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This Issue 04/17/2008

Also in this issue

• I Am Your Father.
• Knowledge Is Power
• Shout Outs

Big Star

Radio City

1974

As I watched OK Go perform this past weekend, I couldn't help but think they owed an awful lot to every power pop band that's ever come before them. And, ultimately, everything power pop comes back to one band, Big Star. OK Go sounded like Big Star's flashy, obnoxious grandson, but I'm not even sure it's fair to talk about the two in the same sentence; OK Go put on a serviceable show at Fling, while Big Star is one of the most influential bands of the last 50 years.

Big Star's Radio City has just the right balance of lighthearted sugar-pop songs ("September Gurls") and edgier tracks that reveal a more tortured side ("What's Going Ahn"). Memorable melodies are matched up with beautiful harmonies and shimmering guitars. Countless bands, from Elliott Smith to Fountains of Wayne, have riffed on the sound Big Star perfected 30 years ago. As you listen to Radio City for the first time, you'll probably feel like you've heard it all before... because you have.

-Ben Rosen