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Former leader of the seminal band Big Star and frontrunner of the power-pop genre, Alex Chilton passed away yesterday at the age of 59. Chilton's influence was likely farther reaching than his own music. Without Big Star, the Replacements, REM and other bands with a sugary exterior hiding darker undertones would likely sound vastly different.
Michael Pelusi summed up the band's history while reviewing the Big Star box set, Keep an Eye on the Sky:
In theory, the whole idea of box(ed) sets exists for cultishly adored bands such as Big Star. For many rock nerds, their saga passed into myth long ago. In Memphis, TN, in the early '70s, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel — aspiring rockers obsessed with The Beatles, Kinks and Who — hooked up with Alex Chilton, former lead singer of The Box Tops. (Chilton sang that band's big hit "The Letter" when he was 16 years old.) The quartet made #1 Record (1972), a sparkling, chiming record that all but pioneered the power-pop genre. Commercially, it bombed. Bell quit the band. The remaining trio made the spectacular follow-up Radio City (1974), a darker, more disjointed record. Commercially, it bombed. Hummel quit the band. Chilton, Stephens and an assortment of Memphis players then made Third (aka Sister Lovers), which was even darker and even more disjointed. Record labels wanted nothing to do with it. By the time Third was finally released in 1978 — four years after it was recorded, and the same year that Chris Bell died in a car accident — the band had long ceased existing. And commercially, the album bombed of course.
Out of their three records, I'd say Radio City is my favorite, but would recommend #1 Record to new listeners.
My favorite tribute so far has come from Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen (D), who eulogized Chilton on the House floor today, saying that Chilton's "hard, different, indentpendent and beautiful" music was exemplary of his home state. You can watch the video on CSPAN, starting at around 26:30.
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