The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

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

Bob's lead is hotter than a urinary infection

my only chance to see them was on their last tour (sans Mars) at the Palladium in LA and it was amazing, one of the first handful of shows I saw. Johnette Napolitano came out to sing My Little Problem, that was cool.

If I heard the show was alright, I'd totally see "Paul Westerberg Does His '80s Songbook With Tommy Stinson"

this band of fuck-ups fighting the world by sitting back

that's more than a little true. i sometimes wonder what it would've been like if they'd taken up the fight. but then they'd probably just have turned into the goo goo dolls or something.

I sort of assume this is exactly how the Goos became a thing

while they broke through on a pretty post-westerberg ballad, their actual collabo with westerberg bombed hardcore

honestly paul was already too deep in the crit-pick mire to crossover by the time he was trying, though i do appreciate cameron crowe getting him a shot at a "footloose"

and that a cute earnest fan was able to take his steez to marx/jovi territory was a tribute in a sense

while they broke through on a pretty post-westerberg ballad, their actual collabo with westerberg bombed hardcore
--da croupier

yeah that tune sux but IMO that car wash record holds up generally and as a mats imitation

i like hold me up and some of the crossover hits but i've been afraid to revisit that one

Oh I was mixing up the records, Hold Me Up is the one I meant

Hold Me Up still works.

So for anybody that doesn't have it, I just re-ripped the 7th Street Entry show from YouTube:

http://db.tt/3RlPMX6a

weeeeeeeeeeee are the noooormmal
we live and we die
no reason why

I skipped through the YouTube clips, and for me the two songs that leave the others behind are "Kids Don't Follow" and "Johnny's Gonna Die." I wonder if they have any idea how good they are? Chris Mars in the latter has this faraway look that's hard to read. Of the four people up there, I imagine three of them thought of all this in terms of months, if not weeks.

"goddamn job" isn't in the 6 part twintone thing for some reason, but it's def from the show and i threw it on the thing--that one is by far the best of the set imo. for that little moment at the end where paul & bob just effortlessly lock into this palm-muted thing, i get fooled into thinking "goddamn job" is my favorite mats song.

this vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IINrFUCF8-g

just to add to all these live Mats memories:

I saw them headlining on the DTAS tour in Phoenix and they were great, playing for around 2 1/2 hours and getting progressively drunker over the course of it. I remember Tommy running out on stage and nearly falling over when he reached the end of his cord. Slim pouring a beer onto his amp. After they'd played pretty much all of their well-known songs Paul said, "Uh, any requests?" and me and my friend yelled out "I Don't Know" (which was our dorky male-bonding favorite song) and the band launched into it.

I also saw Paul solo in 95 or 96 in Iowa City and it was pretty cool. He was obviously kind of annoyed that the Mats songs got a better response than the solo songs. But I got to shake his hand.

http://www.spin.com/sites/all/files/styles/style620_413/public/91-08-spin-cover.jpg

Did Spin's writers report back, or did they just disappear into a black hole of madness and despair?

They did! It was a great issue, actually. EiC gave all their writers a ticket to some random place in search of the soul of rock and roll. Of course, with Paul they had a ringer.

BTW, anyone who hasn't heard Chris Mars' solo stuff really should:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2KerXTzuqc

If you only knew this, you would never guess this was the former Mats drummer.

^^ Minnesota deep cuts

This one's good too, especially the chorus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRd3wai3Y-Y

(I thought I'd posted that before, but if not on this thread, I'm not sure where.)

like both of those, dam

This "Chris Mars WAS the Replacements" stuff is giving me flashbacks to people saying that it isn't Van Halen without Michael Anthony.

IT ISN'T.

^^

Please welcome new guitarist.... HAR MAR SUPERSTAR

Uh,kidding right?

I am serious!

Yup

https://twitter.com/jesshopp/status/347722154143539201

huh

DJP can be the drummer and the entire show can be him shouting at Westerberg "I never thought you were that great!" and just playing drum solos based on Information Society songs that Har Mar freestyles over.

Which, of course, I would pay to see without hesitation.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Har_Mar_Superstar.jpg

does he have an album called Young Ron Jeremy because if not he's slipping

Wait could we get Prince to play drums for them?

Ha they should get Grant Hart.

they should use Savage Aural Hotbed as their drum section

TBF, every band should.