The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (2127 of them)

replacements r grate!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

Hearing "Sixteen Blue" when you actually were 16 = classic.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

It really is ridiculous how many times I've reached for my Replacements CD's when I'm really drunk and should be listening to more recently acquired music. I mean can anyone pinpoint exactly when "Answering Machine" loses its appeal, for example?

― The Spiderwebbed Wilderness (Bimble...), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

100% CLASSIC, MOTHERFUCKERS

― -Vest, Wednesday, 24 August 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

There are some seriously hysterical Dang Perry posts on this thread.

I used to love the 'Mats, but they haven't really aged well for me. Let it Be is one of those albums that's going to have a following amongst high-school juniors forever, but it sounds pretty played out to me now. Shockingly, Soul Asylum's Hang Time actually holds up better. I never really liked Tim, although I think that's a function of the production more than anything else. Stink and Sorry Ma still have some great moments, but (although I would never have said this at the time), I think that Flip Your Wig stands out the masterpiece of this particular twin cities subgenre.

― J (Jay), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

i don't know if i still like the replacements. i put on tim in the car the other day and could barely stand to sit through any of the songs - they sounded so weary and generic and draggy, and not in a good way.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 23:01 (twenty years ago)

Absolutely classic. I can pull out any album from Hootenany through to Pleased To Meet Me and fall in love all over again at any given time. Not very many bands do that to me.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 25 August 2005 00:11 (twenty years ago)

Their stuff hasn't aged well compared to some other bands.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 25 August 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago)

everything til Tim i really like. i don't get the love for that album, it's really bland to my ears.

― latebloomer's rectal mocha latte (latebloomer), Thursday, 25 August 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

i wonder if Tim could be in need of a major remix/overhaul. because i agree with most of the posts above saying that the production can be pretty strange and off-putting. but the Tim version of can't hardly wait on that 90s Sire comp sounds fantastic. maybe the mix is fixable? great songs, for the most part...

― tylerw, Thursday, 25 August 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

"You're mine, if you want toooooo . . . "

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 25 August 2005 08:01 (twenty years ago)

Pretty good through Tim.
Useless after that. Someday maybe somebody will explain to me why "I Will Dare" (which isn't even very catchy!) is considered a great song. But it definitely hasn't happened yet.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 25 August 2005 12:28 (twenty years ago)

And sorry, Sterl, but this: "If you don't love the 'mats, you never loved rock and roll. " is just plain silly. They were a pretty decent pop-punk band, then a pretty decent powerpop band, then not. But there were scores of better rock and roll bands in the '80s.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 25 August 2005 12:30 (twenty years ago)

(Actually, I haven't played Tim for years, though -- don't' even still own a copy; have the first records on CD now though -- so maybe J.D. is right about it up above. I definitely liked it at the time {put it in my top ten, even}, but even Let It Be when I put it on a couple months ago was a lot more lackluster and less energetic than I remembered. So it's possible they were wilting even by then, or possibly even by Hootenany. I'm inclined now to think that Sorry Ma may have actually been their best album, back when people were hyperbolically comparing them to Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers and stuff.)

― xhuxk, Thursday, 25 August 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

the first FOUR records on CD, I meant.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 25 August 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

xhuxk, i wrote that like five years ago. i still think i love the mats, but i haven't actually listened to them in some time now.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 25 August 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

I'm inclined now to think that Sorry Ma may have actually been their best album

which is why i nominated them on the "bands that have declined with each and every album" thread, or whatever that thread was.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 25 August 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

I probably said this before (upthread, possibly) but the re-issues of the first albums sound like shit. We can only hope that this fall's revisions are much improved.

Sorry Ma isn't that great, even in the context of when it came out. A handful of very good songs, but Hootenanny's handful of good songs are actually great.

Pleased To Meet Me is great, it's the apex of Paul's career as far as consistency in writing goes (though I'll never think that the horns on "Can't Hardly Wait" sound good.)

BTW--who knows the release date on the expanded reissues?

― don weiner (don weiner), Thursday, 25 August 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

I still adore "Within Your Reach"; to date that's the only Replacements song that I "get".

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

fuck school is about how they don't really like school that much.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

"Johnny's Gonna Die" is a message to Johnny Thunders that his way of life was killing him.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

Thanks guys!

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

Your welcome, Dan. Oh, and one more thing: "Customer" is about checking out the checkout girl.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

And you're welcome to enjoy my typos as well.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

Anyone want to parse "God Damn Job"?

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Sure. It's the opposite of a "Grebt Job."

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

The album "All Shook Down" is about how Paul Westerberg couldn't write good songs anymore.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

"BENT OUT OF SHAPE", MATT. "BENT OUT OF SHAPE."

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

yeah, there's a few good 'uns on that but man i listened to that a year ago and was shocked at how bad it was....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

yeah, that album's amazingly weak, but it has a few good tunes on it. Personally I like "Someone Take the Wheel". "Sadly Beautiful" (aside from the horrible title) is also actually quite pretty.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

Thanks to that album, I can't get off an airplane without humming "One Wink at a Time".

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

"tommy gets his tonsils out" APPEARS to be about tommy getting his tonsils out. but it isn't really. it's really about the state of health care in the u.s. circa 1984.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

"seen yr video," on the other hand, IS about the fact that they've seen yr video. furthermore, they are not impressed.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Did Gary actually HAVE a boner or was it merely conceptual?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

it works on multiple levels

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

You would say that you pervert.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

DP for the brane. (The Kiss cover was Reverse Anal Cowgirl for the brane.)

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Ned Raggett & The Conceptual Boners

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

"Giving it to you abstractly"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

Research suggests that "Little Mascara" has only been mentioned once on this thread, which is not nearly enough.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

i think replacements fans have always been troubled by the mixed message of that one, since tommy tended to wear a lot of mascara, never just a little.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

Tommy's prettiness was underexploited.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

(Tommy signed my vinyl copy of Let It Be by drawing a big circle around the picture of Bob on the bag and writing "50 lb. slime" under it)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

(picture of Bob on the back, that is)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

i might have told this story before, but apparently todd trainer (shellac/rifle sport) and flour (RS) beat the crap out of tommy behind the CC club.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

beating up tommy would be easy. Those guys should have punched Albini while they were at it.

I remember the first time I was in the CC and how I'd heard the juke was so kickass and how it was this legendary joint and but I was only there because I was silly drunk and it was 1989 and I was still pretending that the Replacements mattered. Totally a let down, just like OarFolk. They say never meet your heroes because you'll only be disappointed.

The thing about the Mats is that their legend is way better than the reality, which is kinda like above--it's better to experience them when you're young/loaded, and then just not listen to them 15 years (or fuck, 20) after the fact because you will realize that your heroes were not that good. As in, every other band currently in my rearview mirror. They only sound good when I drop all my pretensions and enjoy the salve of nostalgia.

― don weiner (don weiner), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

just like OarFolk

Ah, this store. Which I only know about through MST3K of course.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

"it's better to experience them when you're young/loaded, and then just not listen to them 15 years (or fuck, 20) after the fact because you will realize that your heroes were not that good. As in, every other band currently in my rearview mirror. They only sound good when I drop all my pretensions and enjoy the salve of nostalgia. "

eh, that may be true for you, but not for me. When I go back to those records I'm still pretty taken with the songwriting and weirdo guitar playing. and the lyrics are sharp, funny, and economical - I don't invest the stuff with the same emotional intensity I did as a teenager, but it isn't just nostalgia that makes me appreciate a completely perfect tune like "If Only You Were Lonely".

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

You know, it occurs to me that Dan Perry hates a band that has a song called "Gary's Got a Boner." This does not seem right to me.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

just because they are not as good as I'd remembered them to be doesn't mean that I love them less or think that they are not the best band, like, evah.

IOYWL is so completely awesome. I was listening to it JUST LAST NIGHT.

― don weiner (don weiner), Thursday, 25 August 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 2027 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.