The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

Many of you know what I think of many slick '80s would-be sellouts – they're rarely as mediocre as received opinion demands – but Don't Tell a Soul strikes me as depressed and depressing.

depressed and depressing

exactly

And yet

a million xposts. i want to hear more on that, james redd.

xpost

Reznik was a total stan, Westerberg even wrote "We Are the Normal" for them (and maybe more) just saying at first they were a good rip, like the Rancid to the Clash or something...

Soul Asylum are more contemporaries, esp considering they did a few years as Loud Fast Rules

but early Goo Goo Dolls have some joints & a good energy (not putting them on the same level in any way)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0qFjTvau5E

I'd love it if they went back to the master tapes of Don't Tell a Soul and could somehow do a total remix/remaster job on that, start with the drums, probably some of the cheesy guitar tone shit was put to tape though :(

start with the drums, probably some of the cheesy guitar tone shit was put to tape though :(

Tacky
I guess that's where they're from

why the winona disdain; have y'all not seen heathers

Remember when Spin sent its staff around the country and searched the nation's back corners for the soul of rock and roll and settled on Westerberg?

Goo Goo Goo radio breakthrough was written by Westerberg. We are the Normal, iirc.

why the winona disdain; have y'all not seen heathers

Winona rules

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

Winona continued the MPLS rock tour with Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run/Jayhawks) post-Pirner.

saw Goo Goo Dolls at what may have been first NYC gig (at CBGB!) w/out ever hearing them, just they "sound like the Replacements." Never made that mistake again. The fucking horror.

ums otm all over, obv.

nothing I said expressed any disdain for Winona…I would have done exactly what all those guys did should she have come calling…I only recently knew of the "manic pixie dream girl" thing: does she have anything to do with that?

winona was great in hbo's "show me a hero." (which used lots of springsteen music. which is the guy all those all-guard critics wished westerberg could be. but chris mars could never ever be max weinberg no matter how much they might've wished for that too.)

depressed and depressing

and?

Don't understand Paul as even a theoretical heartthrob. 'Mats excepting Tommy almost as ugly as Ramones semi-excepting Dee Dee.

ums otm all over, obv.

"sound like the Replacements." Never made that mistake again
Took me much longer than I'd care to admit to realize that "sounds just like INSERT YR FAV BAND'S NAME HERE" recommendations don't usually work out as planned.

i understand as a theoretical and actual heartthrob. ugh maybe i'm defensive about winona b/c we have the same terrible taste. except for instead of settling for dave pirner i settled for a guy w/ a blues traveler tattoo.

So, like Seymour Stein, you preferred Tommy?

Why I think DTAS is better than the soundalikes = none of these other guys had Westerberg as a songwriter

xpost me? meant paul.

Why I think DTAS is better than the soundalikes = none of these other guys had Westerberg as a songwriter

― Master of Treacle

"I'll Be You," "I Won't," fine -- the rest is OK or garbage.

Tried again to listen to that one, just couldn't make it to the end. The vibe he got into starting with ASD was much more fruitful, even if it doesn't reach the earlier heights.

I remember the exact moment I read that Winona was a Replacements fan because I was like ME TOO. I was in my backyard reading a magazine in a hammock. I've got enough distance to admit that PW was my imaginary dreamboat. He was cool and understood my problems :-/ I also invited Bob Stinson to live in my attic. I think I even posted my idle notebook doodles of the lettering on PTMM here years ago. Teenagers and their obsessions, no? Sorry Ma is still my favorite album of theirs but I can't really listen to any of them much. No band compared to this band has ever been remotely as appealing as this band was at the time.

Winona Ryder was really good in one of the better Jason Statham movies (which also features a great performance by Kate Bosworth - alongside, unfortunately, James Franco).

Xpost

omg was it sassy cuz I'm showing my age but that shit was formative

"I'll Be You," "I Won't," fine -- the rest is OK or garbage.

unbelievably wrong. "anywhere's better than here" alone

W Ryder is fine in Experimenter; for starters, i wasn't sure it was her for 20 mins

and "darlin' one"!

Ryder was terrific through 1995, after which some spark died.

Xp I was a Sassy subscriber, yes.

I liked WR in this Bill Nighy/David Hare thing about a retired MI5 agent, in which she seemed to be playing a version of herself, but yeah. I mean, her character displayed a nervousness that I imagine she has in real life.

Fun fact: Sassy staff writer Kim France and Charles Aaron, author of the famous Spin article about Bob, were a couple for several years in the 90s.

Winona was enrolled at my college, Macalester, fall of '88, but didn't go after the success of Beetlejuice (BTW supposedly she's going to be in the sequel). I liked to think I might have had a shot to have been her pre-Pirner bf, ha.

'91 to '92 when I lived near Garage D'or (Mpls record store), I used to see Bob Stinson hanging out there all the time. He was very nice and humored my trying to turn him on to The Jesus Lizard and other stuff I was into. I also saw him play guitar with some long-forgotten local band at 7th St Entry, and was as great as I imagined he was with the 'Mats.

'91 to '92 when I lived near Garage D'or (Mpls record store), I used to see Bob Stinson hanging out there all the time.

that was a bit before i moved up to the Cities but Garage D'or was the greatest record store ever, owned by Terry Katzman who was running sound the night the cops raided a Replacements party and capture the audio that is the beginning of Stink

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2016/01/the-replacements-stink-show-a-true-story-from-minnesota-music-history/

Katzman also owned Reflex Records and produced the early Huskers stuff and is generally amazing

Lol at pun that it took me a second to parse Garage D'or

Somewhere there's gotta be a clip of Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz singing along with "I Will Dare" in a car from the forgettable "Feeling Minnesota."

the rest is OK or garbage
I mean I'm a DTAS hater myself and I won't go that far.
Picks: Talent Show, Achin' To Be, I'll Be You, and I think I'm the only fan of Askin' Me Lies, but I think the backing vocals on a lot of their songs are underrated sweet spot.

They're Blind is probably his first truly terrible song though.

'91 to '92 when I lived near Garage D'or (Mpls record store), I used to see Bob Stinson hanging out there all the time. He was very nice and humored my trying to turn him on to The Jesus Lizard and other stuff I was into. I also saw him play guitar with some long-forgotten local band at 7th St Entry, and was as great as I imagined he was with the 'Mats.

― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, March 10, 2016 12:04 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, the one time I "met" him it was at Garage D'or, I had no clue who it was just thought it was another dude looking at records. I would see him in there on & off until he passed way.

and I think I'm the only fan of Askin' Me Lies

that one's great too! "they're blind" is bad, yes. "i won't" is also awful, no idea why alfred singled it out

I w-w-w-w-w-w-w-onn't.

i like when the fake band in the movie Saved! covers "We'll Inherit the Earth"

excellent example of mediocre song sounding sort of decent in context of mediocre movie

Is any of Bob's non-Replacements stuff worth hearing? I'm guessing no, but curious (just cued up Static Taxi on Spotify). Every single thing I read about him is heartbreaking.

Assuming that he's playing guitar on this, the idea that he couldn't function as a guitarist is insane, but I'm not sure what the deal is.

I knew the anniversary of his death must have been recent as I tend to subconsciously remember things like that. The facebook page is just really hard to read without crying. https://www.facebook.com/Bob-Stinson-35135237355/?fref=nf

I know where that bench is, nice little spot to sit

Thanks. All I see is photos, mostly. Still made me a little sad as well, though.

You know another thing that got me? After I reached the end of the book proper and kept going on into he notes section and saw:

Author interviews with Lonnie Stinson, Tommy Stinson, Anita Stinson, and Robert Flemal. Other Sources Minnesota, State of, Department of Corrections. Uniform case report: “Robert Neil Stinson,” June, 30, 1975. ———. Monthly progress report: “Robert Neil Stinson,” October 3, 1975.

etc.