

somebody to beat

a drum and light a fire.

I got through to more people

when the Argent record,

"Hold Your Head Up,"

when that was out,

because when I said Ardent

they thought

I was saying Argent.

And then, "Ooh, yeah, hey. "

Al Bell wanted to have

more of a presence

in the Pop market

or the White market

or whatever

you want to call it.

But I never got

a sense of how they planned

to forge a beach head

in the Pop or Top 40.

There was always a band.

So I would be lugging

around my 15-year-old,

14-year-old brother

with amps and PA systems

and what-have-you.

"#1 Record" was being

recorded the year

that I was in France

when I escaped Memphis.

And it was at that time

I remember being home

and Christopher played me

on his stereo,

up in his room, "#1 Record. "

# Won't you let me

walk you home from school? #

I'm not ashamed to say

but I cried.

It was just, you know,

this is your kid brother

and you've known

all these years

how he had progressed

and what he wanted.

And it was like, "My God,

you've come out

with something. "

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