Aimee Toledano
Alex Chilton
Contrarian Cult Hero By Stewart MasonOne of rock's legendary curmudgeons, but who can blame him?
Alex Chilton was one of rock's legendary curmudgeons, but really, who can blame him? The poor guy spent most of his life playing for audiences that were mostly interested in either one or the other of the bands he was in between the ages of 16 and 24, '60s blue-eyed soul hitmakers the Box Tops and power pop pioneers Big Star. It must have been particularly galling since Chilton was never in full creative control of either band: the Box Tops were a vehicle for producers Dan Penn and Chips Moman, and Big Star founder Chris Bell's winsome, melancholy jangle pop remained that band's default sound even after Bell quit following their debut album. Although Chilton fronted reunited touring lineups of both bands starting in the 1990s, his idiosyncratic solo career was more indicative of both his true musical interests and his own willful contrarianism. The son of a jazz musician, raised in Memphis during the city's R&B heyday, Chilton filled his solo records with obscure blues and country covers and jazz standards, while original songs like the unabashedly creepy Catholic-schoolgirl paean "Hey! Little Child," stream-of-consciousness travelogue "Bangkok," and X-rated anti-AIDS rant "No Sex" became increasingly bizarre.
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