The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

ok this is really gossipy, but do y'all know he's evidently dating juliana hatfield (they just did that project together)

"we just weren't made of the stuff popular music is made of"

I think what's confusing is that in some ways they were -- their musical reference points were all pretty mainstream, they just came at them kind of crooked. It's not like they were really trying to write hits, except I guess the singles on DTAS and All Shook Down.

Again and again the book shows that they did try for hits and success, but usually only once, and then they got bored/destructive/moved on. Which is a tough way to chase a career. If anything they succeeded despite their best efforts.

well I'm not really sure the book shows that they tried--the efforts seemed half heated and always with the condition that Paul and Tommy could still be assholes whenever they wanted. Becoming successful on your own terms--particularly when it requires a lot of help from, say, record companies and radio stations and fans--means that your "own terms" need to intersect with others. The book is not full of anecdotes of sweetness or protracted cooperation on the promotion trail, it's full of the opposite. In that regard, it seems like the Mats achieved their success despite themselves. "I just love them but they were total assholes" is a repeated sentiment in the book.

see then they fit neatly into my fandom for Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis etc

(the asshole part, not the millionaire success part)

i can sorta understand how their collective ambitions were offset by self-sabotage, fear of failure, and distrust of authority. given all that plus the obvious behavioral health issues, i prob agree w/ the observation that they might have in fact had more success than one would expect.

you know what isn't answered in the book so far (i'm up to the recording of DTAS). I never listened to the shit hits the fans until the other day, and one track list refers to a snippet of "merry go round" by the Crue, which I certainly wouldn't have noticed only by listening to it. To wit: this can only be that Tommy liked the Crue (possible although much less likely that bob did), which suggests that his interest in sunset strip shit goes deeper than GNR (maybe the post mats section elucidates how he ended up with Axl). he certainly had a commensurate interest in hairspray, and it would be funny if he liked some hair metal, since the Mats were held up as real and true relative to that stuff.

there's an anecdote later in the book that mentions that axl didn't like the replacements and that tommy didn't like gnr.

This song strikes me as hair metal with a grafting of a few bars of standard Westerberg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVmygAXM03A

For me the anecdote about them immediately ripping up the nice touring van the record company had just bought them — after numerous complaints from the band about not having a decent vehicle — spoke volumes. Reminded me of the scene in "Goodfellas" when Karen remarks on one wife's reaction to the cops searching her home: "She used to spit on her own floor. That never made any sense to me."

Nirvana is pop-friendly AOR (note also that the riff from "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the riff from "More Than A Feeling")

There are parts of In Utero that are pretty amazingly abrsasive underground T&G type shit, like it's amazing to me for example " Scentless Apprentice" has been heard by like 20 million people or whatever it is

As far as success on your own terms that required a great deal of suffering and insane work ethic. People were doing it, Fugazi and Black Flag but I don't think the Replacements really wanted that, they wanted to have their major label cake and eat it too.

But they don't seem like the type to have SST/Dischord anecdotes about sitting around in a apartment glueing and stuffing 1000 copies of as 7 inch to fulfill mail orders

They seem pretty lazy, actually. Shiftless when idle.

yah but that whole vibe seems counter to their "don't wanna play by the rules of the majors" thing, like they specifically seemed like they needed to be taken care of...i guess now that someone mentioned it, they really would have needed to BE Guns N' Roses where their insane popularity could have generated enough cash to allow them to act like complete total fuckup drunk jerks without consequence

Paul and Tommy literally burned money. I don't think they knew what they wanted (except for Bob, who wanted to work at the pizza place and play at the local bars).

it beats pickin' cotton!

just checked, moved up to 63 of 128 standing request for the book at the Hennepin County Library system (which has 43 copies in circulation & 11 digital copies), rock dudes in Mpls be reading this book

We are lucky that they graced the face of Earth with their beauty.

Started book yesterday, about 80 pp in. Will probably slow down to play the records as i get to em. Initial Stinson family chapters so, so sad.

lol at 20-yo Paul lying to the band and the prospective singer that each didn't want the other. You def found your niche in showbiz, buddy.

hangin' out w/ Dylan lolz

I was at the Irving Plaza show where Seymour Stein saw 'em (12/84)

new Bob Mehr interview:
http://www.avclub.com/article/replacements-biographer-why-some-fans-wish-they-ha-237464

"Pete... If I die, don't let Bob sing."

never knew "Lay It Down Clown" was about Pete Buck's speed habit

or that it was "Wait on the sons of no one" (did not have lyrics sites in '80s)

"wait" on? Really? That's not what it says here

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/replacements/bastardsofyoung.html

how could an internet lyrics site possibly be wrong

I'm sure www.azlyrics did more research than Bob Mehr.

exactly

Mehr calls the chorus "often misheard"

wow at "flop pop video" in "Alex Chilton," never figured that one out

how could an internet lyrics site possibly be wrong

It doesn't matter.

oh I reviewed the bio: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/trouble-boys-true-story-replacements-review-bob-mehr/Content?oid=21825333

"Now you're wondering to yourself / if you might be gay."

It doesn't matter.

I'm sorry, but it's not "wait on" and I don't care what Paul says. Anyone with ears can hear the line, which is sung clearly both live and in studio. Not sure why he's decided to be cute about this, but it seems par for the course as far as his passive/aggressive side.

I'm imagining that Jimi Hendrix lived, and started insisting in interviews that it was "while I kiss this guy" and everyone who read the interview started lording it over everyone who hadn't.

i just put the Tim version on, and I can genuinely hear it as "wait on" now. It's pronounced kind of weirdly for "we are," though plausible.

katy goodman and greta morgan come down on the side of "we are":

http://www.stereogum.com/1883307/katy-goodman-greta-morgan-bastards-of-young-the-replacements-cover-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/

What does "bastards of young" mean anyway?

Reagan-era lost generation/"sons of no one"/general figures of alienation and dispossession, I always assumed

i thought it was about ramsay bolton and jon snow

It's "Wait on" on the record, live it was whatever Paul felt bothered to sing. That's kinda how punk bands used to do stuff, you know?

"Some have speculated that the chorus is actually, "We are the sons of Norway" (somewhat fitting, given the Minnesota birthplace of all members) but, (famously) as no lyric sheet was ever provided by the band, it remains speculation." -- SongFacts

It's obviously a song about the children of Neil Young groupies

It's obviously a riff on No-man from The Odyssey. The Replacements are the proverbial songs of No Man, sticking their spears into the eye of the Man.

"Bastards of youth" makes more sense.

but "bastards of young" sings better, and that's what really counts

born and raised in south Detroit

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CozP2G2WYAAeNUT.jpg

Ardent Studios ‏@ArdentStudios 21m21 minutes ago
Tmrw night Tommy Stinson (@TheReplacements) performs in Studio A! Tix are $15 at the door, bring your own drinks