Rock and roll is here to stay

March 18, 2012 12:07 AM

Alex Chilton (of the band Big Star) died two years ago today. Here's a choir singing Big Star's song "Thirteen."
posted by BoringPostcards (26 comments total)

Aw, thanks for this. I've been thinking of Chilton all day. Like Joe Strummer, his death feels like a kind of cosmic mistake that I'll never quite get over.

Children by the millions sing for Alex Chilton...
posted by scody at 12:16 AM on March 18, 2012 [6 favorites]

I think community singing is really important--and i think that we used to do it alot more then we do know--my mom does it, and my grand parents did it, and this recent uptick in people my generation seems really important.
posted by PinkMoose at 12:34 AM on March 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I went on a date about 8 months ago and this particular choir showed up to sing Bryan Adams' Run to You. There was no second date.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 12:45 AM on March 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

Alex Chilton on MTV's "120 Minutes" in 1985

A long audio interview of Alex Chilton in 1994: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

.
posted by chavenet at 1:47 AM on March 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

*

I was introduced to Big Star via DCD and 4AD, and suddenly my little corner of middle England got much bigger.
posted by arcticseal at 1:49 AM on March 18, 2012

Two years already; seems longer and just yesterday in equal measures.
posted by maxwelton at 2:35 AM on March 18, 2012

That song is what it is what it is to be 13.
They rally did right by it
posted by From Bklyn at 3:21 AM on March 18, 2012

Chilton was really an amazing talent that never got the recognition he deserved. It isn't news to most of the people who will read this thread, but for the casual browser it is worth mentioning that among other things he invented the metal growl when he was sixteen. Of course, (at least right now) he doesn't get any credit for it in Wikipedia. I also like that video for the way the band, especially the keyboard player, has some fun with the fact they are lip-synching.
posted by TedW at 5:07 AM on March 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

Chavnet, that video clip isn't from 120 Minutes, it's from another MTV program called The Cutting Edge. In the mid eighties this program and college radio were lifelines for at least one stuck in the middle of nowhere teenager.
posted by cropshy at 5:16 AM on March 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hey! I just joined that choir a couple of weeks ago. I'm in their second group though.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 6:11 AM on March 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

this is lovely, thanks.


from the youtube comments: The Big Star version is so fabulous I could never imagine anyone else doing it jusitce but they sure did. It is absolutely beautiful.

agreed!
posted by dubold at 7:17 AM on March 18, 2012

Following some Youtube suggestions from chavenet's links (thanks) reveals a new Big Star documentary of which I was unaware. I shall have to get my hands on it.
posted by NailsTheCat at 8:21 AM on March 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

More this! Less 'Glee'!
posted by benito.strauss at 8:24 AM on March 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

It isn't news to most of the people who will read this thread, but for the casual browser it is worth mentioning that among other things he invented the metal growl when he was sixteen

So ... where was the metal growl in that clip? And I doubt he invented singing with a scratchy voice.
posted by kenko at 9:34 AM on March 18, 2012

The choir clip is awesome though.
posted by kenko at 9:34 AM on March 18, 2012

Elliott Smith singing Thirteen is absolutely fantastic as well.
posted by allseeingabstract at 10:02 AM on March 18, 2012 [5 favorites]

If you don't think "September Gurls" is the greatest pop song ever written then you are a bad person with bad ideas who cannot be trusted. Fact.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:07 AM on March 18, 2012 [11 favorites]

If you don't think "September Gurls" is the greatest pop song ever written then you are a bad person with bad ideas who cannot be trusted. Fact.

posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:07 AM on March 18 [4 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]

eponysterical!
posted by DigDoug at 11:47 AM on March 18, 2012

a new Big Star documentary of which I was unaware. I shall have to get my hands on it.

I'm desperate for this to finally be released! It had its first work-in-progress screening at SXSW a couple of days ago, along with an all-star live performance of Big Star's Third, so hopefully it will be out sometime this year.
posted by scody at 12:06 PM on March 18, 2012

Y'know, I love covers as a genre, but I still like the orig over the choir. Still an interesting idea, though.
posted by scratch at 12:54 PM on March 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

If you don't think "September Gurls" is the greatest pop song ever written then you are a bad person with bad ideas who cannot be trusted. Fact.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:07 AM on March 18 [7 favorites +] [!]

That's odd spelling for "You Can't Have Me."
posted by BEE-EATING CAT-EATER at 3:03 PM on March 18, 2012

is the guy conducting from food jammers?!
posted by mlo at 5:13 PM on March 18, 2012

A great young cajun band called Feufollet did a cover of Big Star's In the Street in French today. It sounded great.
posted by umbú at 8:25 PM on March 18, 2012

is the guy conducting from food jammers?!

Yes, that's Nobu.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 10:48 PM on March 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Chococat did an outstanding cover of Thirteen just after Alex passed away.
posted by cmfletcher at 10:30 AM on March 19, 2012

A little more about the documentary here.
posted by scody at 1:34 PM on March 20, 2012