It just happens to be the theme song to That 70's Show, which makes sense. Like The Wonder Years (and in some ways, Happy Days,) it was a song from the show's era, which sums up its attitude perfectly. "Not a thing to do / But talk to you" says a lot about being young in any era, not to mention "Wish we had / A joint so bad." Alex Chilton's voice drawls out in a whiny, bored way that nonetheless seems to revel in the nothingness of youth. The original here still outdoes the TV version by Cheap Trick for me.
The line on Big Star goes that their jangly-poppy sound was not appreciated (or at least, not properly heard) in its own time, but was taken up by more notable college rock acts like REM, who eclipsed the earlier act and made their qualities sound less impressive. But I think these things come in cycles, and now that history has marched on some, Big Star sounds different enough from the bands they influenced that it sounds fresher than ever. I myself don't quite have another frame of reference for the funk-meets-folk sound they often embody, and I don't hear them too much in the bands they influenced. In any case, I don't believe the question of "influence" properly indicates a band's quality. What they've got on their own is that mixture of innocence and experience that permeates any great music, but the flavour remains their own.
How incredible is life... when this album was released, they couldn't even get it in stores due to a shipping catastrophe. Now, you can download it, like, right now, on iTunes. Music is yours to discover.
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