Thursday 18 March 2010



Alex Chilton 1950-2010

I’m very saddened to wake up to the news that Alex Chilton, front man for The Box Tops in the 60s (“The Letter”) and Big Star in the 70s (“September Gurls”) has died at the age of 59.  Chilton and Big Star rose to cult status after the band flared and burned out after just two albums in a span of three years (a third was never released while they were still together).  Even though they were only around a short time, the legacy they left behind began to become clear in the early 80s as R.E.M. and The Replacements began singing their praises and citing Big Star as a major influence on their music and sound.  In the early 90s, Big Star reformed, albeit without founding guitarist Chris Bell, who died in a car accident shortly after the band broke up.  The reformed Big Star was scheduled to play at SXSW in Austin, Texas, this Saturday.

This morning when I heard the news, I began thinking about how many of the artists that were a direct (or indirect in Chilton’s case) influence on me are at an age now when–and I hate to sound like a negative Nelly here, but–death becomes a going concern.  How will we honour their memories, and what will they leave behind for us?  In Chilton’s case, the legacy will stand in the music; the honour came about 23 years ago when The Replacements recorded that iconic song about their iconic hero.

23 years ago?  It feels like yesterday to me.

MP3: The Box Tops “The Letter”
MP3: Big Star “September Gurls”
MP3: The Replacements “Alex Chilton”
Myspace: Big Star





by J. Di Gioia | 1 Comment »

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 10:36 am and is filed under In memoriam, MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Alex Chilton 1950-2010”

Alex Chilton 1950-2010 | musicu.be. featured blog posts March 18th, 2010 at 6:52 pm

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