Children By The Million

It was once said of The Velvet Underground, that only a few thousand people bought their records, but every one of them started a band. The same could be said of the band Big Star, led by Alex Chilton. Chilton died on March 17th from heart-related issues, and if the three albums he released with Big Star were the only worthwhile pieces of music he ever recorded, then it would have been more than enough to cement his place in rock and roll history.

But Chilton did do more. Much more. In fact for a brief period in the late 60's, Chilton was fairly famous. At the tender age of 16, Chilton formed the Memphis based Box Tops, and topped the charts with their debut single, "The Letter" (give me a ticket for an aeroplane/ain't got time to take a fast train), later covered quite memorably by Joe Cocker. Follow up single "Cry Like A Baby" was nearly as big, and all told, the group hit the top 40 seven times before disbanding in 1970,

The Box Tops mixture of southern R&B and pop song craft would not have been the same without Chilton's masculine beyond his years voice. Only Eric Burdon of The Animals had comparably soulful, whiteboy pipes in the 60's.

Chilton never had another hit after The Box Tops. No matter, because next he gave us Big Star. Chilton was joined by fellow Memphis musicians Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Andy Hummel in 1971. The band's first release--the ironically titled (in hindsight at least)--#1 Record has become a power-pop touchstone for every one from Cheap Trick to Weezer.

However, despite great reviews and terrific hummable tunes like "Thirteen" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4) and "Watch The Sunrise" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQqmnhSLOUQ), the record died quickly due to poor distribution on the part of their record label, Stax, which had been swallowed up by the major label Columbia Records. Who in their finite genius, saw no reason to give the record a proper release.

Their follow up, Radio City, was nearly as good. After the commercial failure of #1 Record, tensions within the band reached a boil, leading to Bell's departure. Still, Radio City was a phenomenal record with "O My Soul" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXNf3bH3ZlU) and "September Gurls" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKSs1J38EA) being just two of many stand out tracks. Unfortunately, Columbia did no better by Big Star this time out either, and the album met with the same fate as it's predecessor.

Down to just two original members (Chilton and Stephens) in 1975, Big Star soldiered on with a variety of session musicians and squeezed out one more album, the darkly beautiful Third/Sister Lovers. A true departure from their first two releases, Third was referred to by RollingStone as a "maelstrom of conflicted emotions. Songs are drenched in strings and sweet sentiment one minute, stark and downcast the next." The album's centerpiece is the deeply disturbing--and well titled--"Holocaust" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQ977u8Wuk) which was so sufficiently black hearted that it was covered by 80's goth band This Mortal Coil of all groups.

If the two previous albums were not deemed worthy of a proper release, then it doesn't take a seer to guess what happened to this difficult masterpiece. It never had a chance. Third didn't even get distributed until 1978.

As time passed, this trio of great albums found their way to some pretty fancy admirers. Artists as disparate as R.E.M., Beck, The Bangles, and Elliott Smith all covered Big Star songs. Jeff Buckley's version of "Kangaroo" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMCUeSwPW28) is perhaps the best of the bunch, and Cheap Trick's cover of "Out In The Streets" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUK0mrVVxg8) the most famous. How famous is it? Well, if you've ever seen a single episode of That 70's Show, then you've heard it. It's the theme song. Betcha didn't know that!

Chilton's subsequent solo career has been marred by an inconsistency in quality and regularity of output. From 1978 to 2010, Chilton only produced nine proper albums, with Like Flies On Sherbert, and High Priest being the best of an erratic lot.

Big Star reformed on an off and on basis from 1993 to 2008. Even recording a full length album, In Space in 2005 that won kind notices if predictably few sales. Still, it will be their 70's recordings that will live on as the chain to which all future power-pop bands will be tethered. It's a pretty damn remarkable--if brief--discography.

While my little scribbled, modest tribute is well meaning enough, it can't hold a flame doused candle to that of the ramshackle scribe, Paul Westerberg. Who recorded the ultimate deep bow towards Alex Chilton on The Replacements fantastic 1987 album, Pleased To Meet Me, the wonderful and bluntly titled second track, "Alex Chilton" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTSJYZyouek). Which in Westerberg's typically ragged voice and scrappy verse claims that children by the million/sing for Alex Chilton/when he comes 'round. Of course, this was sadly untrue. Children by the million never sang for Alex Chilton when he came 'round. That alternate reality existed only in the fantasies located in Westerberg's mind.

Mine too.

Sumo-Pop
March 18, 2010