September Gurls

Alex Chilton (1947–2010)

Novelist Michael Chabon called this song, “The pocket history of power pop” and “The greatest #1 song that never charted”. It’s #180 in Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Of All Time. It’s from Big Star’s second album. Alex Chilton’s most successful commercial recording was “The Letter”, recorded by the Box Tops when he was 16. He was the lead singer. After charting with a few less successful songs, the Box Tops broke up in 1970. He decided not to attend Memphis State University, but worked as a soloist and learned Steve Cropper-style guitar instead, the first step in a lifelong process in which he absorbed R&B, rockabilly, punk, traditional pop, swing, gospel, country, blues, soul, and postmodern minimalist jazz. He formed the critically acclaimed, highly influential, but not very successful band Big Star in 1971. R.E.M and the Replacements cite Big Star as their major influence. Peter Buck of R.E.M. called Big Star the Rosetta Stone for a generation. The band broke up a few years later, but over the years there were reunion tours with both Big Star and the Box Tops. He even did a four-month stint with a cover band called the Scores, who played four-hour long sets at the New Orleans Bourbon Street tourist bar, Papa Joe’s. Customers would make requests from the printed lists found on every table. You’d think one couldn’t get much more New Orleans than that (even if he was really from Memphis), but he topped it by being rescued by helicopter from his house in Treme during Hurricane Katrina. He died of a heart attack at the age of 59.