A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton from Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man

George-Warren's (Punk 365 ) swirling, perhaps over-generous biography follows the rowdy life of Alex Chilton, a largely unheard of underground rock star. The work spans the career of the Memphis-born Chilton from his 1967 debut as a chart-topping 16-year-old pop idol with the Box Tops, to his critically acclaimed but obscure work with Big Star and other punk bands, to his minor resurgence from the 1980s as an elder statesman of indie rock. Along the way George-Warren tells a well-paced, matter-of-fact, classically sordid saga of dissipation%E2%80%94including booze, pills, groupies, onstage antics, domestic violence, suicide attempts, anti-semitic outbursts, and Elvis-like bloating%E2%80%94that bottomed out in stints spent working as a janitor and dishwasher. Less entertaining are the elaborate rehashes of Chilton's recording sessions. Chilton's abandonment of commercial success, inclination towards wild, frequently off-putting music, and squalid life-style have made him a martyr in the punk-grunge pantheon, but the many encomiums George-Warren assembles may not convince readers of his brilliance. Instead, he comes across as the embodiment of an aesthetic beloved by the cognoscenti rather than the creator of music that can move the masses. (May)