RIP Alex Chilton

I'm not going to pretend I've spent a lot of time listening to Big Star over the years. Innumerable poseurs will tend to that at a moment like this. But as with the Velvet Underground, their influence on a lot of the musicians who've been the soundtrack to my post-adolescent life has been profound. So in spite of their lack of commercial success - which I contributed to by getting cassettes from friends - Alex Chilton has attained a kind of quiet immortality.