The Big Shot Chronicles

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = The Big Shot Chronicles | type = Album | artist = Game Theory | cover = Big Shot Chronicles.jpg | alt = | released = 1986 | recorded = September 14–22, 1985 | venue = | studio = Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, North Carolina | genre = Power pop, jangle pop | length = 35:30 (original) 48:40 (with bonus tracks) | label = Enigma Records, Alias Records | producer = Mitch Easter | prev_title = Real Nighttime | prev_year = 1985 | next_title = Lolita Nation | next_year = 1987 }} '''''The Big Shot Chronicles''''' is Game Theory's third full-length album, released in 1986. Produced by Mitch Easter, it was recorded with a new lineup of Game Theory members after leader and songwriter Scott Miller moved the band's base from Davis to San Francisco, California. The album was reissued on September 23, 2016 by Omnivore Recordings as part of the label's series of reissues of the Game Theory catalog.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Big Shot Chronicles|url=http://omnivorerecordings.com/music/the-big-shot-chronicles/|website=Omnivore Recordings|accessdate=23 September 2016}}</ref>

==Personnel==

===Recording personnel=== By early 1985, all of the original members of Game Theory had left the band, except for Miller. Miller relocated to San Francisco together with future Game Theory member Donnette Thayer. He assembled a new lineup in the San Francisco Bay Area, featuring Shelley LaFreniere on keyboards, Gil Ray on drums and Suzi Ziegler on bass.<ref name=cosper-sactv/>

thumb|Miller and Gil Ray, prior to first show of new lineup, 1985. The newly formed version of Game Theory commenced a national tour in 1985 in support of the band's previous album ''Real Nighttime'', an album on which none of the new members had appeared.<ref name=cosper-sactv/> During a break in the middle of the band's tour for ''Real Nighttime'', this lineup recorded ''The Big Shot Chronicles''.

===Touring personnel=== Prior to touring in support of ''The Big Shot Chronicles'' in 1986, the group experienced another change of personnel, becoming a five-piece band when Ziegler left the band shortly after the conclusion of the ''Real Nighttime'' tour in 1985.<ref name=cosper-sactv/>

For the 1986 tour, Thayer joined Game Theory as rhythm guitarist and vocalist, and Guillaume Gassuan replaced Ziegler on bass. This lineup remained together to record and tour for two subsequent albums, ''Lolita Nation'' (1987) and ''Two Steps from the Middle Ages'' (1988).

==Production notes== thumb|320px|right|Game Theory, 1985, during break from touring to record ''The Big Shot Chronicles'' in Winston-Salem. L-R: Ray, LaFreniere, Miller, Ziegler. ''The Big Shot Chronicles'', released in 1986, was recorded in September 1985 at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Twenty years after the studio sessions, Miller recalled them as "the most effortless studio experience I've ever had," taking place "in a period of my life when being involved with the music business was surprisingly enjoyable."<ref name=borack/>

In 2001's ''All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music'', critic Mark Deming wrote, "Mitch Easter's production guides the record through moody neo-psychedelia and up-tempo hard pop with an equally sure hand; the record sounds just as good as the band plays."<ref name=bsc-deming/> According to John Borack, Easter did "his usual Herculean job behind the console, getting great guitar sounds whether they be gritty and electric ... or softer and acoustic."<ref name=borack/>

In an October 1986 interview, Miller discussed Mitch Easter's role as producer:<blockquote>He helps from the technical end, not from the artistic end. He doesn't say, "You're going to need a lot of backing vocals here" or "Use this guitar on this." I usually do most of that stuff. I'd say I end up doing half of the production myself. He does pretty much all of the engineering and some of the things you'd call production. Like he decides where you stand when you do the vocals, and you know, "We're going to have a nylon stocking between you and the microphone," some tricks like that. He'll do things like say "No, that vocal track wasn't good, let's do it again." He makes a lot of quality decisions, he sort of figures out what we want and has in his head what he thinks a good pop record's gonna be and works toward that. Also, he knows how to use all his equipment precisely and utterly.<ref name=bob1987/></blockquote>

thumb|320px|right|Recording ''The Big Shot Chronicles'', September 1985. L-R: LaFreniere, Easter, Miller. Miller added, "Mitch and I are real historians, we're both really into 70s rock. The song 'I've Tried Subtlety,' I said, 'I want a drum sound just like ''Low'' by David Bowie,' so we kind of went for that."<ref name=bob1987/> Referring to the song "Like a Girl Jesus," Miller later recalled that "even the spacey sounding instruments" were recorded in one take."<ref name=borack/>

==Songs and thematic notes== According to Robert Ham of ''Paste Magazine'', "the sound of ''Big Shot'' is big, brash, and purposeful."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-50-best-post-punk-albums |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Paste Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

In addition to the double meaning of "big shot" (either an important person or a shot at fame and success), the title of the album was a reference to Big Shot Photo Lab, a Berkeley business where band photographer Robert Toren had secured rehearsal space for the group.<ref name="smoe2005">{{cite web |last=Toren |first=Robert |title=Question - Big Shot history |date=August 28, 2004 |work=Loud-Fans |type=mailing list |url=http://www.smoe.org/lists/loud-fans/v04.n235 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050130134339/http://www.smoe.org/lists/loud-fans/v04.n235 |archivedate=2005-01-30 }}</ref> According to ''Trouser Press'', the title also paraphrases John Cheever's ''The Wapshot Chronicle''.<ref name="robbins2001" />

In 2008, Scott Miller wrote that "most of the lyrics on [this] album came from dreams I'd had."<ref name=askscott2008/>

Harvard professor Stephanie Burt, analyzing themes of social awkwardness in Miller's work, recalled Miller's dismissal of his own early songs as "young adult hurt-feeling-a-thons," and argued, "''The Big Shot Chronicles'' had its share of hurt feelings, but the album also shows emotional range: exultantly happy, regretful, resentful, worshipful, confused, or hurried, or all these at once ... One emotion is missing: never does Miller sing about anger at anyone besides himself. Nerd passion, instead, becomes nerd passive-aggression, barbed puns and pulled punches."<ref name=burt/>

In a January 1988 interview, Miller called the album "the happiest of the last few," adding "It seems like ''Real Nighttime'' and ''Lolita Nation'' both have this real chip on their shoulders."<ref name=gtnonstop88/> In Miller's opinion, "''Big Shot'' is a better record than ''Real Nighttime'', much better."<ref name=gtnonstop88/>

==="I've Tried Subtlety"=== According to Burt, this song "follows a fragile promise, or a premise, not unique to nerds: that the gang of kids with whom you might belong, who share your tastes and habits, can make whatever you like stay with you for good."<ref name=burt/> Burt wrote that the song <blockquote>follows a party run by "MIT-grad alleycats with time on their hands," at the Victoria Hotel (a real hotel in Berkeley) to which "all the kids from 916" (Sacramento and Davis) show up; Miller has joined them, but can’t seem to join in their fun—he may be too old, or too lovelorn, or too self-conscious. "Gifted children link your arms in rhyme," the last verse implores, as the big guitar rises beneath it: "better make this world while still it gives you time." Pounding along, for a while, like any teen anthem, "I've Tried Subtlety" works so memorably as a song because it fails as a call to arms: each verse, each break, goes on a measure longer than we expect, as if to accommodate second thoughts.<ref name=burt/></blockquote>

Former Game Theory member Fred Juhos filmed an unofficial video for "I've Tried Subtlety" with the 1986 five-piece lineup of the group.<ref name=imvdb-subtlety/><ref name=brainnco/>

==="Erica's Word"=== {{Infobox song | name = Erica's Word | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = Game Theory | album = The Big Shot Chronicles | released = {{start date|1986|11}} | format = | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = | length = 3:54 | label = Enigma Records, Big Time | writer = Scott Miller | producer = Mitch Easter | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = | misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|oJ2Cdw8THX8|"Erica's Word"}}}} }} "Erica's Word," regarded as the best-known track on ''The Big Shot Chronicles'', was released as a single<ref name=discogs-ericasingle/> and became Game Theory's first official music video. Commissioned by Enigma Records, the video featured the band's 1986 five-person lineup and was directed by Jan Novello, with art direction by Modi Karlsson.<ref name=billboard-gtvideo/><ref name=imvdb-erica/> The video received airplay on MTV's ''120 Minutes'' and contributed to the song's durability as "a popular college radio track for years."<ref name=bsc-erica/>

AllMusic's Stewart Mason wrote that "the super-catchy melody and Mitch Easter's crisp production" made it "ear candy for eggheads."<ref name=bsc-erica/> The song has been variously described as "sunny",<ref name=borack/> "soaring,"<ref name=chicagoreader/> or "restrained";<ref name=robbins2001/> but according to Mason, "The moment in the final verse where Miller sweetly sings 'Girl, I hope it comes through for you in the clutch' and adds a teasing extra bar before spitting out a snotty 'But I won't bet much!' and swinging into the final chorus is one of those perfect little moments power pop fans savor like truffles."<ref name=bsc-erica/>

Assessing the song's popularity, Mason wrote:<blockquote>If Game Theory was ever going to have a hit single, it would have been 1986's "Erica's Word." It did get them closer than any of their other songs ... but although the song has a strikingly memorable tune and a killer singalong chorus, accented by ideal little production touches like the slow instrumental build-up of the intro, acoustic rhythm guitars, expertly deployed handclaps and fuzzboxes, plus bassist Suzi Ziegler and keyboardist Shelley LaFreniere's chirpy backing vocals, it's still unlikely that a song with an opening line like "Erica's gone shy/Some unknown X behind the [why]" is going to burn up the charts. People don't like to be reminded of algebra in their nice little pop songs.<ref name=bsc-erica/></blockquote>

According to Stephanie Burt's scholarly analysis, Miller's algebra "joins up with physics ... mass not conserving in the old way" to yield energy, Burt speculated, in a song that was "energetic indeed, the should-have-been breakthrough hit" that "even has a conventional video — the band mimes the song, and Miller tosses his hair."<ref name=burt/> In Burt's reading of the song, Miller seemed "almost happy to be so frustrated, since it gives him a reason to sing; he sounds even happier to be led, or misled, by the charismatic Erica, whom he says he has known since high school, when they were photographed in her car, going nowhere."<ref name=burt/>

==="Regenisraen"=== thumb|right|Gil Ray and Suzi Ziegler performing "Regenisraen" during a July 2013 Scott Miller memorial tribute. The title of the song "Regenisraen" sprang from Miller's attempt at "a sort of Jabberwocky speech meant to communicate a dreaming state," influenced by reading James Joyce's novel ''Finnegans Wake''.<ref name=askscott2008/> The title was a portmanteau word that Miller explained as a combination of "regeneration; crossed with the word Israel, which is a sort of symbol of the beginning of religion, Judeo-Christian tradition; and the word rain, just as a symbol of recurrent events, a cycle of nature. It all adds up to a word which to me means a sort of faith in regeneration after death, a hope that things will get brighter before the dawn, a song about depending on that kind of cyclical hope."<ref name=bob1987/> Miller later wrote, "I suppose my intention was to conjure up the feeling of finding yourself in need of spiritual renewal."<ref name=askscott2008/>

==="Crash Into June"=== "Crash Into June," according to Miller in 2007, was "about coming to terms with impulses toward nostalgia, and how that involves a feeling that the good times, such as they are, are necessarily hurtling past and can't be latched onto."<ref name=askscott2007/> Miller added that he was convinced that the song was "a failed piece of writing as we were working it up," resulting in "a strange grudge against it" that later softened.<ref name=askscott2007/>

==="Never Mind"=== "Never Mind," according to Burt, was a song of "pulled punches," bringing out tensions of a relationship in the repeated line: "The things I do for you girl, I ... never mind."<ref name=burt/> Analyzing the line's multiple possible meanings, Burt found, "(a) 'I never object inwardly to all the things I do for you,' (b) 'I never pay attention to what I do for you (serving you has become my second nature),' and (c) 'I expect you to pay appropriate attention to what I do for you (but I know you won't, so forget I brought it up).' Can they go on like that forever?"<ref name=burt/>

==="Like a Girl Jesus"=== [[File:Scott Miller BSC cover shoot 1985 9449214388 c233269be0 o.jpg|thumb|right|Scott Miller, 1985, from cover shoot for Game Theory LP ''The Big Shot Chronicles''. (Photo: Robert Toren)]] Calling the song "a marvelously oblique closer" to the album, Mason wrote:<blockquote>"Like a Girl Jesus" starts as a nearly solo performance, just Scott Miller's hushed vocals and electric guitar against a backdrop of Suzi Ziegler's almost subliminal bass part and occasional random keyboard and percussion sounds. The tension builds throughout the song, Miller's vocals getting closer to a Chris Bell strangled whine than at any other point in his career, until, with less than a minute to go, drummer Gil Ray and keyboardist Shelley LaFreniere finally burst in to drive the song home '70s-prog-ballad style, complete with busy tom-tom rolls and a seemingly tongue-in-cheek bombastic quality.<ref name=bsc-girljesus/></blockquote>

In Stephanie Burt's analysis, the song was "true to Miller's cerebral innocence," with its mathematical reference in the line "Like a girl Jesus, she's undefined."<ref name=burt/> According to Burt, "Miller's melisma, sliding four notes into the long 'i' in 'undefined,' gives listeners time to pursue double meanings: (1) the boy doesn't know what the girl is really like (since he worships her), (2) some operations—division by zero, for instance, or his dating her—cannot take place in a given system of rules."<ref name=burt/>

Miller recalled that the recording of the instrument parts "was all one take stuff," and added, "I wrote the song almost instantly, too; I distinctly remember my intent was to get it put out as a flexi disk in ''Bucketfull of Brains'' magazine."<ref name=borack/>

According to Mason, the song became a "beloved Game Theory classic – and one of the few to get covered, by both Sleepyhead and the Killjoys."<ref name=bsc-girljesus/>

===CD bonus tracks===

===="Girl w/ a Guitar"==== [[File:Jan Vermeer van Delft 013.jpg|thumb|''The Guitar Player'' by Vermeer]] The song's title alluded to a Jan Vermeer painting, ''The Guitar Player'' (1672), and was also inspired by Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles.<ref name=fbguitar>{{cite web |author1=Toren, Robert |author2=Quercio, Michael |author3=Ray, Gil |author4=Thayer, Donnette |title=Three O'Clock: The Girl with the Guitar |work=Game Theory, Loud Family, and Scott Miller |type=group comments |publisher=Facebook |date=Dec 30, 2013 – Jan 2, 2014 |url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/55028186370/permalink/10151766290041371/ }}</ref> The lyrics include a reference to artist Henri Rousseau, among other influences of Miller's early university education as an art major.

Under the title "The Girl with the Guitar (Says Oh Yeah)," this song was first released by the Three O'Clock, appearing on their 1985 album ''Arrive Without Travelling''. On that album, the song was credited to Miller and Michael Quercio, who contributed the middle portion (bridge and lyrics).<ref name=fbguitar/> An earlier demo version appeared on the Three O'Clock's compilations ''The Hidden World Revealed'' (2013) and ''Aquarius Andromeda'' (2014).

===="Faithless"==== "Faithless," written by Fred Juhos, was a song from the 1984 ''Real Nighttime'' recording sessions and was recorded by the 1984 Davis-based lineup of Game Theory. ''The Big Shot Chronicles'' included it as a bonus track in an apparent effort by Alias Records to balance an error made on the CD release of ''Real Nighttime'' (originally by Enigma Records).

==== "Couldn't I Just Tell You" ==== Game Theory's cover version of Todd Rundgren's "Couldn't I Just Tell You", recorded in 1985 during the same sessions as ''The Big Shot Chronicles'', appeared as a bonus track on the 1993 CD release of ''Real Nighttime'' rather than on the contemporaneous CD of ''The Big Shot Chronicles''. In an interview, Miller said the recording "sounded glorious... I was sort of unconscious during the mixing of that; Mitch pretty much did all of it, and I just sort of slept through the performance of it."<ref name=gtnonstop88/> He further noted, prior to the 1993 CD release, the rarity of the recording:<blockquote>[I]t took me two years to obtain a copy of it because it was released in Australia. What happened was Enigma sold the [Australian] rights to Game Theory to Big Time Records and then apparently pulled out of the deal right when they were going to release the record or something really awful like that. So Big Time just pressed up ''Big Shot Chronicles'' ... and this single with "Erica's Word" backed with "Couldn't I Just Tell You." We wanted to give them something that wasn't available on the record. So there were 100 copies made, or something like that, and all pulled [from release].<ref name=gtnonstop88/></blockquote>

==Critical response and legacy== {{Music ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Deming |first1=Mark |title=Game Theory - Big Shot Chronicles |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/big-shot-chronicles-mw0000691331 |website=Allmusic |accessdate=14 September 2018}}</ref> | rev2 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' | rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofp003lark/page/2078/mode/2up|title=The encyclopedia of popular music|first=Colin|last=Larkin|date=11 February 1998|publisher=London : Macmillan|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> |rev3 = ''MusicHound Rock'' |rev3score = 4/5<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/musichoundrockes0000unse/page/278/mode/2up|title=MusicHound rock : the essential album guide|date=11 February 1996|publisher=Detroit : Visible Ink Press|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> |rev4 = ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' |rev4score = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref name=inq-tucker>{{cite news |journal=The Philadelphia Inquirer |first=Ken |last=Tucker |title=A Second Effort By Game Theory |date=September 21, 1986 |url=http://articles.philly.com/1986-09-21/entertainment/26072322_1_greatest-band-caterwaul-ambitious-band |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215151926/http://articles.philly.com/1986-09-21/entertainment/26072322_1_greatest-band-caterwaul-ambitious-band |archive-date=2016-02-15 }}</ref> }} ''Spin'' wrote in 1987 that the album, distributed through Capitol Records, sold more copies in its first few weeks of release than had all of Game Theory's previous records combined.<ref name=spin-feb1987/> In the end, however, the release was "surprisingly passed over by the buying public."<ref name=strongdiscog/>

''Spin'' likened ''The Big Shot Chronicles'' to ''Real Nighttime'', calling both albums "a rare commodity... a pop record that can actually make you laugh and cry and squirm all at once."<ref name=spin-feb1987/> ''The Big Shot Chronicles'' was distinguished as "harsh, dense, and metallic-sounding," and "''damned'' ambitious as pop fare goes nowadays, with difficult time signatures, criss-cross rhythms, off-beat chordings, and surreal, vertiginous lyrics."<ref name=spin-feb1987/>

''Billboard'' mentioned the album's "crisp, moody pop songs," taking note of Miller's high tenor vocals "sung in a self-described 'miserable whine'", and adding that Mitch Easter lent "an assured production touch" to this "collegiate fave."<ref name=billboard1986/>

Among college audiences, a contemporaneous review pointed to the band's originality in a genre "so codified that a little change in tradition is apocalyptic," citing the band's experimental notes as quirky and bizarre, yet "such loving care is taken with the obvious influences that you appreciate the music for simply reaffirming everything that's right about pop. It's one of the most important reasons for liking Game Theory, because any band with good taste is worth saving from obscurity."<ref name=bliss1986/>

''Trouser Press'' wrote that the new lineup "lights the afterburners for aggressively electric pop, louder and more powerful than anything in Game Theory's past."<ref name=robbins2001/>

Critic Mark Deming called the album a "superb set from one of the best (and most underappreciated) bands of the 1980s," who were "equally adept at flexing their muscles ... or easing into a song's subtleties."<ref name=bsc-deming/> Deming praised Miller's growth as a songwriter, citing the songs "Erica's Word" and "Don't Look Too Closely" as "smart pop heaven on Earth."<ref name=bsc-deming/>

The ''Chicago Reader'' labeled the album "ambitious and elaborate ... packed with sunny, ultracatchy melodies, sweet vocal harmonies, and soft-focus psychedelia."<ref name=chicagoreader/> Music writer Peter Margasak praised its "songs distinguished by unexpected twists and turns" and "lyrics riddled with nerdy wordplay."<ref name=chicagoreader/>

In the 2007 book ''Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide'', ''The Big Shot Chronicles'' was ranked #16 on a list of the top 200 power-pop albums of all time.<ref name=borack/> The reviewer noted, "Nowhere are Miller's eccentricities more consistently tuneful and genius-like than on ''The Big Shot Chronicles''," citing the song "Regenisraen" as "absolutely gorgeous, hymn-like," among other "top-shelfers."<ref name=borack/>

In 2013, "Erica's Word" was played during a Boston Red Sox game by Fenway Park organist Josh Kantor,<ref name=magnetkantor/> and a cover of "The Only Lesson Learned" was recorded by Matt LeMay, a New York musician and senior writer for Pitchfork.<ref name=discogs-lemay/>

In 2016, Robert Ham of ''Paste Magazine'' said: "Miller’s silver-tongued wordplay and giddy wit dances through it all, revealing that there is still life left in the love song and the angst-ridden ballad." The publication named the album as the 43rd-best post-punk release of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-50-best-post-punk-albums |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Paste Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Track listing == {{Track listing | headline = | all_writing = Scott Miller, except as noted. |title1 =Here It Is Tomorrow |length1=2:17 |title2 =Where You Going Northern |length2=3:01 |title3 =I´ve Tried Subtlety |length3=4:31 |title4 =Erica's Word |length4=3:54 |title5 =Make Any Vows |length5=2:19 |title6 =Regenisraen |length6=3:30 |title7 =Crash Into June |length7=2:57 |title8 =Book of Millionaires |length8=2:21 |title9 =The Only Lesson Learned |length9=2:18 |title10= Too Closely |length10=3:19 |title11= Never Mind |length11=2:52 |title12= Like a Girl Jesus |length12=2:37 }} {{Track listing | headline = CD bonus tracks | all_writing = |title13=Girl w/ a Guitar |length13=2:17 |title14=Come Home with Me |length14=2:43 |title15=Seattle |writer15=Ernie Sheldon, Hugo Montenegro, Jack Keller |length15=2:24 |title16=Linus and Lucy |writer16=Vince Guaraldi |length16=1:48 |title17=Faithless |writer17=Fred Juhos |length17=3:31 }}

==Various artist compilations== {| class="wikitable" |- !style="width:50px;"| Year !Title !Format !Label |- |1987 |''Enigma Variations 2'' * includes "Erica's Word" |LP, CS, CD |Enigma<ref name=alias-enigma2>{{Discogs master|id=58598|name=Enigma Variations 2}}</ref> |- |1987 |''The Enigma Compilation 1988'' * includes "Erica's Word" |LP |Enigma |- |1989 |''Enigma! A Manic Assemblage of Enigma Recording Artists'' * includes "Erica's Word" |CS |Enigma |- |1993 |''Alias w/ a Bullet'' * includes "Erica's Word," "Girl w/ a Guitar," "Linus and Lucy" |CD |Alias<ref name=alias-bullet>{{Discogs release|id=4972933|name=Alias w/ a Bullet|type=album}}</ref> |- |1997 |''The Year of the Wagon'' * includes "Erica's Word" |CD |Alias (A124)<ref name=lfdiscog/> |}

== External links == * {{AllMusic|class=album|id=mw0000691331}} * {{Discogs master|master=158558|name=The Big Shot Chronicles|type=album}} * {{MusicBrainz release group|mbid=ff041444-1c0b-3cb5-aae2-654e69a8671b|name=The Big Shot Chronicles}}

== References == {{reflist|colwidth=30em|refs= <ref name=magnetkantor>{{cite journal |first=Matt |last=Hickey |title=Q&A with Josh Kantor |journal=Magnet |date=May 12, 2014 |url=http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2014/05/12/qa-with-josh-kantor/ |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415155123/http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2014/05/12/qa-with-josh-kantor/ |archivedate=2015-04-15 }}</ref> <ref name=lfdiscog>Note: A second version of Year of the Wagon (catalog number A123) features four songs by Archers of Loaf in place of the Loud Family/Game Theory material. {{cite web |first1=Andy |last1=Ruppenstein |first2=Steve |last2=Holtebeck |work=The Loud Family |type=official website |department=The Loud Family Discography |title=Year of the Wagon |url=http://www.loudfamily.com/old/lfdiscog.html |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106224733/http://www.loudfamily.com/old/lfdiscog.html |archivedate=2013-11-06 }}</ref> <ref name=discogs-lemay>LeMay, Matt (2013). {{Discogs release |release=311591 |name=Singles |type=4548944}}.</ref> <ref name=chicagoreader>{{cite journal |department=12 O'Clock Track |title=Game Theory, "Here It Is Tomorrow" |first=Peter |last=Margasak |date=June 27, 2012 |journal=Chicago Reader |url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/06/26/12-oclock-track-game-theory-here-it-is-tomorrow |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701040201/http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/06/26/12-oclock-track-game-theory-here-it-is-tomorrow |archivedate=2012-07-01 }}</ref> <ref name=brainnco>{{cite AV media |title=I've Tried Subtlety |editor-last=Juhos |editor-first=Fred |type=band-released video |publisher=YouTube |date=December 3, 2007 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5irIxi934fE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/5irIxi934fE |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> <ref name=imvdb-subtlety>[http://imvdb.com/video/game-theory/ive-tried-subtlety "I've Tried Subtlety" (1985)"] at the Internet Movie Video Database.</ref> <ref name=imvdb-erica>[http://imvdb.com/video/game-theory/ericas-word "Erica's Word (1986)"] at the Internet Movie Video Database.</ref> <ref name=discogs-ericasingle>{{Discogs release|id=4936231|name=Erica's Word / Couldn't I Just Tell You|type=single}}</ref> <ref name=bsc-erica>{{cite web |last=Mason |first=Stewart |title=Erica's Word |work=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/ericas-word-mt0032413320 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202044554/http://www.allmusic.com/song/ericas-word-mt0032413320 |archivedate=2012-12-02 }}</ref> <ref name=bsc-girljesus>{{cite web |last=Mason |first=Stewart |title=Like a Girl Jesus |work=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/like-a-girl-jesus-mt0011879469 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203012450/http://www.allmusic.com/song/like-a-girl-jesus-mt0011879469 |archivedate=2012-12-03 }}</ref> <ref name=askscott2007>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Miller (pop musician) |title=Ask Scott |date=February 12, 2007 |url=http://www.loudfamily.com/askscott.html |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101223540/http://www.loudfamily.com/askscott.html |archivedate=2013-11-01 }}</ref> <ref name=askscott2008>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Miller (pop musician) |title=Ask Scott |date=December 22, 2008 |url=http://www.loudfamily.com/askscott.html |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101223540/http://www.loudfamily.com/askscott.html |archivedate=2013-11-01 }}</ref> <ref name=billboard-gtvideo>{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|title=Video Track|year=1986|url=http://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1240585_10202863334418915_4141911982822536098_n.jpg |archivedate=2014-05-27 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140527184826/http://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1240585_10202863334418915_4141911982822536098_n.jpg }}</ref> <ref name=bsc-deming>{{cite book|last1=Deming|first1=Mark|editor1-last=Bogdanov|editor1-first=Vladimir|editor-first2=Chris|editor-last2=Woodstra|editor-first3=Stephen|editor-last3=Erlewine|editor1-link=Vladimir Bogdanov (editor)|contribution=The Big Shot Chronicles|title=All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music|year=2001|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|pages=165–1666|isbn=9780879306274|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xR7MdpuSlAEC&pg=PT138 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602061221/http://www.allmusic.com/album/big-shot-chronicles-mw0000691331 |archivedate=2013-06-02 }}</ref> <ref name=billboard1986>{{cite magazine|title=Game Theory: ''The Big Shot Chronicles''|date=September 6, 1986|magazine=Billboard|series=Reviews|volume=98|issue=36|page=80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oCQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT79 }}</ref> <ref name=bliss1986>{{cite news|last=Bliss|first=Jeff|title=''Chronicles'' reaffirms worth of musical groups with good taste |date=August 27, 1986|newspaper=Daily Collegian|location=Penn State|page=34|url=http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=collegian&BaseHref=DCG/1986/08/27&PageLabelPrint=&EntityId=Ar03400&ViewMode=GIF |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218182025/http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=collegian&BaseHref=DCG/1986/08/27&PageLabelPrint=&EntityId=Ar03400&ViewMode=GIF|archivedate=2013-12-18 }}</ref> <ref name=borack>{{cite book|last=Borack|first=John M.|title=Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide|year=2007|publisher=Not Lame Recordings|isbn=978-0979771408|page=52|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqtGTJgE4rEC }}</ref> <ref name=burt>{{cite journal|last=Burt|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Burt|title=Game Theory, or, Not Exactly the Boy of My Own Dreams|date=Winter 2011|journal=New Haven Review|issue=9|pages=6–25|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610214912/http://www.newhavenreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/NHR-9-Burt.pdf|archivedate=2012-06-10|url=http://www.newhavenreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/NHR-9-Burt.pdf }} Reprinted as {{cite journal|last=Burt|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Burt|title=Game Theory: "Pure pop for nerd people," the greatest unknown '80s band|journal=Salon|date=April 18, 2013|url=http://www.salon.com/2013/04/19/game_theory_pure_pop_for_nerd_people_the_greatest_unknown_80s_band/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419035244/http://www.salon.com/2013/04/19/game_theory_pure_pop_for_nerd_people_the_greatest_unknown_80s_band/|archivedate=2013-04-19 }}</ref> <ref name=cosper-sactv>{{cite web|last=Cosper|first=Alex|title=The Life of Scott Miller|date=July 26, 2013|publisher=SacTV.com|work="Video of the Day" review|url=http://www.sactv.com/reviews/2013-0726-loudfamily.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112163438/http://www.sactv.com/reviews/2013-0726-loudfamily.htm|archivedate=2013-11-12 }}</ref> <ref name=gtnonstop88>{{cite journal|last=Woelke|first=Tina|title=Where Have You Gone, James Joyce? A Nation Turns Its Lolita Eyes To You|date=December 1988|journal=Non*Stop Banter|url=http://www.loudfamily.com/old/gtnonstop88.html|archive-date=November 6, 2013|access-date=June 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106224933/http://www.loudfamily.com/old/gtnonstop88.html|url-status=dead}}.</ref> <ref name=robbins2001>{{cite book|last1=Leland|first1=John|last2=Robbins|first2=Ira A.|editor-last=Robbins|editor-first=Ira A.|editor-link=|contribution=Game Theory|title=The Trouser Press Record Guide|edition=4th|year=1991|publisher=Collier Books|isbn=0020363613|page=[https://archive.org/details/trouserpressreco002269mbp/page/n290 271]|url=https://archive.org/details/trouserpressreco002269mbp }}</ref> <ref name=spin-feb1987>{{cite journal|last=Wuelfing, Jr.|first=Howard|title=Big Shots: Game Theory Shakes Its Alex Chilton Albatross|journal=Spin|date=February 1987|volume=2|issue=11|page=11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcCEwpvxozAC&pg=PA11 }}</ref> <ref name=strongdiscog>{{cite book|last=Strong|first=Martin C.|title=The Great Indie Discography|year=2003|publisher=Canongate Books|isbn=9781841953359|page=345|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJfGtREyuSAC&pg=PT128 }}</ref> <ref name=bob1987>{{cite journal|last=Schwartz|first=Jay|title=Scott Miller takes a pop quiz|date=May–June 1987|journal=The Bob|number=30|location=Philadelphia, PA|url=http://www.loudfamily.com/old/gtbob87.html|archive-date=November 1, 2013|access-date=June 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101222404/http://www.loudfamily.com/old/gtbob87.html|url-status=dead}}.</ref> }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Shot Chronicles}} Category:1986 albums Category:Game Theory (band) albums Category:Albums produced by Mitch Easter