the Replacements

At the request of Uncle Saxon, I started a thread on the Replacements
one of the best, if not the best of the so called "collage bands' of
the 80's. Paul westerberg one of the best songwriters of his
generation, I suspect that he must have been an influence on kurt
Cobain, but don't know if this is a fact.
Heartfelt lyrics, influenced Wilco (great band) and the Goo Goo
Dolls but don't hold that agaisnt them, great songs " Bastards of The
Young" " Alex Chilton" " Left of the Dial" "Aching to be" and
many more, also the sloppiest band I have ever seen live, but fun show.

Yeah, depending on when they started drinking, they either put on a mind-blowingly great live show, or the biggest drunken pile of crap. They were unpredictable like that.

As far as the band goes, they never recorded a bad song. And back in the 90's, you couldn't find a band that did not list Husker Du, The Replacements, the Pixies, or Big Star as an influence.

Another KILLER Minneapolis band that fit into that group was the Gear Daddies. Them, Soul Asylum, Trip Shakespeare, Flamin' Ohs, Black Spot, Jayhawks, The Suburbs, Urban Guerillas, Suicide Commandos, Run Westy Run, The Wallets, on and on and on. And, of course, you had Killdozer, Die Kreuzen, and the Descendants sneaking across the cheddar curtain and spending alot of time over here. You could go anywhere, any night of the week, and see a band that will have thier place in history. And, for the most part, every one of them started as a hard core band. So the early albums are fantastic, to my ears.

I spent most of my time seeing Impaler, Misery, Vile, Powermad, Disturbed, etc.

Love the REPLACEMENTS...not as much as PIXIES but close..

I love the Beatles but i'm a Rolling Stones man.

Which pretty much says it in regards to this thread and that thread on that other great band.

I have hundreds of favourite bands but there is a handful or two of those bands that i keep near and dear to my heart....these guys being one of them. Which says more than i can say.

No one sums up post-adolescent blues better then Paul....not even Peter Perrett.

I love how they covered all their bright power pop songs in all manner of ragged country, hard rock, punk and rock n' roll clothes.

"Sixteen Blue", "Bastards Of Young", "Achin' To Be", "Left Of The Dial" etc. are just the greatest songs ever....people rag on the later albums saying their too polished and cleaned up but the songwriting's still there.

Those reissues look great, with all those bonus tracks on them....which has lead to every music magazine i've read in the past few months acting out misty eyed revisionism on the 'Mats catalogue...I'm sure much to the chagrin of Paul....but then how can you not blubber about them when they wrote songs like that.

Which demonstrates why they were so great, they were a walking talking contradiction...they were fiercly image conscious but never gave off the impression that they were.

Oh yeah Paul's solo rekkid's are brilliant and Tommy's early 90's band Bash & Pop's lone record is a bit of a gem.

Is this the greatest video clip ever.....

RP - ya ever heard Stinson's band - PERFECT? The hidden track is a shreddin' version of Crocodile rock. It kills!!

It still saddens me that he has anything to do with that dickhole, W.A.R., though. Lost alot of respect for him because of that.

Chris Mars and Slim have a couple of decent solo albums as well. My ex-sister-in-law was in a band [called Holiday Ranch - I think I may have sent Shiney a copy of it] with the guitarist from Limited Warranty. They were invited to do a cover on a local comp tribute to the 'mats [well, more of a tribute to Bobby]. They covered "Skyway" acoustically. Very beautifully done. I wish all you 'mats fans could come to the Cities. You can experience alot of what Paul was singing about [songs like "Skyway, All he wants to do is fish, etc].

My friend Kevin Bowe was playing guitar for Paul on tour the last time I looked. Kevin was the guy that took me to my first Suicide Commandoes gig (at the Guthrie!); Suburbs at Jays Longhorn, Johnny Thunders at the Entry, and Plasmatics at the Ave. One time we went to see the Flamin' Ohs in Arden Hills and got beer poured all over us for being "Punks".
RP, you gotta have have the "Kitten Compilation" (and there was a volume two- I have it but can't recall the name); which document the early Minneapolis hardcore scene that spawned Husker Du, Replacements, and Loud Fast Rules (Soul Asylum). Also one very influential record at that time was the "Big Hits of Mid-America Volume 2"; early midwestern punk bands. What I wouldn't give for a CD of that!

The companion to the Kitten Kompilation was called Barefoot and Pregnant. I remember now.

SAXON1500 wrote:

RP - ya ever heard Stinson's band - PERFECT? The hidden track is a shreddin' version of Crocodile rock. It kills!!

It still saddens me that he has anything to do with that dickhole, W.A.R., though. Lost alot of respect for him because of that.

Yeah i heard of Perfect, actually picked up that rousing little EP not too long ago.

Your right that is a fun romp through Crocodile Rock, reminds me of that other 80's trash cult rock n' roll band the Joneses cover of that song.

I think Tommy joining Axl's circus is a very Mats kinda thing to do, it's like "meh i'll join Guns N' Roses, whatever!".

Kinda like Paul writing that soundtrack for that kid's animated movie not so long ago, causing a ruse amongst the square Mats diehards. Cries of sell out and what not.

That's one of the things that i love about them, they do whatever and couldn't give a stuff what the fans think. Too many bands cater to their fans, it should be about what the guys in the band want to do and if people like that then so be it. Jump on or off, make no concessions.

Question Saxon. Did they really play a set of country covers to a hardcore/punk crowd one night? I think i read it somewhere, if so that's brilliant. Wish more bands would go against the grain like that, f*ck with what people expect.

Quote :

Question Saxon. Did they really play a set of country covers to a hardcore/punk crowd one night? I think i read it somewhere, if so that's brilliant. Wish more bands would go against the grain like that, f*ck with what people expect.

You'd have to ask SAHB on that one [he has a couple years on me]. I heard the story too. Probably at the Longhorn.

Quote :

I think Tommy joining Axl's circus is a very Mats kinda thing to do, it's like "meh i'll join Guns N' Roses, whatever!".

My opinion stems completely from my red hot hatred for Axl and GnR. He could have joined the Back Street Boys and it would not have been as bad of a choice in my mind.

I have a great promo-only live disc Sire released in '89 of a show they did at the U of Wisc called "Live Inconverated". Remind me to burn it for ya, the next time we trade. Also have a couple of cool boots [Murder at the Maxwell - New Jersey '86 {one of Bob's last shows} and Putting on the Ritz - NYC '87] if ya want those too.

Another cool old TC comp is the Blackberry Way album [more of a historical document than anything]:

Mini-hits of Minneapolis


vol 2:
Knock Knock-Swing Set
Follow That Girl-The Idle Strand
Julie Android-Semantics
Freedom-Tom Bright
Paint the Sky-The Ohs
Live Inside Your Dream-Idiot Savant
Wasted on You-The Idle Strand
Blackout-Swing Set
All I Know-The Ohs
Junk Mail-Small Wonder
She's Got Everything-The Idle Strand
Party at my House-The Ohs
Hardcore-Tom Bright
Sincerity-Swing Set
People I Don't Know-Semantics
Every House Deserves to be A Home-Small Wonder
In My Own Room-The Idle Strand
Something New-Idiot Savant
Little Worlds-Small Wonder
Not Today-The Idle Strand

nope, SAX you never sent me anything called HOLIDAY RANCH....But i'm sure I'd like it...


Anyway, I got the new GLEN CAMPBELL cd today (yes, the RHINESTONE COWBOY guy)

I love old tier country and really like when they stage comebacks...and GLEN has gone the CASH rout where a new producer ferryed him songs to interpret...so the disc has him singing TOM PETTY, GREEN DAY, U2 and LOU REED tunes...



BUT

He does a great version of "Sadly, Beautiful" which is a REPLACEMENTS tune...

there in lies my relevence to posting it here...

I definitely wasn't there for the Replacements "country" show; but I will confirm or disconfirm that legend and get back to you. They were certainly capable of doing something like that. I did see them play a benifit concert with Soul Asylum in which they both played some classic rock, Highway Star by Deep Purple, etc.

The Replacements Drummer Steve Foley Dead at 49



8/27/08, 1:45 pm EST
Drummer Steve Foley, who played drums on the Replacements’ final All Shook Down tour, died last weekend in Minneapolis after accidentally overdosing on prescription medicine. He was 49. Foley was recruited to join the Replacements after original drummer Chris Mars left following the All Shook Down sessions. Foley joined the band after meeting Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson in a bar and offered them a ride. When they got in the car, they noticed a copy of All Shook Down, prompting both members to declare Foley as their new drummer. Foley sat behind the kit for what was the group’s final tour, including their last ever concert on July 4th, 1991 in Chicago’s Grant Park. In his post-Replacements days, Foley played in Stinson’s band Bash & Pop and also worked as a car salesman.

The Replacements were one of those bands that I didn't discover for years. I had seen the movie "Can't Hardly Wait" when it came out. It wasn't until the credits in the movie where I heard the title track to the movie. At the time, I hadn't even realized that the lead singer was Paul Westerberg, who I thought stole the show on the "Singles" soundtrack. I ended up getting the Replacements 2 CD set "All for Nothing".

It's hard to believe that this band didn't strike it big during the 80's. Favorite songs of theirs would have to be "Left of the Dial", "Here Comes A Regular", "Skyway", "I'll Be You", "Achin' To Be", "Talent Show", "Bastards of Young" and the aforementioned in the first paragraph.