PAUL WESTERBERG REMEMBERS ALEX CHILTON

This weekend at South By Southwest, a Big Star reunion show was necessarily, and tragically, converted into a Big Star tribute: the band's leader Alex Chilton died just a few days before the show was to take place. Mike Mills of R.E.M., John Doe of X and M. Ward were among the artists who performed. But no one ever paid tribute to the man like Paul Westerberg, who wrote the classic Replacements song "Alex Chilton." This weekend he wrote about the man in The New York Times.

ALEX CHILTON R.I.P.

Like all other music fans, I'm sorry to hear about the passing of Alex Chilton, formerly of The Box Tops and Big Star. I can't act like I'm a big fan or expert: I first heard about him via The Bangles, who covered "September Gurls" on thier 1986 album Different Light. Also, of course, The Replacements' song "Alex Chilton" helped. Chilton was a big influence on a lot of my favorite artists, including R.E.M. and Matthew Sweet. Music critic Jim DeRogatis wrote a tribute to the man for The Chicago Sun-Times.