The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

More discussion: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2009/08/11/sevens-the-replacements-cant-hardly-wait/

Following the lyrics – one of the more noticeable shifts in the song’s evolution – you begin to wonder why they changed so dramatically in the song’s final thrusts toward album status. The song’s lyrics were loosely structured for most of its early existence, but whether just from Westerberg’s tendency to improvise adjustments live or the sometimes sloppiness of the band, the lyrics are rarely, if ever, completely identical in these various versions.

thinking of the PTMM handshake as a tat

What will your mom say

take out the trash

i'm getting the cover of "Stink" tattooed on my neck

http://i.imgur.com/szyBmiv.jpg

dunno if this has been mentioned in this thread but http://colormeimpressedlive.blogspot.com/

Wow. Looks amazing.

November 14, 1987, Riviera Theater, Chicago, IL
14. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Prince)

No memory of this whatsoever. I remember it actually being a boring show, and incredibly disappointing. I remember them doing the Georgia Satellites' "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" (although that could be 22. unknown ).

I just listened to part of CBGB's 12/9/84 (as much as I could get through.) I saw some pretty drunken Replacements shows, and I kinda enjoyed "Shit Hits The Fans," but this was painful. I can't even comprehend being that loaded and onstage playing.

I have not wrapped my head around the fact that this is what PW looks like now:

http://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/paul-westerberg_credit-marc-norberg-681x1024-399x600.jpg

A.) Not bad for a 53-year-old and B.) Not bad for a 53-year-old Rick Springfield.

Kind of appropriate for him to look like Rick Springfield aging gracefully.

he looks heavily airbrushed yet also seems like he's had botched plastic surgery in the mouth area

whoa yikes hold the phone
someone shopped another man's mouth onto paul westerberg
everything looks just right but his mouth looks ALL WRONG!

yeah it's like he's had his mouth ensmallened or something it looks bizarre

he has always had a big floppy mouth, and that mouth looks small and taut, like someone told him to "do something with your mouth"
it looks weird, for reference's sake, here is his mouth looking like his mouth
http://www.nyrock.com/imgs99/westerberg3.jpg/

let's try this one
http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/cms/2004/other/Paul_Westerberg_-_news_image.6420297.jpg

http://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/paul-westerberg_credit-marc-norberg-681x1024-399x600.jpg

http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/212/assets/MichaelBolton.jpg

lol
are you unsatisfied...there?

yeah it's like he's had his mouth ensmallened

Only way he could quit drinking.

1 degree of kevin bacon

I bet Bolton could knock "Answering Machine" out of the park

how dare you

maybe you need yr mouth ensmallened too

1 degree of kevin bacon

Just found my old copy of "Shit Hits the Fans" while I was packing up to move the other day. Promptly sold it on Discogs for $60.00!

"Can't Hardly Wait" came on the radio the other day, and I guess it had just been long enough since I heard it for me to actually notice the lyrics. At his best he was a great minimalist, cramming so much into so few words.

Someone's got a stamp that I can borrow
I promise not to blow the address again

I think what's weird about that photo is that most of his face is askance, but the mouth is facing us head on.

Interesting, that CBGB '84 show is the same month I first saw em at Irving Plaza, they weren't falling-down drunk then. Will hafta check out July 27, 1987, The Ritz, mighta been there...

I think what's weird about that photo is that most of his face is askance, but the mouth is facing us head on.

― Poliopolice

the same thing's going on with the PW photo.

This one looks a bit more natural, but still, the years of sobriety have taken their toll.

http://www.punknews.org/images/bands/paulwesterberg-1349363560.jpg

I dunno why but I feel like 'fessing up: I only really started listening to The Replacements a couple of years ago. In high school I only knew the 2 Westerberg songs off the Singles soundtrack, which I loved and still quite like even though they're well twee

But now being fully immersed in everything from Hootenanny through PTMM, I do kinda wish I had a rewind button so I could have had the 'Mats in high school. That would have been something. But I enjoy having them now too, since I still feel a lot of those same ~feels~ now, but understand them a little better too so they don't quite rule me as much

Am envious of ppl who grew up with them tbh

actually I like Sorry Ma too, it's fun and messy

I do kinda wish I had a rewind button so I could have had the 'Mats in high school.

I started to write something about this, but then I remembered I already did:

Hearing "Sixteen Blue" when you actually were 16 = classic.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, August 24, 2005 6:43 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I will add that even just the guitars on that song alone should be inducted into some adolescent longing hall of fame.

absolutely

I got into them when I was about 15. But I doubt it's the same as someone who was 15 in 1984.

yeah these dudes were major with me when I was in HS (heard PTMM first then worked backwards)

revisit them occasionally but not a lot. when I do I'm usually struck by what a clever lyricist Paul was.

OTM
OTM

Playing makeup, wearing guitar ...

...they were good, then lotsa ppl were like these lyrics are great and we wound up with "my heart could use some glasses" :-/

It's corny but I'll still stand behind Runaway Wind for being legit poignant -- it makes him sound like the sweetest man ever.

This is definitely nostalgia talking though -- by the time his first solo record came out I was 18 and considered myself a grizzled Mats old timer and that song helped me not feel depressed and grizzled. But I do think it's sweet and waaaaay better lyrically than Someone I Once Knew or similar.

that PW pic looks like one of conan o'brien's robert smigel interviews

I too wish I had discovered the 'Mats in HS. As well as a whole mess of other bands.

I think these days my favorite post-band Paul song is "World Class Fad."

Mine too.

I first heard of Westerberg and the Mats from a Musician article written by Cameron Crowe before the release of Singles in which he recounts the experience of wooing the musicians to contribute songs.

A year later "World Class Fad" was all over my college radio station.

In spring '95 I bought PTMM and Tim at my college bookstore on tape. None of the descriptions matched what I heard.

The Replacements worked perfectly for me as a big part of my soundtrack to '84 and '85, when I was just out of university and fairly directionless. I'm intrigued by the thought of having them around when I was in high school...don't think they would have replaced Neil Young at the top of the pile, but I can see similarities there in terms of old-before-your-time.

My folks figured it out and vocalized it best to me when I was playing Let It Be & Tim endlessly in HS - "oh they're like your generation's Stones" ...

Discovered them at 17, forgot about them til I was between girlfriends at 22 and Paul suddenly seemed to ~get~ me, man. My next band was a Mats ripoff we called The B Team.

Uh, guys?

https://twitter.com/RiotFest/status/344998590952906753

Riot Fest
‏@RiotFest
We are honored, excited and all together amazed to announce that THE REPLACEMENTS are headlining all 3 #RIOTFEST http://ow.ly/lYUVo

I mean Twitter's been going insane for the last few hours and over here's been all "Ah, remember when, if only."

What a bunch of bullshit.