The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

Yeah, the one Paul solo show I saw in the mid-'90s was great, adding Tommy won't make it worse. And Paul's still the best-qualified guy to sing Replacements songs, whoever he's with.

I would pay to see Paul & Tommy & whoever imo

for what it's worth it was never really the replacements without bob. it wasn't even close. no offense to slim. but still.

I hear that fcc, and wouldn't try to argue against you.

But. You think about it, after Bob left, they became this band that really did try to shoot for the stars but got mooned instead. Before they were loveable fuck-ups who said whatever the shit, it's us against them. After Bob left, they really did fuck up. Kinda what they thought they were aiming for from the beginning, except since they were actually going through the motions of opening for Tom Petty and playing on a major label and making real videos, not just haha static ones, that failure sealed their legacy much more than being the happy-go-lucky failures they were in the beginning.

In other words, he who laughs first didn't get the joke. Soon as they turned from rock and roll clowns, leaving Bob behind, to becoming rock and roll ghosts, ironically THAT's when they fucked up the most.

This tonic and gin tastes good tonight. Anyway. I do think it would be an appropriate show to see since the replacements who replaced some original Replacements have now been replaced. God, if they could get Axl to show ups for Nightclub Jitters, that'd be all she wrote.

interesting perspective, pp. to me, though, the difference between the bob mats the slim mats is that the bob mats were a band in every sense of the word, four guys negotiating the crowded space around every note in addition to the even more crowded space around every six-pack. four guys laughing loudly, sometimes together, sometimes at each other, but always laughing. or at least smirking. the slim mats were a solo singer-songwriter and his tasteful backing band, much too reverent of the lead singer to ever negotiate anything except maybe their meager paychecks. i can't hardly blame them for sacking bob considering all i've read about him, but they never figured out how to be after that.

i saw them a few times on the major-label opening-band circuit, and those shows generally sucked. not because they were drunken and shambling, though they sometimes were, even in those years. they sucked because their hearts were completely not in it. they fucked up, but not from trying too hard, and not from lack of trying either. they just kinda gave up.

they still tossed off a few more great songs. i wish they had shot for the stars, but i don't think they ever really did. they couldn't even be bothered to shoot themselves in their feet.

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

yeah, i'm not usually one to pay much attention to even my favorite bands' lyrics but i love westerberg's stuff. there's something about how casual his lyrics always sound, as if he's just making them up on the spot -- but he always comes up with the most incredible lines. i'm especially fond of 'on the prairie pavement/losin' proposition/quittin' school and going to work and never going fishin'.' which somehow feels very sad, like he's taken the essence of a beer-sozzled dropout's wasted life and boiled it down to a few seconds.

the writer he reminds me most of, actually, is chuck berry -- there's the same perfect blend of what-the-hell casualness and eloquence.

interesting perspective, pp. to me, though, the difference between the bob mats the slim mats is that the bob mats were a band in every sense of the word, four guys negotiating the crowded space around every note in addition to the even more crowded space around every six-pack. four guys laughing loudly, sometimes together, sometimes at each other, but always laughing. or at least smirking. the slim mats were a solo singer-songwriter and his tasteful backing band, much too reverent of the lead singer to ever negotiate anything except maybe their meager paychecks. i can't hardly blame them for sacking bob considering all i've read about him, but they never figured out how to be after that.

Extremely OTM. I saw both the Bob Replacements and the Slim Replacements and Bob was the random anarchy element that made it work. See also: Keith Moon

"So it's Paul and Tommy and...? Mars doesn't play anymore, and Dunlap is presumably not able to."

My guess would be that Josh Freese would play drums.

And Paul's still the best-qualified guy to sing Replacements songs, whoever he's with.

Which I guess is what's pulling me in, at least a little. I've never seen Paul live, but I've seen Tommy-era GNR twice, so I probably owe the guy.

Today I contemplated the mysteries of "Jesus rides beside me/he never buys...any smokes"

i always heard it as "he never bathes / and he smokes" - jesus as bum on public transport?

try and try and try!

HURRY UP
HURRYUP!

i have come to the conclusion that after 1) missing them on their final tour because my mom refused to drive me to cleveland in a snowstorm (see ticket below) and 2) seeing westerberg solo when i was 19, i have had the best experience i could have with live 'mats given my life circumstances. seeing them at riotfest is not going to help matters.

i'm going to dig around today for my picture of me and paul. it's underwhelming.

here's my ticket
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6019/6354658745_43d61c2ec4_n.jpg
here's my bored replacements doodle from 10th gr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6718436027_a8c0ffb9ee_n.jpg

BELKIN PRODUCTIONS! TICKETRON! THE AGORA! <3 <3 <3 <3

how sad is it that the ticket is WHOLE?! i had asked the coolest girl in school to go with me, and she was more of a joy division/cure maniac and she didn't know much about the replacements, but i made her listen to "shiftless when idle" and she was like yeah, we're going. then there was a snowstorm, so we just had a sleepover instead, which was the first time we had hung out outside of school. we had so much fun and have been friends ever since. wish i could say the same for paul westerberg tbh!

Every

body that's on my block

It's tired

ofmethatain't no shock.

EIGHT DOLLARS FIFTY CENTS

SMOKING MARIJUANA TILL ITS COMIN OUT OF MY EARS

STAY RIGHT THERE GO NO FURTHER

THE LIGHT WAS GREEN AND SO WAS I

you're in love and i'm in trouble

troubaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghl

yknow what? riotfest is going to be a cesspool. i'd rather stay home and listen to myself sing these songs, i think.

i gotta hide
i gotta run

TRIED SUICIDE

i always loved the way he said "go" in that song

btw
that ain't no fun

how sad is it that the ticket is WHOLE?!

That is sad. I saw them on that tour (at the Aragon, actually) and not to rub salt in the wound, but it was great. It was a little disconcerting in its consistency, but Tommy made up for that by shaking hands with some in the front row and causing a near-stampede that knocked a bunch of us over.

Tried to go to the Grant Park show, but the closest my friends and I could get was about four blocks from the stage. The seating area was blocked off to people who had "tickets," which seemed odd since it was a free show. Turned out there was some underhanded dealing by the radio station sponsoring the show (WXRT). I opted to go home and tape the show off the radio instead of getting heat stroke (also, my friends and I despised openers Material Issue for ripping off Green, and we didn't want to sit through their set).

haha i saw material issue at an amusement park

interesting perspective, pp. to me, though, the difference between the bob mats the slim mats is that the bob mats were a band in every sense of the word, four guys negotiating the crowded space around every note in addition to the even more crowded space around every six-pack. ...

And completely on the mark. I was a bit in my cups last night, but the point I was trying to make is that Who are the Replacements? They're this band of fuck-ups fighting the world by sitting back. Their most successful period, in content and in legacy, were those Bob years. So accepting that we're talking about two different bands here, who got clowned the hardest? They were almost replacements of their former TwinTone selves.

Those lovable losers lost their luster once "lovable" got thrown out the window.

Saw them a few times after Bob left and the live show was still pretty good, so I dunno, with the right drummer I guess I'd see this. As long as they still draw on the same set of covers they used to do.

Alfred, think the joke is, taking the notion of a spiritual co-pilot and turning him into a slacker who always bums a ride but never chips in for gas or whatever.

I missed the band by that much, they broke up right before my senior year of high school. All the sophomores at college during my freshman year were all Yeah, we saw them at the Blue Note. They were ok.

I have gotten to see Paul numerous times. He even looked me in the eye at one show and passed the mic to me to sing I Will Dare. When I got done, I sorta pitched it (still connected to the mic stand) back up to him, but instead, it sprang toward him like he had stepped on a rake. He jumped out of the way, and the stand went this way and that, like one of those plastic weighted-down boxing boppers you had as a kid. The roadies ran out to stop it, while he sorta did this dance with it, playing his guitar the whole time.

So I've got that.

You gotta be careful with that Joe Tex mic stand move, some people who didn't know what they were doing smashed a tooth or two back in the day.

WHAT? what part did you sing
btw i am seething with envy

Amazing story

Did you sing the Peter Buck guitar solo?

That's a such a great story, pplains.

the writer he reminds me most of, actually, is chuck berry
I always thought the words in "Left of the Dial" after "Sweet Georgia breezes" was "Cadillac walk," some kind of melange of Chuck's duck walk and Elvis's Pink Cadillac. Either that or the Mink Deville/Boz Scaggs song.

Written by Moon Martin. Anyway sorry for hijack. Still waiting for pplains to splain the rest of the story.

Great story. I saw 'em twice and Paul solo once but don't have any such tales to tell.

what a weird festival -- and right near me, too! plenty of bands i wouldn't mind seeing, but uhhhh. probably going to pass on it.

I did the "ain't lost yet so I gotta be ready/bacon and cigarettes a lousy dinner" and then threw the mic back up when i was supposed to go How smart are you?

I don't even know if those are the right lyrics. Don't care.

The worst show was one inside the fancy music hall at Mizzou. Westerberg came out, did three songs, laid down on his back and did not get back up. They carried him out of the building on a stretcher.

Me and some buddies who had driven up for the show just kinda looked at each other and went Welp.

I think it's "ain't lost yet so I gotta be a winner." Always loved that line, even if that's not what it is.

I used to think he was saying "Pull a bullet right out of my skull" in "I'll Be You". I'm horrible with lyrics.

wait that's not what he says? i have been singing my own version of these songs for so long that i am always right even when i'm wrong.

I still think "I.O.U." starts with "Gimme a drastic impression."

Guys, remember the original liner notes to Sorry, Ma- "Make up your own words, we did!"

Got that slightly wrong: "Make up your own words. I did"
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/27/arts/post-punk-rock-rebels-thrive-in-minneapolis.html