RIP Alex Chilton

[Moderator1]

The Letter - one of my favorites as a kid.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/mar/17/memphis-musician-alex-chilton-dies/

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

 

[Blitz]

I've never heard of this guy, but I'm convinced I should have.
Way too young, son.
RIP

 

[D-3 Fan]

Give me a ticket to an airplane, ain't got time for a fast train...

Loved that song.

 

[Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell]

Damn. :'(

RIP Alex.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Anyone who's seen That '70s Show has peripherally heard of Alex Chilton. His band Big Star's song In the Streets was used as the theme song.

 

[hondo]

So true. Great ****ing song. When those first 3-4 drumbeats come on, you know what's going to follow. Great keyboards in that song, nice touch of brass.
Cry Like a Baby was awesome, also.

"When I think about the good love you gave me, I cry like a baby."

 

[YankeeFan]

The Replacements, Alex Chilton

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1wwko_the-replacements-alex-chilton_music

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

A Big Star celebration and performance had been scheduled for Saturday at South by Southwest.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Aww, hell. Really bummed to hear this.

Z-Man already posted one of my all-time favorite songs, Big Star's "Ballad of El Goodo." I'll throw in another classic:



Still astounding to me that he was 16 when the Box Tops recorded "The Letter."

By the way, I highly recommend the Big Star boxed set "Keep an Eye on the Sky."

 

[TigerVols]

This thread's title just took my breath away.

I'm very very bummed.

Saw Alex several times in Columbia, but not, alas, during the famed Big Star reunion show.

RIP

 

[Bubbler]

****. Just ****.

Big Star is an amazing band, and even though they're brought up so often as one of the most underappreciated bands to the point where it's almost a cliche, it's the truth. They really are.

Brings to mind a story.

I paid a visit to my dad in Minnesota, circa 2000, and he wanted to go to Taste Of Minnesota, the big food festival in St. Paul with bands, etc. My brother (Z-Man) was living there at the time so he was going too.

There were a number of bands he was reeling off that were on stage that day and he came to the Box Tops ... or Alex Chilton and a bunch of guys pretending to be the rest of the Box Tops.

We didn't give a damn. My brother and I in unison, "The Box Tops! The Box Tops! We want to see the Box Tops!"

My dad couldn't understand it. He never heard the Box Tops' tunes coming from either of our rooms back in the day ... and they didn't. We had to explain to him that Alex Chilton later fronted Big Star, one of the great underground bands of all-time, extremely influential for so many bands, especially indie bands in the 80s.

We didn't care if it was the Box Tops, we just wanted to see Chilton.

So we did. There were a bunch of Big Star/Replacements (this was the Twin Cities after all) geeks around the stage with a bunch of puzzled Baby Boomers mixed in. Chilton didn't play any Big Star tunes, but the Box Tops tunes are pretty damn good in their own right and were very enjoyable.

I'm especially fond of Soul Deep.



Z-Man posted a great one by Big Star, here's more ... a pair of perfect power pop songs. (I can't find Daisy Glaze online, which is my favorite from Radio City)





Like TigerVols and my bro, this hit me like a ton of bricks.

RIP Alex. Thanks for being one of the greatest of all-time.

 

[albert77]

Didn't listen to much to his later stuff, but his work with the Box Tops alone earns him legend status. In my opinion, their best song was "Cry Like A Baby," quite possibly the greatest white soul song ever recorded, complete with a faux sitar that was just amazing.

RIP, indeed.

 

[Trey Beamon]

**** ... what awful news. :'(

Big Star was one of the most criminally underrated bands, at least commercially, of all time. Great calls by Ronnie and PC; the #1 Record/Radio City album is a great choice if you don't want to drop $40 for the box set.

Some other classics (EDIT ... good thinking, Bubs):

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

September Gurls - what a classic.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Pretty good read on the topic: Michael Chabon on power pop and the Big Star box set.

http://www.michaelchabon.com/Michael_Chabon/Bonus_Track_3.html

 

[cyclingwriter]

I feel bad now for referencing the Box Tops in the Hall thread this week. Ron Jovanovic did a good book on Big Star a few years ago that filled in a lot of the gaps on the band, the Box Tops and Chilton's punk career in the late 70s.

The most amazing thing to me was how young Chilton was when he did The Letter. He was barely 17, but sounded liked a guy in his late 20s. Actually, until reading the book, I always assumed the Box Tops were an older band instead of a bunch of kids.

And for those who don't know and may want to look up, Big Star was a HUGE influence on bands in the 1980s...REM, Matthew Sweet, The Replacements, Pavement, the Bangles and many more. If you never heard Big Star, you still heard their sound on the radio.

 

[Bob Slydell]

That really sucks. And he was getting ready to play a Big Star reunion at SXSW. Sad news.

One of my favorite Replacements song is about him.



Also, love this song.

 

[Baltimoreguy]

Also, love this song.

"Thirteen" is one of my favorite songs ever, even moreso now that I have a 12-year-old son. He's become ostentatiously uninterested in girls of late, which makes me think he must be starting to like someone. The first verse of this song makes me smile and want to cry at the same time as I think of all the wonderful, horrible experiences he has with women ahead of him.

Won't you let me walk you home from school?
Won't you let me meet you at the pool?
Maybe Friday I can,
Get tickets for the dance
And I'll take you, ooh ooh

Of course, the words alone don't convey the wistful yearning of Chilton's vocal.

 

[YGBFKM]

Speaking of influence, Jason Isbell (former DBT guitarist) and the 400 Unit have incorporated a cover of Big Star's "When My Baby's Beside Me" into their shows, and a limited edition release of their 2009 album includes the song as a special track.