25 Years Later: Big Star & Me

UPDATE: BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT A RE-RELEASE OF A CERTAIN EP FROM 1996 COMING UP SOON, PEOPLE!!

In 1996, while living in Oxford, Mississippi,  I released what most rock & roll historians have considered to be the single greatest ep of all time, The Happy Scene's glorious Take My Teenage Head. You're welcome! I mailed cassette after cassette of it to record labels, hoping one would show interest in backing up a money truck and working with me. They did not. 

Finally one day I called up Ardent Studios in nearby Memphis. Ardent is where Big Star had recorded their seminal albums in the 70s, and where The Replacements had recorded Pleased to Meet Me with legendary producer Jim Dickinson. A guy answered the phone and within a minute or two I realized I was talking to Jody Stephens, the former drummer of Big Star!!!!! I say I "realized I was talking to Jody Stephens", but obviously he must have simply told me he was Jody Stephens. Who the hell would recognize Jody Stephens talking? 

I was flabbergasted. Luckily I was not too flabbergasted to ask if they'd received the copy of my record in the mail I'd sent; after telling me to hold on a minute, he said it was actually sitting on his desk. Incredibly, he told me he'd listen to the record - MY record! - over the weekend, and to call him back after the weekend on Monday when he'd let me know what he thought

It was a long weekend.

Monday came and I called him as soon as was deemed socially acceptable. Of course I expected him to either not talk to me at all, or give me some excuse re: not listening to it, but in my young (this was a million years ago, after all), just talking to a member of Big Star had already been amazing enough. Once again, he answered the phone. I told him who I was, probably took a few times of me reminding him I'd called on Friday for him to remember who I was He immediately remembered who I was AND HE SAID YES, HE'D LISTENED TO THE RECORD!!!

Long story short he said although he liked it (!!!!!!!) Ardent wasn't in the business of signing new artists, so there wasn't anything they could do for me. I hung up the phone happy as a clam.

25 years later, it still thrills me to the bone to know that a member of Big Star has listened to songs I'd written and recorded.