The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

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

frankie lee is p mediocre

That dude is famous cuz of his hat

And he and Judas Priest were the best of friends.

Don stole my line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQOK36-mnbo

Vocal very slurred but band performance is interesting.

From a Green Day interview (that also notes Billie Joe Armstrong "played guitar on several dates for one of his all-time favorite bands, the Replacements")

There were plenty of other drunken nights that seemed harmless, where Malin and Armstrong stayed up all night geeking out on music: "We'd just be yakking away about songs, like, did the Replacements steal that one part of 'Little Mascara' from the Clash's 'Death or Glory'?"

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/inside-green-days-revolutionary-rebirth-w438197

Tim Kaine's fandom is now well known, but turns out he likes the Mehr book too:

I just read a great biography of them called Trouble Boys, by Bob Mehr. One of my sons and I are trading it around since [he's] a huge Replacements fan – he actually lives in Minneapolis. It's a cool book, but it's also a sad book, because they all had their own demons from how they came up.