“Alex Chilton” by The Replacements

"Alex Chilton" is the Replacements' love letter to the man who fronted the Box Tops and Big Star, released in 1987 as a promotional single from Pleased to Meet Me, their fifth studio album, on Sire. Chilton was a hero to the band and worked with them more than once, and the hook came out of Paul Westerberg fumbling for a way to praise one of Chilton's songs the first time they met.

It's a pure rush of fandom: Westerberg's guitar jangles and charges, Tommy Stinson's bass bounds along, and Chris Mars bashes the drums and whacks a cowbell like he's trying to wake the neighbors. Westerberg sings lead and his own backups, and he sounds giddy, starstruck and a little sloppy in the best Replacements way. Jim Dickinson produced, with John Hampton and Joe Hardy recording and mixing, and the three of them kept the ragged edges right where they belong.

The video recycled footage from the band's banned clip for "The Ledge". The song itself has only grown in stature since, and plenty of critics rank it among the best things the band ever did.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.