Alex Chilton - R.I.P

[Riff Blister]

Sad too hear about this.
I saw him once in concert.
The Box Tops and the great Big Star. The theme song from That 70s Show was a Big Star song.
Living in the Twin Cities I was was/am a huge Replacements fan. Paul Westerberg sites Alex Chilton as a big influence.
The Replacements even wrote a song called "Alex Chilton".

R.I.P. Alex.

 

[lesterpaul]

NPR played a great interview with him a few weeks ago when he passed...really cool,esp. when he explained the story behind the "Big Star" name...I drove by a Big Star grocery in Florence, Al only minutes after hearing the interview!
"...Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane,
Ain't got time to take a fast train.
Lonely days are gone, I'm a-goin' home,
'Cause my baby just a-wrote me a letter.'
...they asked him why his voice changed as he got older(he was 16 or 17 when he did the vocals to "The Letter"...)as opposed to normal voice changes, it went from ruff/blues to lighter/pop tone as he got OLDER...he said he was told to sing it that way by the producer and it was in no way his voice or his song...cool interview if you can find it