Replacements – Alex Chilton

I never travel far, without a little Big Star

The Replacements are up there to me with the Beatles, Who, Kinks, Badfinger, Big Star, and The Stones. I wrote this for Dave’s site last year when he wrote a post about Hüsker Dü for my site. It’s catchy, great lyrics, and one of my favorite songs of the 1980s. 

The Replacement’s tribute song about Big Star and Box Tops lead singer, Alex Chilton. The song was off the album Please To Meet Me.

It was 1985 and the Replacements had a gig at CBGB’s. This was not an ordinary gig though. Their reputation as a great live band had grown and in the audience were a lot of record company representatives. They knew this and refused to play the game. They spotted Gene Simmons coming in the door and The Mats played a terrible version of the KISS song Black Diamond…Simmons got out very quickly. The band followed up with an X-rated version of the “Ballad of Jed Clampett,” then whistled their way through the theme from The Andy Griffith Show before finally leaving the stage.

The Replacements and Alex Chilton shared a booking agent named Frank Riley. He watched the Replacements at CBGBs doing an absolutely self-sabotaging drunk set. Chilton had a grin plastered on his face. After the show, both Jesperson (manager) and Chilton were waiting to get paid by CBGB owner Hilly Kristal. Jesperson offered to buy breakfast the next morning. Chilton accepted.

The next morning Jesperson stopped by Westerberg’s room to remind him of the day’s interview schedule. Still sleepy and hungover, Westerberg asked where Peter was going. When he found out, Paul shot out of bed, threw on his clothes, and tagged along.

Paul did not impress easily, but he was very impressed with Alex Chilton. They took a taxi to the Gem Spa newsstand on Second Avenue and St. Mark’s Place. “He was standing by a trash can with a bag full of matches,” said Westerberg. “He was playing a game . . . pretending, ‘I’m Alex the Weirdo.’ I sucked up to it, and played the role.”

While eating breakfast…Chilton leaned over to Jesperson. “Man, I gotta tell you I thought they were great last night,” he said. “I’d love to work in the studio with them someday.” He did get to work with the band later on and played on “Can’t Hardly Wait.” The band avoided the awkwardness of playing “Alex Chilton” whenever Chilton was around.

This was around 1985 and Seymour Stein signed them up to Sire Records. They released their 4th album, Tim. For the first time, they were on a major label. Chilton was going to produce Tim but the negotiations fell through. He did help out on their next album recorded in his hometown.

The Replacements recorded their fifth album Pleased To Meet Me in Memphis at Ardent Studios in 1986, the same studio as Big Star. The man behind the board was Jim Dickinson, who produced the storied third    Big Star album. It was probably their most radio-accessible album.

The record company loved the song but wanted the band to change the title and theme to a more famous person. The song was credited to Paul Westerberg, drummer Chris Mars, and bass player Tommy Stinson.

Per Wiki: Kory Grow of Rolling Stone called the song one of the two “all-time classics” from Pleased to Meet Me, the other being “Can’t Hardly Wait.” Kristine McKenna of Los Angeles Times was similarly glowing in her praise of the song, writing, “It’s hard to think of a more deserving pop hero [than Chilton], and if Pleased achieved nothing more than to revive interest in the criminally underrated Chilton it would justify its existence.”

Paul Westerberg: “It’s one of those where melody and chord changes were there and the lyrics changed over the course of six months or so. By the time we were down in Memphis we had already met Alex and I steered it toward him. Of course it was as the legend goes ‘George from Outer Space’ was the first working title, but that just didn’t grab it quite as well. I just thought it would be fun to write a song about a living person and we’ve been through this, Al and I, and I sort of regret the albatross that it’s came with… I was certainly trying to like, I guess, hip the outside world on who this guy might be publicly, but he didn’t need that. It would kind of hurt if he was always known as Alex Chilton of that song.”

Alex Chilton

If he was from Venus, would he feed us with a spoon?
If he was from Mars, wouldn’t that be cool?
Standing right on campus, would he stamp us in a file?
Hangin’ down in Memphis all the while.

Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round
They sing I’m in love. What’s that song? I’m in love with that song.

Cerebral rape and pillage in a village of his choice.
Invisible man who can sing in a visible voice.
Feeling like a hundred bucks, exchanging good lucks face to face.
Checkin’ his stash by the trash at St. Mark’s place.

Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round
They sing “I’m in love. What’s that song? I’m in love with that song.”

I never travel far, without a little Big Star

Runnin’ ’round the house, Mickey Mouse and the Tarot cards.
Falling asleep with a flop pop video on.
If he was from Venus, would he meet us on the moon?
If he died in Memphis, then that’d be cool, babe.

Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round
They sing “I’m in love. What’s that song? I’m in love with that song.

I’m in love. What’s that song? I’m in love with that song.

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

28 thoughts on “Replacements – Alex Chilton”

    1. I missed Big Star because I was around 3-4 but I did listen to the Replacements in the 80s. They had a timeless sound that wasn’t tied to the 80s.

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  2. Interesting back story on the song and the sort of odd relationship with Chilton. It’s a cool song but I wonder how it would have done as a single with, as the record company suggested a more well known name?

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    1. Probably much more popular…because it is catchy and has a great riff…but I can’t blame him for not changing. It is the song they are most remembered for I would say.

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  5. You know how many times I’ve said “What’s that song?”, when I’ve heard a cool song. Paul is just on top of it for me. Great piece Max. Like everything about the Mats especially the ‘Who gives a shit” attitude. Lets enjoy this our way. No pretending with these guys. What a great cut.

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    1. They had it all… down the to the attitude. I guess they wouldn’t be who they were without that self sabotage thing going on….and I love them for it.

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    1. I was just telling CB about that…their self sabotage was frustrating but maybe that was just them and made them who they were. They had the talent to be as successful as REM but shot themselves too many times.

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  7. I didn’t know of these guys. I missed the whole Big Star phenom, why, who knows. By that time, I was out of music for a decade and focused on my work. Alex Chilton was a talented fellow, and like most of them, mental and emotional issues come with the affliction. I remember him from the Box Top’s days in Memphis when we were all a bunch of punk teenagers with long hair and pimples beating on cheap guitars. Back then, my buddy and fellow bandmate, Jarry, and I were in and out of Memphis because his aunt had a cotton plantation in Tunica, MS, home of E. We went there often in the summer, and Memphis, Graceland and Beal Street were close by. Jarry had a cousin, who played in a band called the Gentry’s, he knew Chilton some way or another. We never got to meet him, but he was on everyone’s tongue back then. Good write up, Max.

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    1. Oh wow Phil…I had a single by the Gentrys…a version of Cinnamon Girl that was just as good as the original. Didn’t Jimmy Hart (wrestling guy) play in the Gentrys?

      Yea Chilton was talented…he didn’t sound like the same singer in the Box Tops as he did in Big Star.

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      1. Maybe, he did, not sure of all the members, Danny, Jarry’s cousin was with them a short time, replacing someone who quit or got drafted or some such. I do remember their one big hit “Keep On Dancing.”

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      3. THIS kind of comment is what WP is all about. Personal anecdotes firing off other ideas and inspirations. God, Phil, you should write a book, seriously!

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  9. I know how much you dig The Replacements, Max, and it’s definitely because of you I know about them and Big Star. “Alex Chilton” is a great song. Their self-sabotaging behavior is a bit hard to understand, but it’s part of their legacy.

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    1. It’s a perfect introduction song. I bet some Big Star fans did get this album at the time because of it.

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