Alex Chilton RIP 2010

This is "punched in the gut" sad.

goddamn, Mark Linkous and now Chilton, this is a rough month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF8fnoA1VNM

This is "punched in the gut" sad.

― ô_o (Nicole)

^ This. I didn't expect to cry this afternoon.

ugh wtf ... this guy has meant so much to me over the years. and I've spent the last two months on a big star kick because of getting the box set. goddammit.

goddamn, Mark Linkous and now Chilton, this is a rough month

― Whiney for No Apparent Reason (some dude), Thursday, March 18, 2010 1:46 AM (3 minutes ago)

this is exactly how i am feeling at the moment

barry hannah, too.

FUCK YOU MARCH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQ977u8Wuk

sigh

one of the great american songwriters. can't tell you how sad this makes me.

aggghhh... ouch.. this is like getting slapped

shit dawg

Wow. When I do my radio show next week, I will definitely lead with "Alex Chilton"/"Thirteen"/"I Pray for Rain."

i feel sad, but mostly i feel thankful
thankful that i heard him when i did, and that he was there to be heard
thanks for being so awesome and writing so many great songs and changing my life, alex chilton.

I wish he hadn't spent the bulk of his life squandering his talent. It makes it doubly sad.

oh come on ... he gave what he had to give, and that was more than enough.

one of the great and pleasing things about moving to glasgow a few years ago was finding myself in a city that worshipped big star, seeing NO1 RECORD prominently displayed in HMV on sauchiehall street, suddenly hearing 'september gurls' playing in a bar, just knowing that alex's music was being kept alive by hundreds of fans and bands - few musicians have meant as much to me, R.I.P

single coolest dude in all of rock, ever? maybe? major bummer.

RIP

Rob Sheffield linked to this Ivan Kreilkamp blog post about discovering BS in the eighties:

http://moonraking.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/big-star-revisited/

while working through this and talking to some friends, i came to the realization that he was one of the most gracious performers i have seen - he played the 7th street entry several (maybe many) years ago, and it was hardly a packed crowd, but he was so obviously and genuinely happy that people cared about him and the stuff he was doing. it was one of the most charming shows i've ever seen, and it's really sad to realize that i will never have another chance to share that moment with him and an audience ever again.

Oh wow - so sad - my friend was so anxious to see 'em at SXSW - havta give him a call ...

I saw Alex Chilton just once, in 1984, at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis, with the Replacements. It was a glorious, shitfaced drunk, inspired and beatific show. They played a bunch of covers. I bootlegged it on cassette and I think I still have the tape somewhere. Jesus Christ, I hope so.

A lesser songwriter wrote:

I'm in love!
What's that song?
I'm in love
with that song.

Rest in peace.

very sad. recently found myself getting more and more into big star (via the placemats).

Big Star has been my favorite band since I was in high school. Got to meet Alex at the bar in the basement of the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in November, and in spite of all the rumors of his rude demeanor he was about as nice to me as anyone's ever been. He sat and talked with me for a half hour about my horoscope and assured me that the next two years of my life would be really positive. Normally I wouldn't care what anybody said about astrology but coming from him it seemed so plausible. Totally devastated.

thank you for that link Alfred - a nice piece which mirrors, to some extent, my own experience of becoming a british big star fan in the 1980s - even then, when information was scarce, alex's music was championed by a number of uk rock critics, esp. Max Bell (he wrote the sleevenotes to LIVE IN LONDON, which for a long while was a much easier rec to acquire than SISTER LOVERS)- the version of 'kangaroo' by this mortal coil was another example of brit love for big star, and another portal to that sound and feeling

As I wrote upthread, I'm sure the Bangles cover got him some much-needed dough at the time -- maybe not Nick Lowe level, but six figures surely. Anyone know if he ever responded?

ok i freaked my daughter out a little
she's never seen her old man break down and sob like a little kid before

now the whisky

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. I usually count #1 Record and Radio City as my favorite Big Star album, but my first instinct was to reach for Third/Sister Lovers. It captures the mood of the moment with bitter, fractured perfection. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

Deepest condolences to Alex Chilton's wife Laura, son Timothy, and other family and loved ones.

I was about to post the same thing.

damnit, i feel like someone just punched me in the gut. RIP

Strange kind of pride in being a Chilton fan tonight

RIP guy, you friggin rocked.

this sucks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li4CDijYaR4

My small obit.

Good words, Alfred. My own attempt.

I hope he is jamming in the sky tonight with Willie Tee. RIP.

(Although he would probably take offense at my use of the word 'jamming' and freeze me with that withering smile)

Well I personally hope he's jamming in the sky with Chris Bell.

yeah, that's almost enough to make me hope for a heaven

i remember getting the ryko reissue of sisters lovers my senior year in high school and it felt like someone told me a secret.

(maybe a sad secret though)

fuck

Goddamn this makes me sad.

http://www.paulwesterberg.net/2010/03/17/children-by-the-million-mourn-for-alex-chilton/

nyt obit

funny you never know whose death will relly hit hard -- d boon, zappa, now chilton
who will do it next? no idea
meanwhile the whisky

my friend was so anxious to see 'em at SXSW

Me too. Was going to finally see Big Star in three days. Crushing, and unbelievably sad.

His death, that is... not me missing the show.

I saw him solo at the West End in Chicago in the summer of 1985. I was way too young for a fake ID to have worked, but a high school friend was the babysitter for the bar's owner, so we were in. It was a great night to see him perform. The Big Star revival era was just kicking in (between Game Theory, REM, and the dB's, if you liked certain flavors of pop you soon learned you liked musicians who loved Chilton). The club was packed, and Chilton was clearly touched by the rapturous response he got for everything. He dug back and gave us lots of treats, including The Letter (which I'd heard he'd long since disowned), Fields of Clover (maybe on a request?) and plenty of Big Star -- Holocaust was especially good. He wanted to play a song he'd just written but apologized that he couldn't make out the words at his feet; instantly a guy in the front row picked up Chilton's notebook and held it steady at Chilton's chest level for the duration; Chilton thanked him and made sure the crowd gave the guy a round of applause. Thank you, Alex Chilton, for providing that moment, that made me feel like we were all in it together. RIP.

Listened to Like Flies on Sherbert while stoned and it completely came alive to me. It made me realise he's a great story teller. He shapes the narrative with weird effects and volume inequalities, all the while acting out a scenario with his voice. The way everything is structured, and especially his guitar work, heightens the story.
It also rocks in a brutally southern, soulful way. Live in London is spectacular too. The version of Kanga Roo on that is massive.
I've Had it - who's singing this? It totally sounds like John Cale, but he's not credited right?

Bach's Bottom - I can't beleive I haven't heard this before. As a massive Big Star fan, this is the missing link between Big Star (particularly Third) and Like Flies on Sherbert. It's beautiful, and the throaway outtakes are fascinating.

Live in London is awesome. He has got an incredible presence. I saw him in Munich in the late 80s and he rocked hard.

I've Had it - who's singing this?

Jim Dickinson, I think?