So It Goes

Chris Stamey (with Alex Chilton): “Summer Sun”

Remember those Marvel Comics where two heroes would combine for an issue, like when Namor would join the Fantastic Four and stuff? That’s what this buried piece of power pop reminds me of, when a 22 year old pre-dB’s Chris Stamey cuts his teeth with some help from Big Star’s Alex Chilton.¹

Chilton produced this song and its flip side, “Where the Fun Is” on New York’s Ork Records² in 1977.  Later that year, Stamey formed his own label—Car Records—and dropped a single for Chilton’s former Big Star-mate Chris Bell.  It was the only solo work released in Bell’s lifetime; he died in December ‘78 in a single car accident and was buried on Alex Chilton’s birthday.

I hope your head is spinning by now.

¹ Alex Chilton was also in The Box Tops, which is a detail that blows my mind every single time I hear “The Letter”. Thanks to our unimaginative oldies station, my brain is detonated approximately every 15 minutes.

² The label is named for Television’s manager Terry Ork, who released the band’s very first seven-incher, “Little Johnny Jewel”.  That record is unofficially considered to be the first new-wave single ever released.  The second?  Carnivorous #1 by Sneakers…a group that featured Chris Stamey. DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE? DO YOU? HALLUJAH! HOLY SHIT! WHERE’S THE TYLENOL?