Alex Chilton, R.I.P.
Sittin in the back of a car
I wanted to give Laura, Sean and Joe’s SXSW posts a chance to breathe a little bit, which is part of the reason I am just posting this now, relatively late in the day. But I also needed a moment, I think, to sit on the news for a minute, to reflect. Alex Chilton, the pop-songwriting legend whose three-minute songs have inspired whole festivals’ worth of power-pop bands, died in Memphis yesterday of a heart attack. He was 59.
I discovered Big Star not in my teens, when my fever-grip musical obsessions were mostly of the punk-rock variety, but in my freshman year of college, when I guess I was needing chaotic noise a little less and craving glorious order a little more. (I also discovered Something Else by the Kinks that year.) I don’t think Big Star’s clean guitar chords, meticulously stacked vocal harmonies, and shimmery, unglamorous ache would have resonated very much with me at age 17. Maybe because I came to them later, they became an affectionate love of mine rather than a cause. But man, the songs that stuck became part of my DNA. “The Ballad of El Goodo,” “Thirteen,” “Life Is White,” “Way Out West” — Chilton’s, pained, squinting tenor, full of grain and oddly fragile, knifed right through me.
It’s pretty obvious that this little musical community has nothing but intense love for Alex Chilton; comments are already popping up on Big Star’s album pages eulogizing him. I’ll shut up, and cede the floor — What do you love most about Alex Chilton’s music? What’s your favorite Big Star song? Favorite lyric? Favorite Big Star cover? Big Star were pretty much the first band to be loved intensely by a vast underground community of fans, so let’s honor that spirit here. Chime with your thoughts.
Alex Chilton on eMusic:
#1 Record/Radio City
Nobody Can Dance(Big Star live)
Like Flies On Sherbert (solo Alex Chilton: a ton more here)
This makes me terribly sad. “Children By The Millions Mourn for Alex Chilton.”
In any event:
What do you love most about Alex Chilton’s music? There’s something magical about his guitar work that I can’t put my finger on. Someone whose opinion I respect wrote, “Yeah, I loved his guitar playing, using the best parts of Townshend and McGuinn: slash and jangle.” That might be it.
What’s your favorite Big Star song? So tough. As of now, it’s a tie between “Blue Moon,” “Holocaust,” “Nighttime,” and “The Ballad of Old El Goodo.”
Favorite lyric? “Thank you, friends/Wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.” Thank you, Alex Chilton.
Daniel,
“Slash and jangle” is great.
“Thirteen” and “El Goodo” were my favorites.
Maybe 10 years ago, I was visiting a friend in North Carolina, and we were in his truck. We loved the same music, so the entire trip consisted pretty much of feeding each other recomendations and listening to music, live and recorded. Anyway, we were probably driving to a used CD store or something, and he put on Chris Bell’s “I am the Cosmos” and introduced me to that song and person, and I was awestruck. I discovered him and mourned him at the same time. I’m glad I had more of a chance to become familiar with Alex Chilton before he passed, still regret not seeing him live, but at least I got to see his career unfold, working with Jon Auer and others or solo.
I’d like to think that the founding members of Big Star are having one heck of a reunion show in heaven.
Oh yeah, Chris Bell was also brilliant. For me, “You and Your Sister” was the highlight.
I really believe Chilton/Bell had the potential to achieve the quality of Lennon/McCartney or Morrissey/Marr.