I hate ILoveMusic, it's got too many POLLS - Artist Poll #104 - THE REPLACEMENTS - RESULTS

https://images2.imgbox.com/87/e3/7OSIvGMd_o.jpg

38 ILXors selected their favourite TRACKS by The Replacements, up to a maximum of 30.

30 selected their favourite ALBUMS by The Replacements (and associated projects), up to a maximum of 5.

11 also expressed opinions on the TRACKS recorded solo (and in other projects) by various Replacements members, up to a maximum of 20.

Let's start with the album votes first, and then tracks from solo projects, etc.

Here's a Spotify list for THE REPLACEMENTS tracks rollout which we'll get to last of all:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/44LeYuDXO7tV2ER7uxApBR?si=Ee3mpwarQR2EP51NCEpXBw

And here's a Spotify list for the SOLO AND OTHER PROJECTS:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2PbXH3iBoo7n6vXl1eDfm0?si=agdxx6PxT3yolqOcZ4R-1A

Tape’s rolling.

If you just grab your things and start POLLing, there won’t be any hassle

ALBUMS

Y'all came up with 14 different albums. Let's roll out every one...

dope smoking poll-on

https://images2.imgbox.com/3a/21/a92MfSAm_o.jpg

#13 (TIE)
PAUL WESTERBERG - Suicaine Gratification
February 1999
Score: 1
Votes: 1 (O)
Youtube excerpt: Self Defence

https://images2.imgbox.com/53/4c/BcQNm9rX_o.jpg

#13 (TIE)
PAUL WESTERBERG - 49:00
July 2008
Score: 1
Votes: 1 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Almost of it!

Suicaine Gratification

what a terrible title -- is this his synth pop experiment?

Lol. Never got past the title myself.

almost wrote "synth pop excrement"

https://images2.imgbox.com/b1/23/wvBglVuy_o.jpg

#12
PAUL WESTERBERG / GRANDPABOY - Stereo / Mono
April 2002
Score: 3
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Call That Gone?

Oh, it shrunk the image. Too big, I guess. That'll learn me.

This is a very well-regarded record, I have learned. If ballots hadn't been a cramped 5 entries long, I suspect could have been significantly higher.

i like that excerpt! i haven't listened to it at all, i don't think

xpost:

Regarding the album's strange title, Westerberg said, "I don't want to think about it too deeply other than the fact that it seems wrong, and therefore it's attractive to me."

https://images2.imgbox.com/28/11/oP9uKJIY_o.jpg

#10 (TIE)
THE REPLACEMENTS - All Shook Down
September 1990
Score: 4
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Nobody

https://images2.imgbox.com/c6/a4/0dDsYVXj_o.jpg

#10 (TIE)
THE REPLACEMENTS - For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986
October 2017
Score: 4
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Hold My Life

Considered voting for For Sale but in the end saved my ballot bullets for proper, um, albums.

https://images2.imgbox.com/aa/56/XCsH5UDx_o.jpg.jpg

#9
THE REPLACEMENTS - The Shit Hits the Fans
January 1985
Score: 5
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube excerpt: All of it!

Classic

Haven’t listened in a long time though and these days listen to For Sale a lot.

SHTF is a chillout album for me

Seems I mangled the image:

https://images2.imgbox.com/aa/56/XCsH5UDx_o.jpg

Which was done by Christopher Mars, I believe.

Had totally forgotten about Bob’s dress wearing until I saw that and some other photo a few days ago.

https://images2.imgbox.com/18/5c/p5KabRFD_o.jpg

#8
THE REPLACEMENTS - Dead Man's Pop
September 2019
Score: 10
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Wake Up (Bearsville Version)

Like that one quite a bit but based on my simplistic criteria it didn't make the cut.

One could argue it should have been merged with DTAS for these purposes. It likely cost that record some points.

https://images2.imgbox.com/e2/6d/ls14NejZ_o.jpg

#7
THE REPLACEMENTS - Don't Tell a Soul
January 1989
Score: 14
Votes: 5 (1)
Youtube excerpt: I Won't

https://images2.imgbox.com/49/ae/VoHdPTNI_o.jpg

#6
THE REPLACEMENTS - Stink
June 1982
Score: 23
Votes: 7 (1)
Youtube excerpt: God Damn Job

#5.5

FWIW, a combined Don't Tell a Soul/Dead Man's Pop would have placed here, leap-frogging only Stink, with a 1 point margin.

just curious - did anyone vote for both DTAS and Dead Man's Pop?

*double checks* No!

i think it's great you split the votes - this way you can see the breakdown, but also know what it would have been combined.

I voted for Stink, cuz it's cool, but I'm such a CD era fool that I didn't previously realise the original cover was hand-stamped and highly variable. Which makes it still cooler.

https://images2.imgbox.com/d8/9c/NQ9J7qoI_o.jpg

#5
THE REPLACEMENTS - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
August 1981
Score: 37
Votes: 14 (2)
Youtube excerpt: Kick Your Door Down

wow, thought that would make #4!

it's a fantastic punk album, one that really surprised me upon listening for this poll. i had never given it a solid listen to it, and it convinces me that they could have been a really great punk band if they kept going in that direction

I think I've owned Sorry Ma the longest (a result of mainly buying used, etc) but it's the least well imprinted onto my brain. I tend to underrate it horribly when it's not actually playing!

https://images2.imgbox.com/a6/6b/WlRrAAR8_o.jpg

#4
THE REPLACEMENTS - Hootenanny
April 1983
Score: 50
Votes: 23 (1)
Youtube excerpt: You Lose

quite surprised hootenanny placed above sorry ma

me too! i like hootenanny a lot and i look forward to feeling dumb and thinking it's my favorite a few years down the road. but overall, in my listening i found myself a little bit let down by it, especially sandwiched by so much amazing stuff directly around it

some days i think hootenanny is their pinnacle, some days i think it's a bit of a mess, but there is no day in which i don't thank the good lord above for the existence of "lovelines."

it's just a weird transitionary record to me, a few moments of brilliance and a bunch of other directions that don't work too well

solid thread title, btw

I always remember Hootenanny as a bit too jokey. In reality that's only really a couple of brief tracks and the highs are high. Without giving much away, almost all of it was pretty well represented on tracks ballots.

Also, fun fact: There's a typo in the opening post, as it was written in advance and didn't account for a ballot arriving slightly later. There were in fact 31 album ballots, not 30.

https://images2.imgbox.com/e8/fd/XsiowHm0_o.jpg

#3
THE REPLACEMENTS - Pleased to Meet Me
April 1987
Score: 82
Votes: 28 (4)
Youtube excerpt: Red Red Wine

hootenanny is definitely transitional, partly still trying to be a punk band, partly shouting no way, partly laughing at the predicament, fully, um, stuck in the middle. but i think "run it" is as good as they ever punked, "color me impressed" is a clear arrow forward, and "mr. whirly" is pretty much a career declaration that they're not going to take this shit seriously, ever, no matter how badly someone wants them to. a weirdly quintessential mats album for me.

and pttm is where end up deciding to take this shit seriously in spite of their own worst intentions, and is the beginning of their downfall, and is still a fantastic album.

where *they* end up...

shout-out to whoever had Hootenanny #1, I had it at #2. I feel like it's overlooked, the first classic.
No drama left now.

https://images2.imgbox.com/da/79/ZGuv578z_o.jpg

#2
THE REPLACEMENTS - Tim
October 1985
Score: 107
Votes: 31 (4)
Youtube excerpt: I'll Buy

No drama perhaps, but still interesting that this was the only long-player that everyone voted for.

https://images2.imgbox.com/08/c1/I4ScVomA_o.jpg

#1
Let It Be
September 1984
Score: 126
Votes: 29 (18)
Youtube excerpt: Gary's Got a Boner

I enjoyed selecting those Youtube tracks just now. Not even particularly representative perhaps, but you might be able to guess why I chose those...

In summary...
                                                                            points  votes   #1's 
 1   The Replacements - Let It Be (September 1984)                             126     29     18
 2   The Replacements - Tim (October 1985)                                     107     31      4
 3   The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me (April 1987)                         82     28      4
 4   The Replacements - Hootenanny (April 1983)                                 50     23      1
 5   The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (August 1981)    37     14      2
 6   The Replacements - Stink (June 1982)                                       23      7      1
 7   The Replacements - Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)                        14      5      1
 8   The Replacements - Dead Man's Pop (September 2019)                         10      6      0
 9   The Replacements - The Shit Hits the Fans (January 1985)                    5      2      0
10=  The Replacements - All Shook Down (September 1990)                          4      2      0
10=  The Replacements - For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 (October 2017)          4      2      0
12   Paul Westerberg - Stereo/Mono (April 2002)                                  3      2      0
13=  Paul Westerberg - Suicaine Gratification (February 1999)                    1      1      0
13=  Paul Westerberg - 49:00 (July 2008)                                         1      1      0

I was going to do a top thirty for the solo/other stuff, but I'll expand it slightly and fairly briskly today to 36, partly to get everyone's #1's in, and begin the top 30 proper tomorrow (Thursday morning AEDT, Wednesday for most of you.)

No drama perhaps, but still interesting that this was the only long-player that everyone voted for.

SOLO AND OTHER PROJECTS

85 distinct tracks received votes. Here's a seven-track taster before the Top 30 beginning tomorrow, such that everything with 40 points or greater (not least all tracks receiving first-place votes) are accounted for.

Three way tie for 35...

#35 (TIE)
TOMMY STINSON - Light of Day
from Village Gorilla Head (2004)
Score: 40
Votes: 1 (1)
Youtube: audio track

#35 (TIE)
PAUL WESTERBERG - A Star Is Bored
from Melrose Place soundtrack (1995)
Score: 40
Votes: 1 (1)
Youtube: audio track

#35 (TIE)
PAUL WESTERBERG - Runaway Wind
from 14 Songs (1993)
Score: 40
Votes: 1 (1)
Youtube: original promo video

I have sneaking suspicion "A Star Is Bored" existed before Melrose Place used it, but I can't seem to prove it. Anyone?

Interest levels seem low right now so I'll keep things even more skeletal than planned. LOL. Last batch before tomorrow:

#34
PAUL WESTERBERG - Daydream
from Come Feel Me Tremble (2003)
Score: 42
2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

#33
PAUL WESTERBERG - My Dad
from Folker (2004)
Score: 43
2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

#32
PAUL WESTERBERG - Dirty Diesel
from Come Feel Me Tremble (2003)
Score: 45
2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

#31
GRANDPABOY - 2 Days 'Til Tomorrow
from Mono (2002)
Score: 47
2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Good to see another vote for My Dad. Folker has a couple of strong tracks.

Yay "Days 'Til Tomorrow", great tune

Nag at what point do you start getting consensus (5 votes?) on solo tracks?

It's mostly 3 votes before the top 10, IIRC. The proportion of voters submitting a solo/other list dropped away after a promising surge about half way through the voting period.

Started populating the Spotify list for this part now. Feel free to add stuff if I fall behind.

Good to see another vote for My Dad. Folker has a couple of strong tracks.

I was the other one. Folker's got plenty of strong tracks, and not just one but two about his dad ("Looking up in Heaven" being the other).

And it's funny, because Folker came out 23 years after Sorry Ma, in which he sang about how he hated his dad but someday he wouldn't ("I Hate Music"), but also in the middle of Folker is an entirely different song about a different kind of regret called "23 Years Ago."

A typo has been pointed out: Suicaine Gratifaction, that should be. Sorry about that.

I have clearly been spelling Suicaine Gratifaction wrong for years! I spelt it wrong on my ballot, so my fault.

hello late to the rollout in true punk fashion alas i am not drunk tho sorry (ma)

A typo has been pointed out: _Suicaine Gratif*ac*tion_, that should be. Sorry about that.

its even worse corrected. wtf paul

The self-sabotage takes a multitude of mysterious forms.

I'll return and endeavor to get through to #16 in about 7 to 8 hours, but I'll drop one now, if only to check the image.

https://images2.imgbox.com/0c/a9/D0EvUlsS_o.jpg

#30
THE I DON'T CARES ‎– Born For Me
from Wild Stab (2016)
Score: 53
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtubet: audio track

I’m interested in how 2 votes equal 53?

33 + 20, it seems.

Anyway, I changed my mind. I'll post this three-way tie before wandering off.

https://images2.imgbox.com/35/9f/K6yq2h6M_o.jpg

#27 (TIE)
BASH & POP ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me
from Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)
Score: 54
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/39/ca/8guxkZkz_o.jpg

#27 (TIE)
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– We May Be the Ones
from Stereo (2002)
Score: 54
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/60/70/TM0K623E_o.jpg

#27 (TIE)
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– Knockin' on Mine
from 14 Songs (1993)
Score: 54
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Enjoying the rollout, thanks Nag. Concur that it’s a good thread title.

Is it wrong of me to think the solo stuff titles and covers look like artifacts from a fictional or parallel universe?

Tommy Stinson was a really cute young man.

Easy, Action!

That SNL performance of Knockin on Mine just rips.

Actually getting curious about the band track results now. Which of the underreleased tracks make the cut, which favorites rise and fall.

I only voted for two solo songs, but I just remembered one I shoulda voted for, "Silent Film Star".

cosign Tommy’s cuteness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyckP1Sjjoc

HI DARE!

So much Replacements discussion on that other thread! Bless.

https://images2.imgbox.com/a6/05/ZyzcRvI2_o.jpg

#26
PERFECT - Better Days
from Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe (2004)
Score: 55
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

So strictly speaking the Perfect album was recorded in 1997 and went without an official release for years?

Correct.

https://images2.imgbox.com/cc/ad/RZezOdar_o.jpg

#25
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– Love Untold
from Eventually (1996)
Score: 56
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube: original promo video

https://images2.imgbox.com/32/d1/W3J25ScG_o.jpg

#24
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– Mr. Rabbit
from Stereo (2002)
Score: 56
Votes: 2 (1)
Youtube: audio track

Another first-place vote there.

Incidentally, there was another off-by-one error in the opening post. 12 voters in this category, not 11.

I'm really digging this part of the roll out, it puts a spotlight on lesser known gems

Thanks again Nag

I'll dash away briefly for breakfast. In the meantime here's Tommy demonstrating a flagrant disregard for occupational health and safety.

https://images2.imgbox.com/cd/da/OD7b9O5O_o.jpg

#24
BASH & POP ‎– Fast & Hard
from Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)
Score: 59
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

^ That was #23; trust the image.

https://images2.imgbox.com/e8/10/eUgsJaNK_o.jpg

#22
TOMMY STINSON ‎– Not a Moment Too Soon
from Village Gorilla Head (2004)
Score: 62
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube: audio track

I've had "Noooot a moment... too soon" swimming around inside my head all week.

https://images2.imgbox.com/42/4d/6BERyZDc_o.jpg

#22
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– Things
from 14 Songs (1993)
Score: 62
Votes: 2 (1)
Youtube: audio track

^ #21, dammit.

I believe I was the first-place vote here, fairly lazily. It feels like I've dug the pretty yet kinda morose vibe since I was a baby.

An enlightened (?) attitude towards “errors”, flubs, “mistakes”, and perfection for me was part of their charm and part of what made them unique. The anti-Steely Dan maybe? Something like that anyway.

Let's say that my incessant typos are a crucial extension of that.

A slightly tricky one...

https://images2.imgbox.com/d4/4f/YRcbAXzj_o.jpg

#20
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– Outta My System (2008) / THE I DON'T CARES - Outta My System (2016)
from 49:00 (2008) and Wild Stab (1993)
Score: 64
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube: Paul Westerberg / The I Don't Cares

The only merger I ended up going ahead with. One vote for The I Don't Cares and another for "49:00" where the 'Outta My System' segment was explicitly cited as a major reason for its appearance.

I couldn't find an suitable index within "49:00" just now. Maybe one of you has such information at hand? LOL

Okay, it starts just before the 26:00 minute mark.

http://www.paulwesterberg.com/music/solo-albums/4900-505-mp3-2008/

:)

I demand typos and randomly ranked 70s AM Radio staples for the remainder of the rollout!

Very well then, hopefully there's a bbcode error in this markup, for starters...

https://images2.imgbox.com/c3/5b/DPM7VNGC_o.jpg

#19
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– Best Thing That Never Happened
from Suicaine Gratifaction (1999)
Score: 64
Votes: 2 (1)
Youtube: audio track

*triple-checks spelling of the album title*

“My Dad” sounds like “Positively 4th Street,” no?

I can definitely hear that now that you mention it.

"Outta My System" actually first appeared on Peter Gammons's 2004 jock rock compilation album Hot Stove, Cool Music Volume 1 alongside fellow jock rockers The Pearl Jam, The Allan Brothers Band, and The Little Feats. So technically Paul got it outta his system 3 times (49:00 version's the best though)

Jock rock!

https://images2.imgbox.com/f4/de/B0qFdu4z_o.jpg

#18
GRANDPABOY ‎– Silent Film Star
from Mono (2002)
Score: 66
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

^ I like it but it's not exactly a #metoo anthem ("you oughta be a silent film star / keep that pretty little trap shut")

typical jock rocker

🖼

*#26
PERFECT - Better Days
from _Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe_ (2004)
Score: 55
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube:* audio track🕸

https://images2.imgbox.com/89/bd/RYhQAyNU_o.jpg

#17
PAUL WESTERBERG ‎– Waiting for Somebody
from Singles soundtrack (2002)
Score: 67
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Obviously Singles wasn't 2002. Grrrr.

Westerberg felt properly famous in my neck of the woods at this point. I'd probably heard maybe two Replacements songs by then but I doubt this song made further exploration seem an urgent necessity.

I really like both his tracks from Singles soundtrack even though they are v corny

but also: i first heard them when i was 16 and didnt know who Paul Westerberg even was

https://images2.imgbox.com/1e/f8/d9xtPHPt_o.jpg

#16
GRANDPABOY - Let’s Not Belong Together
from Mono (2002)
Score: 69
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

XP: It's possible my juvenile perceptions of "properly famous" are skewed. Might just mean "on high rotation on JJJ and RRR for [what I misremember as] a full year." :)

I cannot STAND Westerberg's Singles singles. At the time the mythos around him had swelled such that by the time I heard it and "Dyslexic Heart" I couldn't believe he was supposed to be this Master Songwriter.

Okay, I shall stop for now. I'll hopefully post the remainder of this bit at a similar time tomorrow.

I sense that folks are keen to get to the Replacements proper. I'll a make slow start on that on the weekend, but I suspect that will mostly be next week. I don't think I've even seen the final numbers there yet. No idea what ultimately made it the lowest placings in the top 50. (Top 60?)

Great rollout and graphics Nag! Excited for the rest.

* extracts Replacements numbers and selfishly considers whether there are enough personal favourites between #50 to #60 to warrant a longer rollout, lol *

That is totally the polltaker's prerogative. Go to 70 if you want!

Alfred, I agree about "Dyslexic Heart," which is a not very good song with a terrible core metaphor. But I like "Waiting for Somebody," it's catchy and breezy despite the angst.

Also, I like "Let's Not Belong Together," glad two other voters did too!

I'll drop a couple of tracks now and return for the thrilling conclusion about 7 hours from now.

https://images2.imgbox.com/9b/54/pD9u9ADR_o.jpg

#15
PAUL WESTERBERG - Baby Learns to Crawl
from Stereo (2002)
Score: 76
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/0b/91/XoE35SOM_o.jpg

#14
GRANDPABOY - AAA
from Mono (2002)
Score: 76
Votes: 3 (1)
Youtube: audio track

Meanwhile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdaXTSseXHc

Short, amusing thread of mostly haters. Contains the lyrics to "Left of the Dial" some of which I never could decipher. jON r U viewing the CA-REER TrAjEcToRy of THE REPLACEMENTS within proper CONTEXT?

"I headed up north"? I always thought it was "Cadillac Walk," in a nod to Mink DeVille.

Just noticed this, DeRo and Craig Finn's lists are heavy on the Sorry Ma.
https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2016/07/04/the-replacements-best-songs-according-to-those-who-knew-them-critics-the-current-staff-an

Wow, that thread. I love a “boring“ record as much as I love anything in this big dumb, chintz-worshipping world, evidently. “You’re all wrong and I’m right” ‘til the day I die.

shoot, i glanced at that list and wish i wouldn't have. i don't really have a good idea of what the consensus Replacements fan fave songs are. some of them i can guess (the big PTMM songs, anthems like Bastards of Young that were played on SNL and radio and such), but i always enjoy the element of surprise

xxp
Interesting. Thinking that Paul’s songwriting chops were there from the beginning, he didn’t get better, he just widened his subject matter, became more “sensitive,” presumably learned a couple of chords, etc. Compare, say, The Go-Betweens.

*ducks* maybe

AAA was my #1. Absolutely beautiful song, three perfect minutes for rolling end credits over. Dreamy washy echoey reverb. Whiny harmonies with himself in those soaring "all I know" background vocals. Even has a clattery noise breakdown and one of those one-note style guitar solos that's actually a couple of notes but feels like one. It rules! Cannot write a blurb of anything less than corny effusive praise for it. Only three votes? Ain't got anything to say to anyone anymore.

That The Current article is fascinating. The lack of hardly any consensual, plus the fact that last night I was regretting not placing “Gary’s got a boner” in my Top 5 when not a single of the panelists or fans even placed it on their list. And again, that thread of haters? Just as a student of the diversity in the way people hear and interpret music, it’s providing endless fascination to me.

*consensus

Lists are serious business man! You can't go around putting "Gary's Got a Boner" on them all willy-nilly like that. You will lose the respect of the community.

i included boner in my top 30. i didn't even really want to, to be honest, but i just figured i should do it

That’s understandable. Rock’n’roll is best when reverent and respectable. Bawdy vulgarity in rock is just the worst.

the Boner is gone but he's not forgotten.

https://i.imgur.com/8NmuPDK.jpg

i grew up on boner. the character boner, but also a baseball trivia book that included a full-page feature dedicated to Merkle's Boner

related: by the time i got to middle school, these were still my main 2 thoughts regarding "boners", and I was publicly humiliated on the last day of 8th grade by asking the band instructor what a boner was in front of 80+ of my peers

and she wouldn't even tell me

Wow, that thread. I love a “boring“ record as much as I love anything in this big dumb, chintz-worshipping world, evidently. “You’re all wrong and I’m right” ‘til the day I die.

I'll just say Tim Ellison was flat-out wrong about the 'Mats. May he rest in peace. Godspeed Tim.

He has risen again

Ha, messed that up a little. Roll Away the Stone

I tried a new approach to ballot generation, wonder if I will keep it for the next POLL.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/arts/music/texas-is-the-reason-punk-photos.html

Ha, messed that up a little. Roll Away the Stone

LOL

https://images2.imgbox.com/b6/3f/3GbgLwpM_o.jpg

#13
PAUL WESTERBERG - Got You Down
from Stereo (2002)
Score: 76
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube: audio track

By the way, here's an optional side-game: guess which track that has already been rolled out is actually significantly more popular that originally credited and will soon appear again!

You got me.

You had me at "Hello, this is the Minneapolis Police."

https://images2.imgbox.com/8e/0b/63EkaDkO_o.jpg

#12
GRANDPABOY - Eyes Like Sparks
from Mono (2002)
Score: 77
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube: audio track

The newly corrected entry is a little later on, to be clear. I did the "two separate entries for the one track in my spreadsheet" trick. This side-poll is the only time where I've not worked from complete reference list at the outset to avoid such a thing. Oh well.

Anyway, that there Stereo/Mono is pretty popular, hey!

https://images2.imgbox.com/a7/8f/DI9RM4UW_o.jpg

#11
BASH & POP ‎– First Steps
from Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)
Score: 83
Votes: 3 (1)
Youtube: audio track

Only three votes?

To fair, that's pretty respectable here. Modest pool of voters, *very* wide range of tracks to choose from (much, much broader than the 100-and-something in the main poll) etc, etc....

The vaguely contentious one. Voters were mostly happy to treat it as one integrated suite, so...

https://images2.imgbox.com/4a/bb/L241FHgG_o.jpg

#10
PAUL WESTERBERG - 49:00
from 49:00 (2008)
Score: 83
Votes: 4 (0)
Soundcloud: complete audio

https://images2.imgbox.com/f6/74/twzfxX2u_o.jpg

#9
PAUL WESTERBERG - First Glimmer
from 14 Songs (1993)
Score: 85
Votes: 3 (1)
Youtube: audio track

Respectful silence during the recital or no one in the pews? LOL.

I quite like the last few. "First Glimmer" has grown on me in the past couple of weeks. Seemed a bit tepid once.

I’m still pretty mystified about what’s going to make it - with a small voter pool and non-canonical artists, anything is possible.

I voted for a 49:00 track, but it makes more sense as a piece.

https://images2.imgbox.com/d2/7c/sdpIYj0D_o.jpg

#8
PAUL WESTERBERG - As Far As I Know
from Folker (2004)
Score: 89
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/5f/81/RjsOL1yV_o.jpg

#7
CHRIS MARS - Popular Creeps
from Horseshoes and Hand Grenades (1992)
Score: 93
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: original promo video

Pappy The Clown places!

I was relieved upon realising the top 10 wasn't going to be purely a Westerberg/Stinson affair.

Is it at all possible to predict what the remainder will be? (One of which you've already seen, erroneously.) I really don't know.

https://images2.imgbox.com/26/2a/FLxxIBC6_o.jpg

#6
BASH & POP ‎– Never Aim to Please
from Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)
Score: 102
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

That Bash & Pop record is so full of hooks.

https://images2.imgbox.com/f2/ea/eIZulBlM_o.jpg

#5
PAUL WESTERBERG - Only Lie Worth Telling
from Stereo (2002)
Score: 102
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube: audio track

I kinda feel like more talk about Stereo/Mono tracks would be helpful. What did he (apparently) get so right with that set of tracks?

https://images2.imgbox.com/28/51/leRCRK4K_o.jpg

#4
GRANDPABOY - High Time
from Mono (2002)
Score: 108
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube: audio track

For me it was like he regained something essential that was missing in those 90’s albums. A more lo-fi aesthetic may be part of that I believe.

https://images2.imgbox.com/73/89/FiEjNzx5_o.jpg

#3
BASH & POP ‎– Tiny Pieces
from Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)
Score: 125
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube: audio track
Youtube: live in Los Angeles, 2017

People seem particularly shy about commenting on this project. I gave this one a healthy number of points myself.

Here's the one I messed up. Not tied for 27th place. 2nd place in fact, with all votes merged. Quite a monumental error. Because it initially had an entry in my top 10 already, few other rankings need adjustment.

#2
PAUL WESTERBERG - We May Be the Ones
from Stereo (2002)
Score: 137
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube: audio track
Youtube: Late Night with Conan O'Brien, 2002

May as well post the image again.

https://images2.imgbox.com/22/42/2k7NYTCx_o.jpg

It’s hilarious and I suppose fits a kind of pattern: what others seem to like the most just does nothing for me (and vice versa)!

:)

Is #1 guessable at this point? A fair proportion of voters voted for it.

World Class Fad? 1990s Westerberg hasn't been very popular though.

https://images2.imgbox.com/f7/e8/Uxpnpb7e_o.jpg

#1
PAUL WESTERBERG - World Class Fad
from 14 Songs (1993)
Score: 184
Votes: 7 (1)
Youtube: original promo video
Youtube: Jools Holland, 1993

I voted with a pretty heavy Stereo/Mono tilt, so this is how I came at it. Alfred posted above about the expectations he brought to Singles, I suppose this is that story in reverse.

I'm a lifelong Replacements/Westerberg fan. I saw The Replacements Let It Be-All Shook Down, and then one of the solo shows with Tommy Keene on guitar. All Shook Down through Eventually all had their moments, but Suicaine felt like he had lost the script entirely, and in 2002 I don't think expectations could have been any lower. To call it a nadir seems appropriate. So it was pretty shocking that he dropped not one but 2 wall-to-wall great albums that have held up remarkably well. You hear that opening line 'Baby learns to crawl/watching daddy's skin' and the effect is just chilling. It was a fairly astonishing return to form that we have seem glimpses of since, but it's far and away his best solo work.

Had to reboot, btw. LOL. Wasn't intending to build suspense for that long.

XP: Makes sense, thanks.

The key to Stereo's greatness is that the focus is on the sound of his voice.

Expanded to include everything that received a second vote
                                                                                      pts   vts    #1s    
 1   World Class Fad                 Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                     184     7      1
 2   We May Be the Ones              Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                       137     5      0
 3   Tiny Pieces                     Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)   125     5      0
 4   High Time                       Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                         108     4      0
 5   Only Lie Worth Telling          Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                       102     4      0
 6   Never Aim to Please             Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)   102     3      0
 7   Popular Creeps                  Mars - Horseshoes and Hand Grenades (1992)        93     3      1
 8   As Far As I Know                Westerberg - Folker (2004)                        89     3      0
 9   First Glimmer                   Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      85     3      1
10   49:00                           Westerberg - 49:00 (2008)                         83     4      0
11   First Steps                     Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    83     3      1
12   Eyes Like Sparks                Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          77     4      0
13   Got You Down                    Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        76     4      0
14   AAA                             Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          76     3      1
15   Baby Learns to Crawl            Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        76     3      0
16   Let’s Not Belong Together       Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          69     3      0
17   Waiting For Somebody	     Westerberg - World Class Fad EP2                  67     3      0
18   Silent Film Stars               Grandpaboy - Mono                                 66     3      0
19   Best Thing That Never Happened  Westerberg - Suicaine Gratifaction (1999)         64     2      1
20   Outta My System                 Wild Stab (2016) + 49:00 (2008) votes             64     2      0
21   Things                          Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      62     2      1
22   Not A Moment Too Soon           Stinson - Village Gorilla Head (2004)             62     2      0
23   Fast & Hard                     Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    59     3      0
24   Mr. Rabbit                      Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        56     2      1
25   Love Untold                     Westerberg - Eventually (1996)                    56     2      0
26   Better Days                     Perfect - Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe (2004) 55     2      0
27=  Knockin' on Mine                Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      54     2      0
27=  Friday Night Is Killing Me      Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    54     2      0
29   Born For Me                     The I Don't Cares ‎– Wild Stab (2016)              53     2      0
30   2 Days 'Til Tomorrow            Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          47     2      0
31   Dirty Diesel                    Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble  (2003)         45     2      0
32   My Dad                          Westerberg - Folker (2004)                        43     2      0
33   Daydream                        Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble  (2003)         42     2      0
34=  Light of Day                    Stinson - Village Gorilla Head (2004)             40     1      1
34=  A Star Is Bored                 Westerberg - Melrose Place (1995)                 40     1      1
34=  Runaway Wind                    Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      40     1      1
37   Tickled to Tears                Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    39     2      0
38   Man Without Ties                Westerberg - Knockin On Mine (1993)               36     2      0
39=  Let’s Do It                     Paul Westerberg + Joan Jett.. - Tank Girl ST..    36     1      0
39=  Call That Gone                  Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        36     1      0
39=  You Just Might Be The One       Westerberg - live Monkees cover                   36     1      0
42   MPLS                            Grandpaboy - Dead Man Shake (2003)                35     2      0
43   I’m a Gas Station Attendant     Paul Westerberg - demo                            34     2      0

Damn, I was the only one to vote for the right to arm bears... Hail to the chief with a shotgun in his teeth! I loved hearing paul soundtrack a animated feature... Granted it came at a time in my life when I was squarely in the demographic for taking kids to movies, but I remember enjoying it emensely.

I tried liking 14 Songs. It's solid meat and potatoes stuff, sounds good when they bash it out live (see the SNL performance of "Knockin' On Mine"), but it really is McDonald's-level meat-and-potatoes - does the trick when I'm hungry for something, but not something I'd savor after it goes down.

Potatoes are nasty when raw

Cassette copies of 14 Songs were perennials in the cut-out bins at Walmart in the late '90s.

Too bad he never got Jerry Harrison to produce one of his albums.

Although for all I know he did.

Jerry Harrison's Cut-out Cred!

Open Season is like him finding the sweet spot between the mainstream-minded production values of his 90’s stuff and the more performance-oriented, energetic, lively feel of his best early 2000’s albums (Stereo, Come Feel Me Tremble and the Grandpaboy stuff). “All About Me”, “Better Than This”, and even the sentimental piano pop of “Good Day” made it onto my ballot. I’m sure you will all hate them.

I voted for 'Whisper Me Luck' from Open Season. My ballot was weird because Stereo/Mono is my favourite Westerberg solo record, but I didn't vote for anything from it.

Didn't vote in the solo poll; the one song I love, Westerberg's "Lookin' Out Forever," lost its vote.

Jerry Harrison's Cut-out Cred!

I didn't follow this poll, and I only listened to Let It Be, Tim, and Hootenanny, but I remember being impressed by how much The Village Voice loved this band in the 80s

Pleased To Meet Me box is up on US Spotify!

Wth there’s a Jimmy Iovine remix of Can’t Hardly Wait?!

He had a hand in everything back then! I have a story tangentially related to Jimmy Iovine, I might finally need to recount. I have been sitting on it for decades. It’s nothing shocking and not really about him, so don’t want to get your hopes up, but with end times upon us I might want to release it from the vault, even if it is of second take “Wally” quality.

Must...go to sleep... and wait until the morn to listen to PTMM box.

Wth there’s a Jimmy Iovine remix of Can’t Hardly Wait?!

my memory is that was the version they used for the 7-inch single and that it was not good. i could probably google this to make sure, but i don't think that's what the replacements would do in this situation.

LOL

I'm a little unwell at present, but I think I'll start on the Replacements tracks in about 9 hours time. Just from #60 to #50, to get things moving.

THE REPLACEMENTS - TRACKS

Actually, I'll post just #60 alone right now. Happens to work quite well as the Opening Theme, no?

https://images2.imgbox.com/07/6f/Oln6BiYD_o.jpg

#60
Buck Hill
from Hootenanny (1983)
Score: 57
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Awesome. I had it at 23.

Glad Popular Creeps made it, best Mats solo soon song

also great graphic on Buck Hill, classic MN church group field trip destination

glad Buck Hill showed up, it was a late cut from my ballot

it was disillusioning to learn the title was not a reference to Pete Buck

Lol

legend has it that in 1983 a young Charles Thompson IV heard "Buck Hill" and was so intrigued by its combination of surf guitar and deranged screaming that he thought he might use it as the basis for his new band

Well done.

buck hill always makes me smile but i think i like it more in the context of the sprawl that is hootenanny than as a thing of its own. it sounds very much like it was meant to be a song with lyrics but they never got around to it. i appreciate that the internet has done its best to monumentalize the lyrics it does have.

(that said, it's almost surely in my top 60 placemats songs!)

i just annotated it

i'm a Genius now because the other day I got really into a nevernending "LoFi Radio: Beats To Sip To | Pepsi" station on youtube and decided to transcribe and annotate all the Pepsi lyrics

hahaha perfect

I really couldn't find any great way to rank or decide what was going to be on my ballot. I was listening to Hootenanny and "Buck HIll" was one of the tracks that stood out to me that time so it made the cut.

https://images2.imgbox.com/d9/14/03oWcEGP_o.jpg

#59
Asking Me Lies
from Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
Score: 58
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track (DTAS)
Youtube: audio track (Matt Wallace mix)

Confession: I struggled to remember what this track was, as a relative newcomer to DTAS. (Plus I was thinking in terms of Top 50 until 12 hours ago.)

I can’t really remember it

Did it make it onto “Dead Man’s Pop”?

Hm, I see that it did indeed make into onto Dead Man’s Pop.

The second Youtube clip is from DMP IIRC.

Oh yeah, Matt Wallace Mix.

Love Buck Hill but like lots of other faves it didn't make my 30. It would definitely make my top 60, so I approve.

Yeah, I figured this poll was going to be a team effort so I didn’t sweat the ranking for one thing, for exactly that reason.

Enjoying PTMM more than usual right now. Perhaps it’s due to cleansing my palate by attempting to listen to the solo material.

https://images2.imgbox.com/67/bd/7mtEApcX_o.jpg

#58
God Damn Job
from Stink (1982)
Score: 58
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Is Stink. Is good.

Incidentally, number of voters then number of first-place votes are serving as tie-breakers. This is a handy illustration.

ah yes, the replacements song about being sick of one particular book in the bible

i thought it was just a statement of what god did to job

it almost made my ballot! i appreciate the sentiment, and that they used to perform it for encores suggests a lot of other people did

Lol

I had it at #12. Not sure why it was so high, see my previous post.

https://images2.imgbox.com/6a/b9/njPVeBuo_o.jpg

#57
Kick Your Door Down
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 58
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube: audio track

I couldn’t just post songs from Sorry Ma so that one missed out, but good to see it here.

Some of these images received more thought than others. LOL. That particular photo shoots is fab though.

Pretty sure I didn't vote for any these, but could happily have done so, apart from #59.

^^ voted for this one, feels like a harbinger of what was to come.

https://images2.imgbox.com/e4/b0/A22Ih9zh_o.jpg

#56
Nowhere is My Home
outtake from Tim-era sessions (1985)
Score: 61
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Kick Your Door Down was my #8!

sorry ma was totally new to me, so the whole album blew my socks off. i thought this was one of the ones that sounded a lot like Wipers in some ways. westerburg even has a sage-like robotrippin negative vibe ("i wonder what goes on behind closed door"). also sounds a bit like the buzzcocks! and unlike some of the later material, the tempo and feel shifts all over the place throughout the song. by the time they get to the end, they're noticeably faster and more intense, it's lovely

“Nowhere is (Near) My Home” was too new to me to vote for, but it is good.

Spotify list is no longer just a dummy track, btw. Might even serve as a apoiler for 5 minutes depending on which order I do things.

I spent more than enough time praising this track in the other thread I suspect.

Yeah, sure did, but you can cut and paste or put convenience links if you want.

first follower over here, i will never unfollow

I spent more than enough time praising this track in the other thread I suspect.

just be like me and post pretty much the same thing with slightly different words! feels good to have another shot

Haha. Something something something guitar hook is totes rad.

The instinct towards restraint is commendable but the run-up thread and the rollout thread are distinct entities that are presumably exempt from any spamming or related rule so ultimately it’s probably fine to repeat.

Thing is, I'm usually cross-eyed from triple-checking bbcode and can barely think straight during rollouts. :)

Graphics looking good here!

https://images2.imgbox.com/f9/2d/hL0vJ23j_o.jpg

#55
Lovelines
from Hootenanny (1983)
Score: 65
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube: audio track

DIdn't get scooped up in my ballot but glad it's here.

What other band is even bringing the shenanigans like The Replacements?

Not too many, or at least not with as much success.

Okay, PTMM bonus tracks not making me feel great.

Pretty sure I did keep this on my ballot. If not, I least muttered a little 'yay' with each email that included it.

The track list on that new boxset did not entice this fan, I must say. Who even was clamoring for it?

* Short break in rollout required. Do talk among yourselves. *

https://i.imgur.com/Rsu8oYk.png

Dunno, but Dead Man's Pop was good, so it seemed intriguing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9XR5CynN-k

https://images2.imgbox.com/3d/09/8rjtFIHq_o.jpg

#54
Don't Ask Why
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 70
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track

I am enjoying the rollout, I just havent had much to contribute

this was my top vote for solo songs (even though i guess it’s technically a joan jett song & paul first choice & they edited someone else out or something idk)
https://youtu.be/eUKWMOZFTGs

There’s some kinda PTMM interview/round table with Bob Mehr on Facebook right now.

I don't think I'd heard the Joan Jett thingy before I saw the ballots. I learned quite a bit as the 'other' ballots were coming in. :)

That's a decent amount of points from three votes, re: "DAW".

More songs should punctuate their final chorus with bells.

ha, you are right about that! I'm firmly pro-bell (Rocket from the Crypt used the hell outta the bell on Scream Dracula Scream to tremendous success imo)

I like Don't Ask Why a lot, but it sounds a little too close to You Lose, which I slightly prefer for some reason. did they ever combine the 2 into a megasong?

does the PTMM reissue have a remastered version or anything to recommend it for the album songs?

You mean apart from the Jimmy Iovine remix of “Can’t Hardly Wait”?

No

In answer to your question, not mine.

https://images2.imgbox.com/d1/41/RhoHDlTB_o.jpg

#53
I'll Buy
from Tim (1985)
Score: 73
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Even I didn’t vote for “Askin’ Me Lies”

About the new PTMM boxset: “More like Pleased To...meh.”

Lol x 2

No comment on "I'll Buy"? Everyone's over with Bob Mehr? :)

Not I.

i love I’ll Buy!!! #17 on my hit parade

https://images2.imgbox.com/d0/5d/4TJE6wjz_o.jpg

#52
Anywhere's Better Than Here
from Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
Score: 78
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track
Youtube: audio track (Matt Wallace mix)

Curious as to how much of Let It Be, Tim, and Pleased to Meet Me missed the top 60. The only song I really don’t like from those records is the one that Westerberg didn’t write.

to me it’s punk rock Buddy Holly and I’m all for it

“i’ll buy” that is

I quite like "I Buy" myself. I seem to forget it exists though, out the context of the album. Unfairly, I'd say.

my ballot mostly comes from a place of crushing deeply on paul

god damn job was my #5. the pinnacle of punk mats for me. play a blues song fast and loud. swing it a little. drink a lot. shout out loud some of the most basic complaints of human existence. that song has been a lifelong companion, and not only at times when i did in fact need a god damn job and/or a god damn girl, but it was definitely there for me at those times, of which there have been a few.

In other words, it's almost a LFR version of a Shaggs song.

lovelines is a terrible idea for what do at band rehearsal when you've run out of other ideas, and they commit themselves to that terrible idea way beyond what anyone should. over the course of thirty plus years it's gotten better with every single listen. i adore it.

(xp) haha. it's a shaggs song played in tune.

This is safe space for DTAS enthusiasts. I for one would appreciate treatises on each DTAS track that places.

I might do that! But I didn’t vote for either of its placements so far. I like sad Replacements.

fcc OTM X 2

"Lovelines" is urgent and key 'Mats, for exactly the reasons fcc describes and that's why I prefer the earlier albums to the later ones. Even the throwaways are thrown away in such a deliberate knife-edge balancing act that the those albums are perfectly lethalimperfect.

https://images2.imgbox.com/72/df/ljRdnAbz_o.jpg

#51
Fuck School
from Stink (1982)
Score: 79
Votes: 4 (1)
Youtube: audio track

Posting wude words on the internet in large typefaces FTW.

Their most eloquent chorus, surely.

What's the matter, buddy?

:)

Alright. That's all I had planned just yet. Might post a mere trickle of entries over the weekend but weekend rollouts are generally not terribly successful.

I just remembered that Jim Dickinson produced some Poi Dog stuff #OneThread

perfectly imperfect

would work as a title for a comp of all the stuff that didn't make the other comps. would work for the other comps, too, come to think of it.

The Poi Dog guys said Dickinson told them he could never get a clean take out of the 'Mats because they were too many sheets to the wind so he had to splice a few takes together #OneThread

The two guitar players freaked out when Dickinson played at SXSW with his kids backing him up and Luther Dickinson was on fire. #OT

Summary so far 
                                                             pts    vts   #1s  
51  Fuck School             Stink (June 1982)                 79      4     1
52  Anywhere's Better Than  Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  78      6     0
53  I'll Buy                Tim (October 1985)                73      5     0
54  Don't Ask Why           SMFTTOTT (August 1981)            70      3     0
55  Love Lines              Hootenanny (April 1983)           65      5     0
56  Nowhere Is My Home      Tim era miscellany                61      4     0
57  Kick Your Door Down     SMFTTOTT (August 1981)            58      5     0
58  God Damn Job            Stink (June 1982)                 58      4     0
59  Asking Me Lies          Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  58      3     0
60  Buck Hill               Hootenanny (April 1983)           57      6     0

Big respect to whoever voted "fuck school" their #1

51 fuck school
52 fuck here
53 fuck you buying
54 fuck asking why
55 fuck normal ways of finding love
56 fuck homes
57 fuck doors
58 fuck jobs
59 fuck lies
60 buck hill

xp seriously, I wanna know who that is and how much student loan debt they have

That’s a brilliant ranking.

respect

whoever voted it as number one is truly in touch with the spirit of the band

Didn't vote for it because I knew someone else would.

Glad God Damn Job made the cut, it was my no. 31 and hated to cut it.

Red light, red light, cut it!

I didn't vote for "Asking Me Lies," but I actually like it. I used to hate it, but Dead Man's Pop became a good reason to re-evaluate it. The new mix is an improvement - it actually sounds more like the 'Mats proper - but it made a hell of a lot more sense knowing they were big Jackson 5 fans. So the 'Mats do their take of a Jackson 5 number, and I can dig what Westerberg hears in their music because it's pretty much what I hear in a good Jackson 5 number.

I never saw the 'Mats back in the day, but when I saw the "reunion," one of the highlights was when they did "Nowhere Is My Home," and even better a lot of people around me at least knew enough of the words to shout along with the first chorus. Not bad for something that criminally languished as an obscure, out-of-print cut for several decades.

I don't know if the master or multi-track tapes wound up in the river, but it's a shame it only exists as a so-so dub from a vinyl copy. It could really use a better mix to bring out some of the muscle, but it's still a great track, I love it - the guitar riff, the choruses, everything. It really should have made Tim.

if you write the lyric "at a Mexican bar mitzvah for 700 years" then you are good at writing lyrics

Just a couple more to consider at your leisure...

https://images2.imgbox.com/99/16/bg26ZCqE_o.jpg

#50
We'll Inherit the Earth
from Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
Score: 79
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track (DTAS)
Youtube: audio track (Matt Wallace mix)

https://images2.imgbox.com/1b/b9/minQTvEg_o.jpg

#49
Nightclub Jitters
from Pleased to Meet Me (1987)
Score: 81
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Don't mind "Nightclub Jitters" but it didn't make the cut.

Heh, had to go back and check my ballot since for all I know it could've snuck on at the bottom.

“I’ll Buy” didn’t make my ballot because it always reminded me of that Del Fuegos beer commercial which had come out a few months before Tim was released. I always conflate the two in my head.

I voted Asking Me Lies, it's a fun Jackson 5/Lynyrd Skynyrd (another influence) homage, and I love Tommy's backing vocals on it.
This seems like the 'pick your favorite filler' part of the poll, and one man's 'Asking Me Lies' is another's 'I'll Buy'.

Tim was my introduction, listened to the whole album blind, and the “you had me at” moment may very well have been I’ll Buy’s “Movies are for retards like me and Maybelline.” Just absolute perfection in the way it rolls off the tongue.

Lol, campreverb.

I searched for “Del Fuegos beer commercial” and yup, the 2 are definite family. Derivative af but I really don’t care, I just feel exactly how I should feel when I hear it.

oh man "We'll Inherit the Earth" is not filler to me! I listened to the versions on Dead Man's Pop today & I still prefer the original mix, but the demo is excellent as well. I like the Matt Wallace mix less. It's another cosmic-themed song, about life & death stuff, sacred & profane. It's hard to think that Sorry Ma was only eight years earlier, because the lyric sounds like the kind of thing that earlier band would have mocked relentlessly. But this song is relentless too, a pump your fist anthem even though your hands are in your pockets. It reminds me of another would-be anthem from that year, the Jesus & Mary Chain's "Between Planets".

Asking me lies was #13 for me, I love it. It sounds dated in a good way, like happier times... butterfly train never ends, never ends.

I liked "We'll Inherit the Earth" when the album first came out but over time it's kind of faded for me — feels too much like a deliberate sequel to "Bastards of Young," but without its humor and specificity.

"Nightclub Jitters" is the first of my picks to make the rollout. I love that song. It's ersatz cocktail jazz in the same way "Buck Hill" is ersatz surf music and "Waitress in the Sky" is ersatz honky-tonk. Ersatz is one of my favorite Replacements modes, because they're always better than you think they'd be at whatever form they try, but also still sloppy and Replacements-y about. (The loss of that hang-loose make-it-up vibe is what most mars the last two albums for me.)

Plus "Nightclub Jitters" is a catchy tune, a good groove and has some classic Westerberg lines. "They say now don't be stranger/ That really don't matter to me/ I'd be willing to wager/ That it don't matter much if we keep in touch."

Replacements-y about it, that should say.

Do you guys remember what Bruce Springsteen said to The Rock Bottom Remainders?

"Take my Little Steven, please!"

Ha, lol, no. It was something like, "You guys are pretty good. But not too good. But don't get any better, or you'll just be another band."

I love this story.
https://blog.thecurrent.org/2012/09/when-bob-dylan-met-replacements-new-yorker-unearths-priceless-decades-old-anecdote/

Haha! F*#% him if he can’t take a joke.

looooooool

that's amazing. getting burned by dylan in person is still a lifetime achievement imo, especially for performing Like a Rolling Pin

"asking Me lies" always struck me as "uh, the label says the Chili Peppers are doing OK-ish on radio (this being 89), so we'll do our not-even-half-assed version…"

looooooool

that's amazing. getting burned by dylan in person is still a lifetime achievement imo, especially for performing Like a Rolling Pin

"asking Me lies" always struck me as "uh, the label says the Chili Peppers are doing OK-ish on radio (this being 89), so we'll do our not-even-half-assed version…"

Weekends are not really all *that* quiet are they!

I'm thinking (i) leisurely get to 41 before Monday, (ii) 40-21 on Monday, (iii) 20-1 on Tues, if that's agreeable. (USA time; Tues and Wed for antipodeans.)

I'll post a couple more now.

https://images2.imgbox.com/01/f0/5vK8nH80_o.jpg

#48
Sadly Beautiful
from All Shook Down (1990)
Score: 87
Votes: 7 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/1b/20/kq2xTFCX_o.jpg

#47
Treatment Bound
from Hootenanny (1983)
Score: 90
Votes: 8 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Didn’t make the cut but I like.

The latter. The former I merely tolerate

Going back a bit: I believe I had "We'll Inherit the Earth" at the bottom of my ballot largely cuz it's dense and hazy in the Matt Wallace mix. Have no particular recollection of hearing it before Dead's Man Pop though, and working backwards to the original album version was a profoundly underwhelming experience. The bare bones of the song are possibly not great, to be honest.

Was just listening to Jeff Tweedy’s ‘Ballad of the Opening Band’ and probably should have had a Slim track on the solo ballot. Songs for Slim is pretty fun.

"treatment bound" is an alltime fave band-on-the-road song though i've always been confused by the implication that twin/tone records wanted a hit or even knew what a hit was. "yesterday's trash/too bored to thrash" is them in a nutshell.

i like that the top row of songs on the hootenanny cover have all now placed in the poll. next up: take me down to the hospital, run it and mr. whirly, none of which i voted for, all of which would make me smile.

the first time "we'll inherit the earth" made sense to me was when a christian rock band played it in the mediocre christian high school satire "saved" starring a 20something macaulay culkin. it's a good christian rock high school band song.

Love Treatment Bound so much. “Duluth to Madison!”

I missed this poll entirely — it’s for the best, I do not need to revisit my Replacements-loving years — but looking at this thread makes me realize I know their songs backward/forward/upside down because I listened to them so much.

I haven’t followed the rollout but I hope “Shiftless When Idle” places high — I still feel that one in a real and visceral and FUN way (compared to most of their songs)

Looks like I'm going to have to see "Saved"!

i like that the top row of songs on the hootenanny cover have all now placed in the poll. next up: take me down to the hospital, run it and mr. whirly, none of which i voted for, all of which would make me smile.

Still not sure if I prefer Love Lines or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgYXBmFH6Vk

Here, have another one.

https://images2.imgbox.com/f2/14/4MET6eXk_o.jpg

#46
I'm in Trouble
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 94
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track

One of my all time fave Mats tracks, always makes me want to pogo.

That one I had at 11.

I just noticed that my list was missing a 19 because I placed 2 songs at 18. Flip a coin to break the tie, Nag!?

Ha! I was going to say that they would have been allocated scores according to their position in the list regardless. But I see your list was in a fairly, er, unconventional format. Maybe I just fed it in with scores in the order they happened to assume when I'd made a ordered, vertical list out of it, as there was only a one point difference at that level and it was already taking ages. :) The 1981 track got 14 points and the 1989 track got 13. The opposite scoring would not have changed the aggregate rankings, you'll be relieved to know!

That’s confusing to me but it sounds like you’ve got it worked out. Sorry to add to your troubles. This has been a welcome distraction from...stuff going on here in Trumpland.

Very welcome distraction, thanks Nag.

XP: It couldn't have been unduly troublesome or I would have remembered it more clearly. Just guessing really. :)

"Sadly Beautiful" was on my long list, didn't make my ballot but it's a fine sturdy song. Maybe a little too sturdy, Westerberg got more deliberate about his songwriting as he went.

Deliberate is a good way to put it

Many xposts to LL

i am flying the flag for Shiftless When Idle, it ranked high in my ballot!!

With 60 songs drawn from 7 albums, an EP and some rarities, I’m thinking we’ll see plenty of tracks from most of the albums. I will be shocked if Shiftless When Idle doesn’t make it.

"Sadly Beautiful" and "Treatment Bound" both made my ballot.

"Treatment Bound" is essential, one of the great autobiographical tracks in rock, and it's perfect that a more "polished," better sounding studio master turned out to be inferior to the lo-fi basement recording that was rightfully chosen for the LP. It hits the right balance of half-assness where too much would test one's patience and not enough would lose too much charm.

"Sadly Beautiful" is one of the few tracks where I can understand Tommy's argument on why All Shook Down was their best album. When I first heard it was inspired by Marianne Faithfull, I mistakenly thought it was a song about her, and without paying close attention to the lyrics, I thought "okay, a pretty song, very nice." But when I listened to it again and paid more attention to the words, I had to question who was this really to, and then eventually who was really singing it - so it became a sentimental father-to-daughter song, then a song from the point-of-view of an older woman. None of this is an innovation, far from it. But Westerberg's performance turns it into another stunning display of empathy (for me, a key strength that always set him apart from his peers). I don't even think he put that much thought into it, it probably just came to him naturally. I found out later that he wrote the song for Faithfull because Sire's A&R dept. contacted him and asked him to write one for her. He chose as the subject someone he knew - a simple, logical idea, but using something that personal as a starting point may have made an enormous difference. When Faithfull didn't take it, he said he "realized it was too powerful to throw away" and rather than make any obvious adjustments (i.e. make it from a father's POV), I think he decided to keep it as is without dwelling on it too much and just perform it honestly as if he was that character singing the song. Brilliant and I guess underrated.

Beyond that, John Cale's viola is marvelous. I think the world of Cale and Westerberg's work, but it's especially pleasing that his contribution works so well because they don't strike me as two artists who'd collaborate that often.

According to Trouble Boys, it was totally accidental. They were overdubbing in NYC, and somebody mused it be great if they get a viola player in, someone "who sounded like John Cale in the VU", and Scott Litt told them, "Well, why don't we call him?". Cale was there in the studio ready to play within two hours. He told Westerberg the song reminded him of Nico.

I had no idea about the Faithfull business.

Seeing it was summoned a little earlier, here's one more off-peak poll result...

https://images2.imgbox.com/fb/ea/m2kfTrh2_o.jpg

#45
Run It
from Hootenanny (1983)
Score: 99
Votes: 7 (0)
Youtube: audio track

I didn't vote for "Run It," but I have nothing against it, quite the opposite. It's just that Hootenanny feels more like a collage pasted together from great bits and pieces, some of which can stand on their own as great singles. But otherwise it's mostly great fragments that add up to a much greater whole. This even extends to individual tracks themselves: "Mr. Whirly" is built from chunks of Beatle covers and "Lovelines" is lyrically cut together from personal ads. Even the LP cover (a take-off of an old folk record) actually reflects this visually if not overtly. The album made my top 5 easy, but most of the tracks were never in the running pretty much for this reason alone.

is there another debut single in rock history that sums up a band's entire career as perfectly as "i'm in trouble" b/w "if only you were lonely"?

not voting for "run it" is a mistake i have already lived to regret. the struggle and ambition and confusion of the replacements is captured in like the first 15 seconds of this one. "red light red light run it" is standard punk band thrashing about in basement, then when it gets to the third line, where paul names the intersection, he figures maybe there should be a melody, only to quickly decide maybe not.

LOL

fcc otm x 2

I had “Run It” at 21, but it couldn’t easily have been higher.

A couple more before I disappear for absolutely ages...

https://images2.imgbox.com/45/4a/KNzIwRks_o.png

#44
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
from Let It Be (1984)
Score: 99
Votes: 8 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/46/1f/7lpANTGD_o.jpg

#43
Customer
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 100
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Tommy missed the cut, Customer my #15.

open wide, Tommy!

Other songs like “Customer”: “Checking Out the Checkout Girl,” by Wazmo Nariz (not quite as good) and “The New Teller,” by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers (on the same level).

WHERE ARE THE TWINKIES?!?

i like to think the doctor with his cadillac running is just a grown up version of the little snot who was running red lights one album ago, probably in a used chevy, and that he's now reacting to the horror and confusion of seeing his old self in the little snot whose tonsils he now has to remove. though i have a feeling my analysis wouldn't stand up to close examination, or any examination. classic either way.

(alternatively, the song could be about young tommy, under the influence of anesthesia, which is probably not mixing well with whatever else is in his system, confronting the ghost of normie future.)

POLL
While you can

(Before he takes his place as a regular)

Was it an intentional mastermind kind of deal where the last track on Tim includes the line “all I know is that I’m sick of everything that my money can buy” acts as a kind of rebuttal/response to “I’ll Buy”?
Nah, my money’s on “dumb luck.”

This is not a knock on anyone else's ballot--everyone has their favourites. But the countdown so far, a mix of songs I'm not big on and things I've forgotten, underscores my fandom, which is both intense and narrow. (Also that I expect almost my whole ballot of 20 to fall in the Top 30 or so.)

https://images2.imgbox.com/bf/5e/Eioeb1B8_o.jpg

#42
Hayday
from Hootenanny (1983)
Score: 101
Votes: 7 (1)
Youtube: audio track

Only the second first-place vote.

Hmm, never noticed how that was spelled. I don't see how the countdown could have been any other way, clemenza, because ILM, because not-so-big turnout, and because Replacements.

I know, I know--the ragtag first part of the countdown is exactly what some (probably most) people love about them.

Anyway, as I say that, "Hayday" is my first pick to show up.

Yeah. But it's not just them, there was a similar effect on some other POLL some of us participated in, Euler and I, to name two. Those being the Elvis Presley POLL and the Burt Bacharach POLL.

But with someone like Burt Bacharach (or R.E.M., or the Who, or lots of artists I more or less put on an equal plane with the Replacements), there are going to be lots of songs in the lower part of the countdown I love...the distribution will be much more even. Just something I have going on in relation to the Replacements.

I had to make a detour in the neighborhood where I work last week and discovered Black Diamond Crescent.

I'm not sure turnout is a factor at all. A quick survey suggest this is big turnout by recent standards. Possibly the largest single-artist poll turnout since [and this continues to amuse me...] Belle & Sebastian, from a quick check. A mere whisker smaller than the likes of Bjork and Smashing Pumpkins. And double Elvis.

Has my favorite line of the whole album: "Times aren't tough, they're tedious."

I love that we’re going through the lower reaches of the polls, but The Replacements have a relatively small catalogue and a lot of their best-loved songs are clustered on three albums.

I’ve only had two picks from a 30 song ballot place so far, but I’m expecting most of mine to place. ‘Torture’ from All Shook Down seems a long shot though - I think I like All Shook Down more than most voters, which makes sense because I also like Westerberg’s solo stuff more than most voters.

Right. I assume most songs further down will come from Let It Be, Time and Pleased To Meet Me. I think many of us voted for a lot of, um, deeper cuts on the first three records but also assuming the standouts from those will be placing high.

Love these images Nag. Happy to see Hayday place, I had it top 20.

One for aphoristical, then!

https://images2.imgbox.com/18/1d/RrHvxVBn_o.jpg

#41
Merry Go Round
from All Shook Down (1990)
Score: 103
Votes: 11 (0)
Youtube: original promo clip

That glare at the start of the video is hilarious methinks. Didn't quite capture it there, unfortunately.

I voted for that one, probably the only one from All Shook Down.

So #41 was where I was aiming, for the weekend. Was planning 20 each from the remainder, for each of Mon and Tues. Starting in about 20 hours.

i have nothing much to say about "merry go round" except that westerberg inadvertently namechecks my band within, therefore classic.

YOU'RE EMITT RHODES!?!?!?!

In summary...
                                                             pts     pts    #1s 
41  Merry Go Round          All Shook Down (September 1990)  103      11      0
42  Hayday                  Hootenanny (April 1983)          101       7      1
43  Customer                SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)          100       6      0
44  Tommy Gets His Tonsils  Let It Be (September 1984)        99       8      0
45  Run It                  Hootenanny (April 1983)           99       7      0
46  I'm in Trouble	    SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)           94       6      0
47  Treatment Bound         Hootenanny (April 1983)           90       8      0
48  Sadly Beautiful         All Shook Down (September 1990)   87       7      0
49  Nightclub Jitters       Pleased to Meet Me (April 1987)   81       6      0
50  We'll Inherit the Earth Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  79       6      0
51  Fuck School             Stink (June 1982)                 79       4      1
52  Anywhere's Better Than  Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  78       6      0
53  I'll Buy                Tim (October 1985)                73       5      0
54  Don't Ask Why           SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)           70       3      0
55  Love Lines              Hootenanny (April 1983)           65       5      0
56  Nowhere Is My Home      Tim era miscellany                61       4      0
57  Kick Your Door Down     SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)           58       5      0
58  God Damn Job            Stink (June 1982)                 58       4      0
59  Asking Me Lies          Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  58       3      0
60  Buck Hill               Hootenanny (April 1983)           57       6      0

I voted ‘One Wink At A Time’. I love that ‘magazine she flips through/is the special double issue’ line. Wasn’t ‘Happy Town’ the last song they all played on?

YOU'RE EMITT RHODES!?!?!?!

lol

XXP: One too many T's in 'SMFTTTOTT' there! #SecretSpreadsheetShame

only three from my ballot so far: "God Damn Job," "Love Lines," and "Run It"

I *thought* I saw you chowing down at The Proud Bird, fcc.

that wasn't me being emitt rhodes. that was me stalking emitt rhodes.

Poor guy just couldn’t catch a break.

I changed my mind. I'll post a couple more so it's less frantic later...

https://images2.imgbox.com/80/d9/cvB06mX5_o.jpg

#40
I Hate Music
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 104
Votes: 8 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/06/26/r0oo2Td4_o.jpg

#39
Careless
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 106
Votes: 7 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQLeR0G1cyM

OTM.

Support for Sorry Ma tracks is wide and varied, apparently. They might even be best appreciated peppered amongst other stuff like this.

In a way it’s their most consistent album.

But on the other hand almost too dense to unpack, which is maybe what you are saying.

Yeah, the latter. I think like the record better than I did even a couple of weeks ago, having been to forced to think about isolated songs. I've been doing a fair bit of "wait, which is that one again?" etc.

_Let It Be_, _Time_ and _Pleased To Meet Me_

Hey, Ellen, Time says hi.

Sorry Ma very nearly made my top 5. If Don't Tell a Soul hadn't been remixed (yet) into Dead Man's Pop, Sorry Ma would have nudged past it. Anyway, the Rhino reissue is probably my favorite of those 2008 reissues, and it's too bad that particular edition is out of print because everything from the mastering to the bonus tracks to the artwork/presentation made it definitive.

Bob Odenkirk's a huge fan and talks about it in this great interview from the My Favorite Album podcaast.

“I Hate Music” is my first TOO LOW. Was top 10 for me.

I hate music, not too many votes?

One day, well, I won't

Kuleshov Replacement

May as well post another one methinks. I'll hopefully post 37-21 starting in about 7 hours...

https://images2.imgbox.com/5b/f0/Doeoug1J_o.png

#38
Black Diamond
from Let It Be (1984)
Score: 112
Votes: 8 (0)
Youtube: audio track

I had it at number 8. Maybe their best hard rock performance, hardest best. A big improvement on the original, which I have barely heard *ducks*

Oh wait, maybe I am thinking of "Black Diamond Bay."

Tommy is a 10^x better bass player than Gene Simmons for one thing. Bob is a more interesting player than Ace. /challops4u

One of my favorite of Bob's many squealing leads. How to describe, like Johnny Thunders trying to be Prince?

*waits for Bob backlash*

I liked this from Xgau's review of PTTM:
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=The+Replacements
Stinson's perpetually broken promise to harness the power of naked anarchy

Wonder where the other 7 BD voters are.

How to describe, like Johnny Thunders trying to be Prince?

omigod

and failing, hence its beauty

i'm late here and i didn't vote but i see "angels walk" didn't place among the solo tracks, which is ridiculous

Gotta love the 'Hard Luck Woman' rip on 'Unsatisfied' too.

the rhythm section is really tight on this one, which makes bob's solo even funnier

like Johnny Thunders trying to be Prince? and failing, hence its beauty...

Trouble Boys has a Westerberg quote along the lines of "Bob's fingers were fast, if not always accurate" and lauds his ability to occasionally fuck up gloriously; can't remember which song has a solo that Bob starts in the wrong key, then bends and mangles to make it work.

I laugh with Bob, not at him
xp

Black Diamond was #15 with a bullet on my ballot. I love their cover so much! Also the slightly moody (?) intro is a good fakeout

but i guess the orig song is kinda that way too

The original has some weird outro that they, um, wisely dispensed with.

Been dipping back into Trouble Boys because of this poll. So good. Had to avoid it for a long time because it was ultimately depressing.

I laugh with Bob, not at him
xp

― She Thinks I Will Dare (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, October 12, 2020 11:12 AM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

of course

but i guess the orig song is kinda that way too

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, October 12, 2020 11:17 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the replacements do a better job with the intro, adding that little guitar lick before they start singing.

Right. The original starts with some twee Ren Faire ISB Brave SIr Robin instrumentation and vocals.

didn't vote for it but it's a great cover version, keeping the good stuff from the original, excising the bad, and adding a few fun elements (like the faint little "ooh" backing vocals during the intro).

lol yeah that medieval plucking is incredibly cheesy xp