Edited by Richard S Jones / Email: rsjones@shindig-magazine.com


FAREWELL I


ALEX CHILTON Upon the sad news of the passing of The Box Tops and Big Star legend ALEX CHILTON, Shindig! was inundated with emails of tribute, remembrance and sorrow. We asked RIC MENCK to try and put it all into perspective


first discovered Alex Chilton in the early ’80s, thanks to advice from people like Peter Buck, Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, who did more to spread the gospel about Big Star than just about anyone. Unlike a lot of stuff I enjoyed at the time, Big Star gave me more than just a


vicarious thrill. Their music seemed deeper and more soulful than all of the other melody oriented groups around and I responded by connecting in a more profoundly personal way. When Alex Chilton died recently I felt the need to call people with whom I’d once


bonded over his music. As it turns out, all of the best friends I have in this world are people for whom his music means everything, and as we tried to make sense of his loss it became apparent we couldn’t fathom a guy like him ever dying. But sadly the facts were irrefutable. Like his father and brother before him, Alex Chilton died on 17th March 2010 of a heart attack. His last activity on this earth consisted of something as mundane as mowing the lawn. Without ever knowing the man, I think he taught me more about music than


just about anyone I can think of. Once I’d thoroughly digested the Big Star records I started digging into his solo albums, and as anyone who’s familiar with his later work knows, it’s not always easy going. The first time I dropped the needle on Like Flies On Sherbert I was completely perplexed. It sounded to my ears like he was recording the songs as he was writing them, but it wasn’t until later that I understood this chaos was intentional. Unlike a lot of musicians who prize perfection in the studio, he seemed to revel in the imperfection of the moment. As an impressionable young listener, this was an eye-opening discovery to make, and one that made me realise I should begin to expand my own musical horizons. My favourite memory of Alex Chilton though is from a show I saw him play in


Chicago. Apparently, he wasn’t travelling with his own guitar so he ended up borrowing a decrepit looking Mosrite from someone in the opening band. Stoned to the gills on marijuana, he spent an hour tuning the guitar onstage without the aid of a tuner, all the while his amplifier cranked to full blast. Before long the cacophony of bending strings started to translate into a type of surreal performance art piece, but what made the whole adventure even more unusual was that he then proceeded to play the entire set with his guitar painfully out of tune. It remains to this day one of the most confounding performances I’ve ever witnessed. Here was a guy who obviously didn’t give a fuck, yet in his own way was an eccentric genius. In order to understand the real Alex Chilton you need to study his solo material.


The Big Star records are easy to understand for anyone who loves pop music rooted in the British Invasion, but I believe Chilton’s influences were much more vast in scope. It’s important to remember that his father was a jazz musician who exposed his young son to the finest musicians Memphis had to offer, and his brother had a passionate appreciation for classical music, which he duly passed on. Throughout his solo career Chilton drew on these influences according to his


own whims and fancy, and this is actually where you’ll hear some of his most thrilling performances. While it is incredibly sad that we’ve lost such a brilliant musician, we can be consoled by the fact that he left behind such an enormous body of work. Beyond the music he wrote and recorded on his own, Chilton also produced important records by The Cramps and The Gories. But as his career proves, he never answered to anyone but his muse. For this I think he deserves an enormous amount of respect, as the easiest thing in the world is to give the audience what they want. It’s much harder to do what Alex Chilton did, and give them what they needed.


We can be consoled by the fact that he left behind such an enormous body of work


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