“Neil Young, Joe Strummer, David Bowie, Tom Verlaine? They all went out the window at that moment…”

Urkraft? Antog egentlig, at jeg havde defineret begrebet. I hvert fald for mig selv. Jeg har, ikke desto mindre, brugt enhver ledig stund de seneste dage på at fundere over, hvad urkraft præcis betyder for mig. Jo mere, jeg har tænkt over det, jo mere er jeg kommet i tvivl. At jeg samtidig skal liste den op og argumentere for mine valg, gør det endnu mere umedgørligt.

Chuck Prophet, tidligere guitarist i Green On Red, har i et indlæg på sin hjemmeside fra 2007, beskrevet et møde med urkraften. Eller i det mindste et møde med noget, der forandrede hans syn på musik.  

“Tom Waits once described Alex Chilton as "the Thelonius Monk of the rhythm guitar". He's damn right. I heard it all for the first time live in 1986 at the 688 Club in Atlanta, Georgia. I was 22 years old; a kid in a band called Green On Red and we were playing on a bill with him that night. We were positively bourgeois; freshly signed to Polygram Records with an extra van and a rag-tag road crew. We were living high on the hog, man (or we thought so, anyway). Alex Chilton pulled up the gravel drive to the back of the joint in an old Buick Skylark spitting plumes of blue smoke. He took off the shirt he was wearing, shoving it into the back of his Fender Super Reverb amp, and pulled out the one he wore for gigs. He donned a harmonica rack and tuned up his guitar to the harp, all the while looking at his bass player and drummer (Rene Coman and Doug Garrison). He stepped up to the mike and clicked his heels four times. That was it. I don't know who my fragile busted up little psyche's influences were at the time; Neil Young, Joe Strummer, David Bowie, Tom Verlaine? They all went out the window at that moment; floated up into the ether and stayed put. Alex has remained. I have forgotten many heroes along the way. Put on "Bangkok" and you'll begin to understand why this man, this rock and roll song and dance man, can't be tossed aside. Ever.”

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I 1986, samme år som Prophet så Chilton for første gang, lavede NME i øvrigt, denne liste over de ti bedste numre, som Alex Chilton har medvirket på.

GODT NYTÅR!