Fucking great and I really only like the Big Star records when they started to dissolve. Let’s not forget the Panther Burns! There were a lot of years where I listened to Chilton and John Cale not quite exclusively, but a lot. I don’t have much to say about them as people.
There’s a lot of good insider Chilton lore in Chris Stamey’s book.
Re: Artist: Alex Chilton
12Yep and I also remember after he and the drummer recorded the 3rd album, he had burned all of his bridges in Memphis and moved back in with his libertine parents. They lived down the street from an all girls Catholic high school, and he would go outside and creep on them when they were leaving school. As a 30 year old. Very cool!Wood Goblin wrote: Read the bio many years later. Abusive piece of shit as a human being. He used to beat up his girlfriends, believing they were cheating on him. And like all pricks, he was—of course—the one cheating.
He also recorded the Gories, just so he could try to seduce their drummer. Which he did lol.
Re: Artist: Alex Chilton
14Radio City is probably the greatest pop rock album ever made, just above Meet The Beatles and Cheap Trick. Even the filler like "She's A Mover" and some oddball mixing choices adds to the whole package. This is not The Raspberries, this is a band balancing their own strange tendencies with melody and muscle. The lack of commercial success was a crime against the record industry but you can tell Alex Chilton was not trying to recreate the mindless success he enjoyed in his teen years. Eric Carmen woulda killed to have been a Box Top, Chilton wanted to straddle Dylan's street cred with Lennon's chops, and I'll be damned if he didn't make a better album than both.
On the punk production side of things, he also recorded Lolitas, one of the most fun French language rock bands ever. He had an eye for talent, absolutely.
Sucks that he sucked, what else is new from drug addled rock stars washing up? If James Brown can get his well-deserved flowers for altering music history, so can Alex Chilton.
NOT CRAP
On the punk production side of things, he also recorded Lolitas, one of the most fun French language rock bands ever. He had an eye for talent, absolutely.
Sucks that he sucked, what else is new from drug addled rock stars washing up? If James Brown can get his well-deserved flowers for altering music history, so can Alex Chilton.
NOT CRAP
Re: Artist: Alex Chilton
15that kinda sums up his whole deal post-Sister Loversnumberthirty wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 7:07 pm Just saying...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLz8lEO ... rt_radio=1
completely half-assing his way through most of it, glimmers of his talent, then giving into it and manifesting by the end
he does exactly the same thing here
i think he was in love with rock and roll, he was great at it, and it was basically all he had going for him
but he had a hard time taking it or himself seriously
the star-crossed nature of his career fed into that, and his self-destructiveness fed into everything, maybe caused it, who knows
anyway. radio city and third aren't gonna be topped--you've got to go backwards to high-period Kinks to get near 'em
the rest, well, i think he had a license to kill and exploited it, but i am always a fan if not a completist
Re: Artist: Alex Chilton
16[quote=AdamN post_id=873111
Yep and I also remember after he and the drummer recorded the 3rd album, he had burned all of his bridges in Memphis and moved back in with his libertine parents. They lived down the street from an all girls Catholic high school, and he would go outside and creep on them when they were leaving school. As a 30 year old
[/quote]
Not trying to "defend" that type of behaviour (I mean, hello!) but based on other examples of performers who are thrown into the entertainment world at a very young aga and essentially "losing" their teens or even childhood, I think this type of sexual dysfunctions seem quite commonplace. NOT excusing it, just saying...
Yep and I also remember after he and the drummer recorded the 3rd album, he had burned all of his bridges in Memphis and moved back in with his libertine parents. They lived down the street from an all girls Catholic high school, and he would go outside and creep on them when they were leaving school. As a 30 year old
[/quote]
Not trying to "defend" that type of behaviour (I mean, hello!) but based on other examples of performers who are thrown into the entertainment world at a very young aga and essentially "losing" their teens or even childhood, I think this type of sexual dysfunctions seem quite commonplace. NOT excusing it, just saying...
Re: Artist: Alex Chilton
17Wait - that story about creeping on the school girls - sure that’s not Skip Spence? I heard the exact same stories about him in Nashville.
Re: Artist: Alex Chilton
18https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf4cVBKHJngllllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 2:40 pm Wait - that story about creeping on the school girls - sure that’s not Skip Spence? I heard the exact same stories about him in Nashville.
Re: Artist: Alex Chilton
19NOT CRAP.
As a Memphian, I was resistant to him and Big Star until I was in my early 20s. But I was wrong!
First two Big Star albs are great, but Third, Like Flies On Sherbert, Dusted in Memphis, and Chris Bell's solo recordings hit me where I live more than those.
I like Bach's Bottom and some other dribs and drabs a lot, too, but there's way too much slapdick crap in his solo catalog for my taste.
As a Memphian, I was resistant to him and Big Star until I was in my early 20s. But I was wrong!
First two Big Star albs are great, but Third, Like Flies On Sherbert, Dusted in Memphis, and Chris Bell's solo recordings hit me where I live more than those.
I like Bach's Bottom and some other dribs and drabs a lot, too, but there's way too much slapdick crap in his solo catalog for my taste.