Alex Chilton dies

[Ronny Roach]

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Was Alex Chilton a big star?

Top 40 radio gave stardom to a lot of pop, soul and rock stars. This system of a listener hearing a song they liked on the radio and going to the record store and buying it, worked for many years. The sad reality the only music the public hears now a day is on television commercials. Though I liked this old system of top 40- radio. However, it had its faults. One major fault was, “Heavy rotation”. Heavy rotation meant playing a song every hour on the hour. Sometimes the radio station would play the same song twice an hour. This was great for the artist but pure torture for the audience. Oh no! this song again? I heard people make the same complaint over and over again. The most notorious song to get over played is 1967 Van Morrison song: Brown eye girl. To this very day on oldies stations they overplayed that song. I rather get water-boarded than hear that song ever again.

One annoying song in the year of our lord 1967 was a silly pop song called: The letter. It was by a band called: The Box Tops. In my opinion it sounded like a bubble gum group like: The 1910 Fruitgum co. or The Ohio Express. Then music critics lauded it was a blue eyed soul classic. I didn’t hear it. It had an infectious hook and the verses sounded like a chorus, the perfect formula for a hit single in those days.

The singer of that song: Alex Chilton was only 16 years old when he sang that tune. Quite impressive I must say.

Their fallow up single was a song to cash in on the new psychedelic movement: Neon Rainbow. The song only made it up to number 24. In 1968, they released another annoying song: Cry like a baby. It reached number 2.

Not wanting to be a one hit wonder band, The Box Tops (Sic) released a few more sides.

I happen to like one song that was released in 1969: Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward march. It was lyrically cryptic like a mid 60’s Bob Dylan song. Just when the Box Tops were going in the right direction they broke up.

Then Alex Chilton joined what would be become a cult band. Big Star would never hit the big time like Led Zeppelin but would become notorious like The Velvet Underground. The theme song from the sit-com, “That 70’s show” was theirs; Cheap Trick covered it. The song: In the streets, sounded a lot like a Slade song. A lot of other bands covered their material. So, Alex second phase of his musical career was artic. Alex after Big Star disbanded went into obscurity.

Alex died at the age of 59 of heart failure. That seems to be a popular method of dying in the old school of rock. Another method is cancer…

Of the tons of one hit wonder bands of the 1960’s, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, had a song that said something. In 1967, “Incense and Peppermints” become a psychedelic classic. In ended up the fallowing year in a youth exploitation movie (Psych-out 1968)

The flip side of that single had a cool garage tune called: The Birdman of Alcatraz. But the A-side, Incense Peppermints was the fuzz tone classic. The message of the song was: This Hippie thing? it just a fad like all other things in the United States.

The singer of that song, Lee Freeman wrote lyrics for the song. His voice sounded like an intellectual student. Before joining S.A.C he was a member of Thee Sixpence.

The fallow up to their hit was a tune I never heard, “Tomorrow”. It came out in 1968 and charted up to number 28. Lee died 2-14-10 from cancer.

I raise my can of Bud and toast to all of you. Goodbye Alex and Lee.

Check out this song on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UsOJceDGUI

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