Big Star - Jesus Christ
I'd heard this song covered by various early 90s indie bands before ever realising it was a cover, but that itself is perhaps testament to the longstanding influence of Big Star, the late 60s/early 70s US Power Pop outfit that, along with the Byrds, laid the foundations for much of modern indie rock as we know it. The Beatles and the Stones have been aped on numerous occasions by younger bands but Big Star have seen their melodic jangly rock repackaged and reproduced by almost as many latter day bands from the US college rock scene in the 80s (Throwing Muses, Violet Femmes) to the outward-looking Scottish indie output of the same period (Teenage Fanclub, Vaselines) along with 90s metal-edged pop rockers like Therapy and the Wildhearts. 'Jesus Christ' is from their oft overlooked third record and taps up the magical energy of your average Christmas Carol to craft a gorgeous slice of sugary indie rock from back in the days before the term 'indie' even existed. This track would fit right into your average primary school carol concert yet it doesn't suffer from the icky sicky tweeness that such a context would suggest - someone's sprinkled sparky tinkerbell dust all over this track and turned it into something truly special. 90s indie nerks The Family Cat, Kristen Hersh and the aforementioned Teenage Fanclub have all covered it for festive releases and I'd be willing to bet that many other 4AD/Creation types have too, such is its indie pedigree. This is the ideal soundtrack to smooching cute chicks under the indie mistletoe.
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