Method and Madness

How many more posts about Alex Chilton? Who knows, I'm only half-way through the book, and it just keeps grabbing me...

So, this morning, I'd like to propose an alternate title to the Chilton biography... let's say it should be called: "A Man Called Deconstruction." Yes, the man's life was messy, supremely messy.  But the work, oh man, I do detect "method in the madness."

You realize Alex was birthed in a musical environment of professionalism - professional songwriters, professional studio musicians, creating perfectly composed and recorded little top forty gems. But he left the Box Tops behind, and started all over with Big Star. And those first two Big Star records kind of set the template for Power Pop.

And as each record crashed and burned in the marketplace, Chilton started sliding from the idea of seamless perfection to something else. And maybe the masterpiece, my favorite record, of the Big Star era is "Third/Sister Lovers."  The one that wasn't even officially released until many years later.

Alex started to push against the limits of a shiny perfection. He was onto something else, maybe something bigger. Think John Cage, or Marcel Duchamp. Yes, Chilton decided to become the Duchamp of rock. Accidents were now considered good. First-takes were considered good. Mixing beauty and noise and the unexpected were considered good.

Chilton explored a more avant garde approach. He, jokingly or not, considered his genre of music "classical." He could play a ragged show, he could play onstage wrecked on drink or drugs, it was all OK, if the music achieved something unique, lively, dangerous.

And he did achieve lots of amazing moments both lively and dangerous... he was there at CBGBs with all those NY musical renegades, Richard Hell, Patti Smith, Tom Verlaine, Talking Heads, Ramones... Chilton and punk was a good match...

Here's a description of the method of the madness by Chris Stamey, which I think perfectly sums up the bigger game Chilton was playing and explains much of his work after Big Star. The method was madness, and there sometimes would lie the seeds of genius...

"Alex was looking to have both structured and random events, like opening up the record to magic, or letting God walk in the room when you're making a record. It was a very interesting approach."