Chris Bell’s Mysterious Death and Big Star’s Music Legacy

Happy Monday! Listen to this instead of whatever else you’re supposed to be doing right now.

P.S. – Rich Tupica’s book is excellent! And reading it, I learned that I literally grew up in the house across the street from where Chris Bell grew up. Missed him by about 10 years, though.

3 Replies to “Chris Bell’s Mysterious Death and Big Star’s Music Legacy”

  1. Here are some random thoughts.

    As for Alex Chilton’s personality, he was mostly very likeable. He had no patience for blind worshippers and flatterers. He could be brutal to them. If they stood up for themselves, he might lay off. If they didn’t, he’d just keep walking all over them. He would also test people he liked. If you stood your ground, hit back, or ghosted him, he would be contrite and then you were friends for life. I knew him mostly during his worst phase. I never saw his bad side post recovery.

    As for Chris Bell’s passive-aggressive stance towards Alex after #1 Record, it was driven by jealousy. Alex was more famous, so everyone saw Big Star as Alex’s band, when in fact Chris was the main driver, at least at first. That was understandably very frustrating for him. When Big Star emerged, people thought “oh, the Box Tops’ singer has a new band,” because Chris wasn’t well-known. It wasn’t until I knew them (post breakup) that I learned that #1 Record was mostly Chris’s baby.

    It was inevitable that Alex would be the focal point; as a result, it would have been worse for Chris if Big Star had become famous after #1 Record. A successful Big Star would have put the spotlight even more on Alex rather than Chris, and not only because of Alex’s fame: Alex was a far more charismatic performer. He had his Box Tops experience and knew how to carry himself. I never saw Big Star before Chris left, but I saw Chris perform live several times (mostly with Van Duren). He was a bit awkward and aloof, not a natural performer like Alex. He would have improved over time, but not fast enough to compete with Alex. Anyway, Chris suffered from depression, and success in the music industry would have been as difficult as failure even without Alex to contend with.

    I like how Tupica stresses that Big Star appeared at the wrong time. One thing I’ve found annoying about the Big Star cult is the assumption that Big Star would have been huge if it weren’t for music biz neglect and incompetence. In fact, in the early 70’s, almost no one wanted to hear jangle pop, especially of the introspective variety. I saw post-Chris Big Star perform live two or three times (I remember two times, but a friend insists I was with him at a third gig that I cannot remember). The first time I recall seeing them was at the fairgrounds, where they were on a bill with some other local bands. I was around sixteen and with a group of about eight friends. This was not long after Radio City. None of my friends liked them except me. In that era, when a trio came on stage people expected heavy blues, you know, power trio stuff. But here were these guys playing Byrdsy-sounding pop. My friends were bored and were mocking Alex, whom they thought effeminate (these friends were mostly football players). The rest of the crowd was polite but indifferent. They were waiting for the next boogie band.

    I didn’t really know Chris, although I met and spoke to him a few times at Ardent and at Tommy Hoehn’s house. I knew enough people who were close to him to say that there’s absolutely no mystery about his life or death. I don’t want to get into any of that in a semi-public setting but can blabber upon request at the next Bastards’ Convention. I will say that the death scenario that Tupica deems most likely (if I’m remembering the podcast accurately–I listened over a week ago) is correct.

    Among the nonsense I’ve read online is the notion that Chris’s drug abuse was fueled by suppressed homosexuality. Gay or not, that whole idea is just ridiculous within the context of the local music scene in the 70’s. Almost all rock musicians around here were regularly taking near-lethal amounts of powerful and dangerous drugs, often mixed with alcohol. Those of us who did not were abnormal. Chris’s behavior in that milieu was completely normal.

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