He was born in Memphis and broke out in the mid-late 60’s before experiencing a series of professional setbacks caused by record label issues, along with addiction and acrimony in the band. He tried to go it alone but it never really panned out, and he was nearly forgotten about before becoming a highly influential cult hero in the underground music scene. Later in life, after a series of personal setbacks, he finally started to achieve some of the recognition he richly deserved but then passed away all too early.
I know what you’re thinking: But you already took Chilton?
Pick #2: Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee was born in Memphis but grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where he started the pioneering (and racially-integrated) band that became Love in the mid-60’s. He was also perhaps responsible for giving (friend and sometime collaborator) Jimi Hendrix his first session job, though that is in doubt.
Love was both of its era and from the future, and played a blend of psychedelic pop / folk-rock that at times presaged punk rock. They had their biggest hit with 66’s 7 and 7 is:
Their third record, 1967’s Forever Changes, was greeted mostly with polite shrugs, but has since been recognized as one of the greatest records of all time. It’s psychedelic folk, with prominent string and horn arrangements, and it doesn’t quite sound like anything else, before or after, and its dark pessimistic themes stand out noticeably from rest of the flower power scene. To wit: Arthur Lee had his doubts.
I first discovered Love through Wes Anderson. Love’s now most famous song, Alone Again Or (written by Lee’s bandmate [Ranch]), is featured prominently in his debut feature, Bottle Rocket, in the first of a long line of great Anderson scenes set to a killer almost forgotten song.
Lee led a deeply troubled life after the break-up of the original line-up of Love, and he spent much of the 70’s and 80’s adrift, even running afoul of the law. Interest started back up again by the early 90’s. 1993 saw [Ranch] and the Egyptians, release the lament The Wreck of the Arthur Lee, while Lee hooked up with a young band called Baby Lemonade and went out on tour to perform old Love songs. Things seemed to be going well, until Lee was charged with discharging a firearm and was sentenced to a lengthy stint in prison because it was his third strike. He ended up serving more than 5 years before the verdict was thrown out on appeals because of prosecutorial misconduct.
Now out of prison, Lee was more reflective and focused. He saw what Brian Wilson was doing with bringing Pet Sounds on tour, and decided on swiping the idea for Forever Changes. He went out on tour again, selling out impressive venues, but only a few years later it all came to an end. He was diagnosed with Leukemia and died at 61 in 2006.
In the Quackverse, Lee & Chilton are going to run into each other somehow, maybe in Memphis, sometime in the mid 80's. Maybe Lee goes back to the place of his birth looking for signs of his birth father but instead finds Chilton. Chilton won't have to stoop to being a dishwasher in New Orleans to make ends meet and Lee will stay out of jail, and they pair up to create a formidable songwriting duo ready to take over the world just as things start getting really interesting.
@BiggE
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