Blog
Artist / Heroes
Farewell, Alex Chilton
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Posted by: Jeffrey McAlack | Posted in: Artist / Heroes
Heartbreaking news out of Memphis this morning, Alex Chilton died late yesterday at age 59—it’s truly a sad, sad day. Alex is possibly most recognized for his work in the late 60s with The Box Tops—we all know “The Letter” –but I, like so many others, love Alex for the work he did with his band Big Star in the 70s. I was a part of the Boston music scene in the late 90s, at the time loud melodic rock with an emphasis on songwriting was definitely a prevalent Boston sound. Basically, if you were a part of that scene, you listened to Big Star—seriously, everybody owned a copy of the two for one CD of #1 Record and Radio City. Those recordings, along with other albums by groups like The Velvet Underground and The Moderm Lovers, hold a very special place in rock history; records that never cracked the mainstream, but are absolutely cherished by hipster rock cats. I put on Radio City for my car ride to work this morning, listening to “September Girls” made every hair on my body stand on end—how is music so beautiful created on this planet?
The closest I ever got to Alex Chilton was back in the 90s—my band recorded our first record at Ardent Studios in Memphis with the legendary and also recently departed Jim Dickinson. We were thrilled to be in Memphis recording with Jim for a ton of reasons—he played piano with the Stones, Ry Cooder and Aretha Franklin, he recorded the Replacements, but the really big reason we were so excited was that he recorded Big Star’s aptly titled third record, Third/Sister Lovers. Big Star recorded all their albums at Ardent so we got the tour of memorable Alex Chilton moments and where they happened. Jim told us about Alex arguing with producer John Fry over a guitar tone and Alex grabbing a guitar in anger, plugging into a Fender Bassman, turning it up to an excruciating volume and defiantly banging out the part with the intention of ruining the track—the result was the invention of the signature Alex Chilton/Big Star sound. Who knows how much the fog of time had distorted Jim’s memory of that moment, but it sure makes for a great story. We all stood there staring at the amp and thinking of all the great guitar parts that came through it—what a pack of dorks we were (and still are).
If you love great song writing and you’ve never listened to Big Star, check out this track—it’s truly the music of the gods.
On behalf of the Source Audio family, I’d like to say farewell to the great Alex Chilton—thank you for the music.
Related Posts
- Cool New DVD—“The Art of the Stompbox”
- Tony MacAlpine - new Source Audio User
- My Morning Jacket to headline 2010 Voodoo Experience
- The Best of Phish Tour 2010 and How Mike Gordon Gets That Cactus Sound
- Steven Wilson - Porcupine Tree and Much More