The death of a little known icon
Blog: Music For Old(er) Folks
March 18, 2010
As we were driving to work this morning, NPR reported on the pasing of Alex Chilton last night. Heart attack at age 59. An infulential, underappreciated big star.
Us older folks remember him and The Box Tops for a string of mid 60' blue eyed soul pop hits like "The Letter" and "Cry Like A Baby", still oldies radio staples. They went a little deeper than that, though. "Soul Deep" was another hit.....
....and their take on the James and Bobby Purify classic "I'm Your Puppet" is worth the price of admission to The Box Top's first LP on it's own....
The real kicker? Chilton was 16 at the time.
Well, when The Box Tops broke up, Chilton went on to form Big Star in the early 70's, a band that didn't do well on the sales end, but was about as influencial a band you're going to find coming out of that era. R.E.M., The Replacements, the dB's, The Posies, Wilco and others cite Big Sky as a major influence on their sound. I can see why.....
Over the past two decades, Big Star finally began to get a popular following. A series of Rykodisk re-releases in '92 led the way, and Chilton and Jody Stephens reformed the band in 1993. They'd been touring off and on ever since, scheduled to play South By SouthWest this weekend in Austin. <br. Rest in peace, Alex. Your work lives on.....
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holmes 1 year, 10 months ago
The death of a little known icon
Thanks Doug, I was counting on you to write something up about this. I found out last night, and just couldn't believe it. He was only 59, and I'm pretty sure was about to do something big. I've never seen him perform live, and still had that hope that the opportunity might arise for me someday; no longer. At least he lives on in his phenomenal legacy of music.
psychoteacher 1 year, 10 months ago
The death of a little known icon
"If he came from Venus, would he feed us with a spoon"
douglas 1 year, 10 months ago
The death of a little known icon
Failed to post my favorite Box Tops song. From their last LP, it only made it to #28 on the Billboard chart, but 1969's "Sweet Cream Ladies" is a terrific song.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGR9I-...
justwant50 1 year, 10 months ago
The death of a little known icon
Thanks Doug! I love that song!! Haven't heard that since I was 10! Didn't know they did this.
justwant50 1 year, 10 months ago
The death of a little known icon
RIP Alex Chilton. You were great!
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