A Man Called Destruction
The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The first biography of the artist who “essentially invented indie and alternative rock” (Spin)
A brilliant and influential songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, the charismatic Alex Chilton was more than a rock star—he was a true cult icon. Awardwinning music writer Holly George-Warren’s A Man Called Destruction is the first biography of this enigmatic artist, who died in 2010. Covering Chilton’s life from his early work with the charttopping Box Tops and the seminal power-pop band Big Star to his experiments with punk and roots music and his sprawling solo career, A Man Called Destruction is the story of a musical icon and a richly detailed chronicle of pop music’s evolution, from the mid-1960s through today’s indie rock.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
George-Warren's (Punk 365 ) swirling, perhaps over-generous biography follows the rowdy life of Alex Chilton, a largely unheard of underground rock star. The work spans the career of the Memphis-born Chilton from his 1967 debut as a chart-topping 16-year-old pop idol with the Box Tops, to his critically acclaimed but obscure work with Big Star and other punk bands, to his minor resurgence from the 1980s as an elder statesman of indie rock. Along the way George-Warren tells a well-paced, matter-of-fact, classically sordid saga of dissipation including booze, pills, groupies, onstage antics, domestic violence, suicide attempts, anti-semitic outbursts, and Elvis-like bloating that bottomed out in stints spent working as a janitor and dishwasher. Less entertaining are the elaborate rehashes of Chilton's recording sessions. Chilton's abandonment of commercial success, inclination towards wild, frequently off-putting music, and squalid life-style have made him a martyr in the punk-grunge pantheon, but the many encomiums George-Warren assembles may not convince readers of his brilliance. Instead, he comes across as the embodiment of an aesthetic beloved by the cognoscenti rather than the creator of music that can move the masses.
