The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

*Candy

xpost they owed SST another record on their contract

Yes, I know FYW was on SST and both Tim and PTTMM were major label records.

iirc it could have been their major label debut but they gave it to sst out of misplaced loyalty. misplaced because of years of misplaced royalties. xxxp

at the same time i knew rolling stone called them punk

I tried to pitch "Kiss Me On The Bus" to one of my high school bands and the reaction I got was "Woah woah woah! We're not gonna be a hardcore punk band!" And here I thought I'd pitched something relatively gentle.

and what i was hearing was about as punk as georgia satelites and didn't rock nearly as hard.

One of my only memories of my first 'mats show was their hilariously desultory cover of "Keep Your Hands To Yourself."

It's important to keep in mind that the Replacements' love of butt rock and classic rock riffage preceded ironic - or not - appreciation of some by a pretty long way. I'm sure there are people who only listen to Kiss because the Mats covered them. I know I do. Well, I mean, I don't actually listen to Kiss. I used to collect their comic books and bubble gum cards, which were sold from the ice cream truck that circled my SoCal cul-de-sac in the late '70s, but I don't think I heard any Kiss until much later, and by then had no redeeming qualities (thinking of "Lick It Up" era). But when I got "Let It Be" I heard "Black Diamond" for the first time, and then I thought, um, I can see why so many people liked Kiss. That and the fire breathing, flying and blood and stuff.

Anyway, the classic rock covers were such a huge part of the band's personality, a big hint as to where they were coming from, in both sense. It might have been the same Steve Berlin interview that mentioned Bob Dylan walking in on them in the studio when they were playing "Like a Rolling Pin." Apparently all Dylan said was, "Uh, you guys practice a lot?" And then he left. No doubt wondering why he didn't write "Like a Rolling Pin" instead.

The classic/hard rock covers but also the bubblegum covers like "Heartbeat It's A Lovebeat." But yeah, otm about it being pre-ironic.

lol @ Dylan being politely snarky about acts who don't rehearse

Band also did a great "September Gurls" and "Another Girl, Another Planet." Wonder where they came across those, especially the latter?

The latter floated around for a while and got college airplay in the early eighties - not like the Mats went to college, of course.

Yeah, used to hear AGAP quite a bit on even commercial stations that played that kind of music. And "September Gurls" was written by what's-his-name.

The Bangles had just covered it too -- probably got Chilton his first serious royalties too.

Right. Definitely way before "That 70s Show."

There was a live 'mats radio-only EP called Live Inconcerated from 1989 that had their cover of AGAP. WXRT in Chicago used to play it fairly regularly.

I imagine nothing less than a felony picturing the Bangles and the Mats sharing a stage.

there's a little verse of "another girl, another planet" in this '83 live version of "buck hill"

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

Anyone else remember this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CaagwSYGk

No, but that was pretty good, thanks

i do

Ha, I used to have an old VHS bootleg comp with that on it. Can't sing that song now without the "it's too late to take pills" part.

That tape also had this weird raw footage from a Night Flight interview where Tommy and Paul sit in a hotel room and talk about how they're going to fire their drummer.

Yeah, I think somewhere I still have a VHS of this whole show. Living Colour played "Johnny B. Goode," and Keith Richards played "I Hear You Knockin'."

It's all coming back to me.

Seems like the awards themselves were called "Elvises" and Vernon Reid rightfully asked, "So why's thing not called a 'Jimi'?"

Yeah, he said, "This could also be called the 'Chuck Berry,' or the 'Bo Diddley,' or the 'Little Richard,' but we love our little Elvis."

I don't think those awards lasted past a second year (when Robert Palmer got a lifetime achievement award).

Matt Dillion

He was on there too?

omg THE INTERNATIONAL ROCK AWARDS i had totally forgotten that

That's Matt Dillion giving the two-fingered whistle at the end of the Mats video.

I watched that live, as broadcast! Also remember Living Colour doing "Johnny B. Goode" and Tin Machine making its debut with "Heaven's In Here," and the sound being terrible.

I watched two years in a row ('89 and '90). I remember Madonna getting booed by the audience when she won for "Like a Prayer."

Best Replacements bit ever is Chris Mars' "Eight Really Dumb Things the Replacements Did " chapter of the long-lost "Alt Rock-a-Rama" book.

It also opens with Palmer's fab version of "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6ujnC5JjtQ

Oh my lord, youtube is a rabbit's hole of half-remembered bits from that broadcast! Somewhere in here is Ozzy Osbourne and Grace Jones as co-presenters!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elvkfIC2BG4&feature=relmfu

The '90 awards boasted Sam Kinison in the concluding "all-star jam."

hahaha yeah the little i could find written about it online mentioned the closing 'all star jam session'. good lord.

god i wish i could find out the story behind this crap making it to air. btw here's a list of the presenters for the second international rock awards

sam kinison (host)
adam ant
garey busey
bo diddley
laurie anderson
lou gramm
iggy pop
ed begley jr
patty smyth
david johansen
christie brinkley
paul shaffer

You can watch the documentary on YouTube, at least for the time being:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY2q3mF5Tk0&wide=1

There's a 10-minute section where they talk about My Bloody Valentine.

Awesome! Thanks for the pointer.

It's neat, but kinda dull. No music, and the stories get repetitive far before the end. Still, I love the band so I watched the whole thing.

i lasted abt 12 mins, cuz damn that needs music + perf footage.

I just finished it up. I didn't miss the music/footage as much as I thought I might. Parts of it were just a straight up tonguebath on the band's legacy, but there were enough really genuinely great moments that I left feeling like now's a good time to go back and look for new things in records I've already listened to a hundred times each.

Would love to hear the unfucked around with Don't Tell a Soul some day.

Me too.

I'm digging this movie, but if I knew nothing about them, I'd find it endlessly frustrating. Oh, "I Will Dare" is their best song? Great, any chance we'll get to hear it? So you stared at the Let It Be cover a lot; can we see it, too?

The overall approach strikes me more as a music-licensing workaround rather than a deliberate, well-thought-out strategy for a band doc. To be sure, there's little I'd edit out of the interviews, but the shit would gain power exponentially with music.

As I wrote upthread, the director insists that not having any music was a deliberate strategy.

http://www.rockerzine.com/index.php/2011/07/color-me-obsessed-gorman-bechard/

As to whether he's being honest or not, I don't know.

It's like that movie they made about Muhammad's life where you never see or hear him.

I used to run an Archers of Loaf message board and Gorman was a regular there. To no one's surprise, he behind the new AoL reunion doc as well.

Thanks for that link, clemenza. I don't doubt that it was deliberate on the director's part; it just doesn't come off that way (due to either clumsiness or stubbornness, I couldn't say). About 30 minutes into the film it becomes a gimmicky running joke, one that distracts/detracts from the otherwise insightful (for the most part) interviews: what's the next incredible song we won't hear?

I only made it about two minutes in. If I want to be bored by music writers and regular Joe music fans waxing unpoetic about why a certain band is their favorite, I can always go to ... oh wait.

Deliberate or not (he sounds totally believable, but "This is not what I wanted to make thanks to the band" wouldn't be the best advertisement for his movie), I totally agree that not having any music really puts a limit on how good a film it can be.

The Replacements are an especially problematic band for that approach since a lot of the fan base is a little too earnest about flying the flannel.