Legendary songwriter Alex Chilton has died in New Orleans. He was 59.
The Big Star founder had suffered from heart problems recently and complained of feeling ill earlier this week. Unfortunately, his condition deteriorated and he passed away in hospital on the 17th March.
Big Star’s commercial success was inexplicably minimal, but their influence was enormous. Chilton started his music career as a clean-cut member of pop act Box Tops before founding Big Star and releasing the critically-acclaimed albums #1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers. That trio have a strong claim as being the finest debut run from any band, ever.
Despite songs seemingly ready-made for AM radio such as ‘September Gurls’, Chilton’s band never made the crossover to mainstream success, becoming instead the most revered of cult acts. While they only lasted a few years, Big Star’s massive impact continues to reverberate decades later. R.E.M. and the Replacements both named Big Star and Alex Chilton as major influences, while the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me features a wonderful song titled ‘Alex Chilton.’
Chilton became a cult musical icon, and artists as diverse as Beck, Wilco, Elliott Smith, R.E.M., Cheap Trick, Jeff Buckley, Garbage, Bat for Lashes and Whiskeytown have covered Big Star’s songs. Renewed interest in the band’s music led to a reunion of sorts in the early ’90s and a new album in 2005’s In Space, which featured two members of the Posies, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer. Just last year, a 98-track box set celebrating Big Star’s entire catalog, Keep an Eye on the Sky was released.
Simply put, if you own an indie record, then its lineage likely traces back to Big Star.
Chilton was possessed of some of rock’s most destructive and persistent demons, with mental health issues and substance abuse causing him decades of pain. In many ways, it’s hard not to look at Chilton’s life as a story of frustration, a litany of unrealized potential and lack of opportunity.
But then… listen to the opening bars of ‘September Gurls’. The beauty of ‘13’. The sheer drive of ‘When My Baby’s Beside Me’. Isn’t that one hell of a legacy? Isn’t being simply brilliant worthy of praise? As Teenage Fanclub – disciples way past the point of devotion – put it, ain’t that enough?
Rest in peace Alex Chilton, a man who created some of the greatest music ever made.
Filed under: General Stuff | Tagged: alex chilton, alex chilton dies, bat for lashes, Beck, big star, Cheap Trick, Elliott Smith, Garbage, Jeff Buckley, R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, Whiskeytown, Wilco
Im away to listen to ” watch the sunrise ” after that news.
Yes, Third will be getting an airing in ELM Towers.
“watch the sunrise” has always had a very special place in the real slim dustys heart , as my record of choice when , coming home around sunrise , Id put it on , gaze in stupefaction over the park – watching the sunrise – and then collapse in a good humoured coma . ah , the carefree days.
if I remember correctly the whippet has a boastworthy alex chilton tale………?
Oh yes I have. Two, actually
The best one is that he borrowed my amp for a gig at Glasgow Tech years ago. No-one else had a vintage Fender Twin in Glasgow at that time (Roland Jazz Chorus was the amp of choice in the late eighties/early nineties) so I got the call. Got on the guest list too, but Alex proceeded to spend the gig booting my amp and moaning about it buzzing. Twat.
Sad to hear.
So sad to hear that. I used to listen to ” watch the sunrise ”.
http://www.funlimited.tk/
…and I always thought that was just your guitar sound…boom,boom !
RIP Alex…….’Radio City’ is a stone cold classic album.