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You are here: Home / Books & Music / Music / Alex Chilton RIP

Reader Interactions

81Comments

  2. 2.

    burnspbesq

    Wow. Cueing up the Replacements song about him – arguably the best thing they ever did – as I write this.

    RIP.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    Aw damn.

    I’ll dig out my vinyl copy of “Radio City” (with the Eggleston cover) this weekend and appall my family by playing it on “11.”

    I wasn’t done mourning Norton Buffalo.

  6. 6.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    The Box Tops were one of the first groups I ever listened to and were one of the rock and roll pioneers. Fifty nine is too young to go, but it is about the age when shit starts going wrong. RIP Alex. Someday all us hippies will be gone, and then Who’ll Stop the Rain

  9. 9.

    jon

    I’ve only heard a few Big Star songs and of course some Box Tops, but I have enjoyed his stuff being covered by others. This is one of my favorites, while I first heard his name in the Replacements song. Had no idea he was an actual guy, but once I did he was much appreciated.

  10. 10.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    “The Letter,” the Big Star LPs, “No Sex,” and on and on – Chilton was a real giant. This is terrible news.

  14. 14.

    burnspbesq

    @DougJ:

    The Bangles had Alex pretty well wired. “If She Knew What She Wants” could have been a leftover from a Big Star session.

    Children by the million weep for Alex Chilton.

  15. 15.

    kth

    That sequence on side 2 of Radio City, from “Back Of A Car” through “September Gurls” is just majestic (only word I could think of). Very similar, the way the music builds, to side 2 of Abbey Road.

    Also check out Third/Sister Lovers, a really bleak and haunting crisis record in the mold of Sly Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin On, John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, or Neil Young’s Tonight’s The Night. Some of the rawest emotion you will hear on any record anywhere.

  16. 16.

    JasonF

    My favorite of his songs is the Ballad of El Goodo, but Alex Chilton never wrote a bad song. It’s a damned shame that he never got the fame he deserved. Of course, everyone who has ever seen That 70’s Show knows at least one of his songs.

  17. 17.

    Mike E

    Big Star–the greatest band that never was, and Alex seemed to have preferred it that way. I do my darnedest to point out to everybody I can who’s really behind the theme song to That 70s Show. My 14yo daughter just put their double album on her iPod. Damn! For some reason, this hits hard.

  18. 18.

    dobrojutro

    Those Big Star records sound fantastic – all the advances in recording in 30+ years could not improve the sound of Radio City and #1 Record.

  22. 22.

    GeeYourHairSmellsTerrific

    Westerburg’s love letter seems apropos

    To be honest, I probably would have never have discovered Alex Chilton without this song.

    Sucks.

  23. 23.

    Colette

    Damn, damn, damn. The Letter is a nearly perfect pop song – and he only got better from there.

    Damn.

  24. 24.

    kth

    @GeeYourHairSmellsTerrific: Now that you mention it, Chilton opened for the Replacements when I saw them (Austin, 1986(?)). Didn’t know anything about him except he was in the Box Tops, talk about a missed opportunity.

  28. 28.

    dadanarchist

    Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round/They sing “I’m in love. What’s that song?/I’m in love with that song.”

  29. 29.

    Turgidson

    I has a serious sad. Big Star was unfuckwithable. I will be listening to my Third/Sister Lovers CD shortly.

  30. 30.

    Singularity

    RIP, AC. Damn, damn, damn.

    The Ballad of El Goodo is a truly beautiful song, JasonF. I think I’ll listen to it tonight a few dozen times.

  31. 31.

    wobbly

    Why do you children listen to such ugly music?

    The most beautiful song that never made it to the top charts was “ne zovi me na grijeh” by Dino Merlin, also known as Evdin Dervishalidovic.

    On a rainy night, in the Olympic stadium of Sarajevo, just a few months after the siege was lifted you get this wonderful
    song.

  33. 33.

    MikeJ

    Damn. I grew up in Memphis. I’ve seen Alex play with Panther Burns, by himself several dozen times at the Antenna, at the Daisy where he bummed cigarettes off me through the whole show (like, half a pack). I took my friends in DC to the Black Cat where we argued about what the last good Michael Jackson song was, and then he played “Rock With You.” (I had previously said ABC, but he convinced me.) I went to Columbia and at several points on the album you can hear “Whooooos!” that are me. And of course I’ve seen Big Star/Posies numerous times since then. (BTW, The Posies were supposed to off to Spain tomorrow to work on a new album.)

    Alex was easily the biggest part of my musical education. I’m stunned. Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me. Alex was the man.

  35. 35.

    JGabriel

    Fuck, this sucks. I saw Chilton once at The Mercury Lounge, down on Houston in Manhattan, during the mid-90’s. I wish I could remember the line-up – I think it was either him opening for The Continental Drifters, or maybe Amy Rigby opening for him.

    I always kind of hoped there’d be another come-back album from him.

    I remember playing No Sex during my radio show in college, and dutifully forgetting to bleep out the “Fuck me and die” part.

    .

  37. 37.

    MikeJ

    One of Big Star’s best and most covered is Thirteen. Sadly, it’s not on Columbia because Alex laughed all the way through it. Still one of the best expressions of barely teen longing.

  38. 38.

    gogiggs

    When I was very young, my father would sing “The Letter” whenever he was in an especially good mood. He was a lousy singer, as am I, so he only did it when he was so happy he didn’t care how he sounded. So pretty much all my life I’ve associated that song with most of the best times of my early childhood.

    Glad to see some people sticking up for the Bangles. I heard their cover of ‘September Gurls” before I heard the original and I still prefer it. Sue me.

    I’m happy to hear the Posies are making another record. I think they were one of the great, underrated bands of the ’90s and when I met Jon Auer he was a really great guy.

    I guess the point is, whether through his own music or through his influence on others, Alex Chilton brought a lot of joy and beauty into my life and I’m grateful for it.

  43. 43.

    psycholinguist

    Was he on one of the recent Oxford American CD issues? I can’t believe I let my subscription run out on that mag, it was worth if for the music issue alone.

  44. 44.

    Linda Featheringill

    OT –

    Woke up this morning thinking about my father – long gone, of course.

    I watched a bio of Lindberg yesterday and he reminded me so much of my dad. You must realize that the political stance of my birth family was slightly to the left of Himmler.

    During the process of thinking about Lindberg and my dad, I realized that they both were just trying to control life [and people and events along the way]. Futile effort. Life will not be controlled, no matter how many horrible things you do. But I understand the desire to control the chaos we have to ride out all of our days.

    Does that mean I forgive my father for visiting sex and violence on me at a very young age? Nope. But I do understand him a little better. I guess that will have to do.

  45. 45.

    Jane

    My brother-in-law was one of the original Box Tops who recorded the letter. Then he was drafted in 1968.

  46. 46.

    WereBear

    @Linda Featheringill: You are right, Linda; trying to control what we cannot is a terrible thing.

    My best wishes to you as the spring equinox approaches. It’s rebirthing time!

    I once had, through inheritance, the first LP of the Box Tops, now reposing in some other collector’s basement. But I can download these songs; even see them on this blog.

    The shear depth and breadth of knowledge we have available to us is unprecedented. Which is a positive side, of a tricky time.

  49. 49.

    djork

    Oh, crap. I get to work, check the site and this is what I see. Shit. After work I’m going to go home, throw on Sisters/ Lovers and have a beer. Or three.

  51. 51.

    Tom

    Some of the rawest emotion you will hear on any record anywhere.

    Holocaust might be the most raw, unsettling “pop” song ever recorded. And Kangaroo… words can’t describe that song. It’s beautiful and unnerving, sweet and dark, at the same time.

  53. 53.

    gbear

    I guess I was one of the lucky ones to have read about Big Star and sought out their records when Radio City came out, although the only way to find them was as used/promo copies. They never really made it into the stores as brand new copies.

    I guess I’m also one of the Big Star fans who became distressed at Chiltons ramshackle solo shows and records. I saw him play First Avenue in the very early 80’s and the show was a tossed-off mess. I know a lot of people saw that as his charm.

    RIP, man. 59 is way too early to go.

    Get me out of here
    Get me out of here
    I hate it here
    Get me out of here

  55. 55.

    gbear

    There is a book series called 33 1/3 that creates short books about classic or revered albums. The book about Big Star’s Radio City is one of the best in the series. A great mini-history of the band.

    TBogg @ 38, I agree about Chris Bell. The story of his short life is one of the saddest in rock.

  57. 57.

    Captain Goto

    As everyone must have, I knew “The Letter”–but I had honestly never heard this before. Just lovely.

    It’s bad enough that I haven’t kept up with music over the last ten years; now I have to live with the truth that I was never caught up in the first place…

  58. 58.

    elftx

    The Boxtops was the first album I ever bought with babysitting money just to have “The Letter” at the Woolworth’s store on State St., downtown Chgo.

    That tune and lyrics have never left me, was just something about it.

  59. 59.

    Betsy

    Damn, I feel young and ignorant. I’d never heard of the guy until this morning. Yeesh. That’s a lovely song.

    @Linda Featheringill:
    Wise words, all of them. As Werebear said, here’s to impending spring. Don’t know about where you are, but here forsythia is blooming and crocuses are poking through the dirt. That’s always my sign that even if winter wallops us with a few more storms, it can’t hold out much longer.

  62. 62.

    wobbly

    @Colette

    Old joke, but not not that funny or true.

    In Serbo-Croatian “h” and “r” can serve as vowels, so the Bosnians have way more vowels than the rest of us.

  66. 66.

    The Moar You Know

    Huh. I thought he died a few years back. Oh well. At least now I’ll be right when I tell people he’s dead.

  67. 67.

    Joe Lisboa

    RIP.

    Also, this was perfect: “That sequence on side 2 of Radio City, from “Back Of A Car” through “September Gurls” is just majestic (only word I could think of). Very similar, the way the music builds, to side 2 of Abbey Road.” Well put, kth.

  72. 72.

    Paul in KY

    I like to think I’m knowledgable about popular music, but I’d never heard of Alex Chilton till today. I had heard of ‘The Box Tops’ though (just didn’t know who was in them).

    Some great music. Need to get their greatest hits.

  73. 73.

    gbear

    @Paul in KY:

    Need to get their greatest hits.

    Better to get their first two albums on one CD. The greatest hits collections are not all that great. If you decide you like Radio City, the next record to get is Sister Lovers, which is even more raw and haunting.

    The box set is great but doesn’t flow as well as the albums.

  74. 74.

    mandarama

    @Comrade Coffin:

    Hey, a speech from my (adopted) home state that I don’t have to cringe over!

    And I loved the Bangles. They did some great stuff. “Angels Don’t Fall in Love” and “Return Post” are faves of mine.

  75. 75.

    Comrade Mary

    I’m ashamed to say that despite being a huge music geek for decades, and although I knew and loved The Letter, I only knew of Alex Chilton and Big Star, and had never heard any of their songs before today. For some reason, indie radio in Toronto never played him, so maybe that’s one reason why.

    Thanks for all the links and memories. This is awesome stuff, right up my alley, and I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

  76. 76.

    Jeffazi

    Truly a sad day for powerpop fans. A friend of mine at work first turned me on to Big Star and there hasn’t been a week go by in years that I haven’t listened to them.

    R.I.P. Alex

  77. 77.

    Jinx

    My good friend, Nick, turned me on to Big Star back in college in Athens, GA in the late 80’s. I’ve been a fan ever since.

    While Chilton/Big Star were often covered and were so influential yet somehow so anonymous, one of my favorite recordings is of Big Star performing Loudon Wainwright III’s “Motel Blues”.

    It’s such a beautiful and sad song about life on the road. Big Star’s version is just so raw.

  78. 78.

    lawsipan

    I was at MU, working at KCOU when Mike Mulvihill, our GM, decided ‘wouldn’t it be funny if’ and gave Chilton & Jody Stephens a phone call. I was part of the Springfest staff that put together that original 1993 Big Star reunion show.

    I have alternated between weeping and listening all day — not only am I sad about Chilton’s passing, but all the memories of that beautiful day (exhaustion, elation, weeping during most of the Big Star set because we couldn’t believe we had pulled it off until it was actually happening) are flooding back.

    Very sad.

  80. 80.

    Tony heywood

    It’s been a hard year for me and musical heroes. That’s Alex added to Vic Chessnut and Mark Linkous. The first thing I heard was No Sex and then those This Mortal Coil covers. I love the big star records. Thank you Alex for the songs. Rest in peace.

  81. 81.

    steve truitt

    the year was 1967. I was 10 years old, walking around the nieborhood with my cherished transistor radio that I got the christmas before. Lotta great music that year. I remember where I was the first time that I heard The Letter by the Box Tops. Ive always loved that song, and the Box Tops………….18 or 20 years later I saw Alex Chilton on mtv special called the Cutting Edge and I got reaquainted with his music and learned about Big Star…..I couldnt believe that they were virtually unheard of. To me they were like the American Beatles…….. fast forward to the year 2000…Im living just outside of Madison Wi. when I hear that Alex Chilton is going to be playing at a bar a few miles from where I live, of course my girlfriend has never heard of him, but she goes with me to the show anyway. The place is packed before the show starts, I see Alex sitting by himself at a booth and I approach him to shake his hand and ask him to sign my Sister Lovers c.d. that I brought along. He said that he would if i gave him a smoke. so I gave him his cigarette and I got to meet one of the great musical heros of my life. I still have the c.d…….but he didnt play anything off of it. Great thrill just the same, one I will never forget.

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