I hate ILoveMusic, it's got too many POLLS - Artist Poll #104 - THE REPLACEMENTS - RESULTS

People seem particularly shy about commenting on this project. I gave this one a healthy number of points myself.

Here's the one I messed up. Not tied for 27th place. 2nd place in fact, with all votes merged. Quite a monumental error. Because it initially had an entry in my top 10 already, few other rankings need adjustment.

#2
PAUL WESTERBERG - We May Be the Ones
from Stereo (2002)
Score: 137
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube: audio track
Youtube: Late Night with Conan O'Brien, 2002

May as well post the image again.

https://images2.imgbox.com/22/42/2k7NYTCx_o.jpg

It’s hilarious and I suppose fits a kind of pattern: what others seem to like the most just does nothing for me (and vice versa)!

:)

Is #1 guessable at this point? A fair proportion of voters voted for it.

World Class Fad? 1990s Westerberg hasn't been very popular though.

https://images2.imgbox.com/f7/e8/Uxpnpb7e_o.jpg

#1
PAUL WESTERBERG - World Class Fad
from 14 Songs (1993)
Score: 184
Votes: 7 (1)
Youtube: original promo video
Youtube: Jools Holland, 1993

I voted with a pretty heavy Stereo/Mono tilt, so this is how I came at it. Alfred posted above about the expectations he brought to Singles, I suppose this is that story in reverse.

I'm a lifelong Replacements/Westerberg fan. I saw The Replacements Let It Be-All Shook Down, and then one of the solo shows with Tommy Keene on guitar. All Shook Down through Eventually all had their moments, but Suicaine felt like he had lost the script entirely, and in 2002 I don't think expectations could have been any lower. To call it a nadir seems appropriate. So it was pretty shocking that he dropped not one but 2 wall-to-wall great albums that have held up remarkably well. You hear that opening line 'Baby learns to crawl/watching daddy's skin' and the effect is just chilling. It was a fairly astonishing return to form that we have seem glimpses of since, but it's far and away his best solo work.

Had to reboot, btw. LOL. Wasn't intending to build suspense for that long.

XP: Makes sense, thanks.

The key to Stereo's greatness is that the focus is on the sound of his voice.

Expanded to include everything that received a second vote
                                                                                      pts   vts    #1s    
 1   World Class Fad                 Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                     184     7      1
 2   We May Be the Ones              Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                       137     5      0
 3   Tiny Pieces                     Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)   125     5      0
 4   High Time                       Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                         108     4      0
 5   Only Lie Worth Telling          Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                       102     4      0
 6   Never Aim to Please             Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)   102     3      0
 7   Popular Creeps                  Mars - Horseshoes and Hand Grenades (1992)        93     3      1
 8   As Far As I Know                Westerberg - Folker (2004)                        89     3      0
 9   First Glimmer                   Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      85     3      1
10   49:00                           Westerberg - 49:00 (2008)                         83     4      0
11   First Steps                     Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    83     3      1
12   Eyes Like Sparks                Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          77     4      0
13   Got You Down                    Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        76     4      0
14   AAA                             Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          76     3      1
15   Baby Learns to Crawl            Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        76     3      0
16   Let’s Not Belong Together       Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          69     3      0
17   Waiting For Somebody	     Westerberg - World Class Fad EP2                  67     3      0
18   Silent Film Stars               Grandpaboy - Mono                                 66     3      0
19   Best Thing That Never Happened  Westerberg - Suicaine Gratifaction (1999)         64     2      1
20   Outta My System                 Wild Stab (2016) + 49:00 (2008) votes             64     2      0
21   Things                          Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      62     2      1
22   Not A Moment Too Soon           Stinson - Village Gorilla Head (2004)             62     2      0
23   Fast & Hard                     Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    59     3      0
24   Mr. Rabbit                      Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        56     2      1
25   Love Untold                     Westerberg - Eventually (1996)                    56     2      0
26   Better Days                     Perfect - Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe (2004) 55     2      0
27=  Knockin' on Mine                Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      54     2      0
27=  Friday Night Is Killing Me      Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    54     2      0
29   Born For Me                     The I Don't Cares ‎– Wild Stab (2016)              53     2      0
30   2 Days 'Til Tomorrow            Grandpaboy - Mono (2002)                          47     2      0
31   Dirty Diesel                    Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble  (2003)         45     2      0
32   My Dad                          Westerberg - Folker (2004)                        43     2      0
33   Daydream                        Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble  (2003)         42     2      0
34=  Light of Day                    Stinson - Village Gorilla Head (2004)             40     1      1
34=  A Star Is Bored                 Westerberg - Melrose Place (1995)                 40     1      1
34=  Runaway Wind                    Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993)                      40     1      1
37   Tickled to Tears                Bash & Pop ‎– Friday Night Is Killing Me (1993)    39     2      0
38   Man Without Ties                Westerberg - Knockin On Mine (1993)               36     2      0
39=  Let’s Do It                     Paul Westerberg + Joan Jett.. - Tank Girl ST..    36     1      0
39=  Call That Gone                  Westerberg - Stereo (2002)                        36     1      0
39=  You Just Might Be The One       Westerberg - live Monkees cover                   36     1      0
42   MPLS                            Grandpaboy - Dead Man Shake (2003)                35     2      0
43   I’m a Gas Station Attendant     Paul Westerberg - demo                            34     2      0

Damn, I was the only one to vote for the right to arm bears... Hail to the chief with a shotgun in his teeth! I loved hearing paul soundtrack a animated feature... Granted it came at a time in my life when I was squarely in the demographic for taking kids to movies, but I remember enjoying it emensely.

I tried liking 14 Songs. It's solid meat and potatoes stuff, sounds good when they bash it out live (see the SNL performance of "Knockin' On Mine"), but it really is McDonald's-level meat-and-potatoes - does the trick when I'm hungry for something, but not something I'd savor after it goes down.

Potatoes are nasty when raw

Cassette copies of 14 Songs were perennials in the cut-out bins at Walmart in the late '90s.

Too bad he never got Jerry Harrison to produce one of his albums.

Although for all I know he did.

Jerry Harrison's Cut-out Cred!

Open Season is like him finding the sweet spot between the mainstream-minded production values of his 90’s stuff and the more performance-oriented, energetic, lively feel of his best early 2000’s albums (Stereo, Come Feel Me Tremble and the Grandpaboy stuff). “All About Me”, “Better Than This”, and even the sentimental piano pop of “Good Day” made it onto my ballot. I’m sure you will all hate them.

I voted for 'Whisper Me Luck' from Open Season. My ballot was weird because Stereo/Mono is my favourite Westerberg solo record, but I didn't vote for anything from it.

Didn't vote in the solo poll; the one song I love, Westerberg's "Lookin' Out Forever," lost its vote.

Jerry Harrison's Cut-out Cred!

I didn't follow this poll, and I only listened to Let It Be, Tim, and Hootenanny, but I remember being impressed by how much The Village Voice loved this band in the 80s

Pleased To Meet Me box is up on US Spotify!

Wth there’s a Jimmy Iovine remix of Can’t Hardly Wait?!

He had a hand in everything back then! I have a story tangentially related to Jimmy Iovine, I might finally need to recount. I have been sitting on it for decades. It’s nothing shocking and not really about him, so don’t want to get your hopes up, but with end times upon us I might want to release it from the vault, even if it is of second take “Wally” quality.

Must...go to sleep... and wait until the morn to listen to PTMM box.

Wth there’s a Jimmy Iovine remix of Can’t Hardly Wait?!

my memory is that was the version they used for the 7-inch single and that it was not good. i could probably google this to make sure, but i don't think that's what the replacements would do in this situation.

LOL

I'm a little unwell at present, but I think I'll start on the Replacements tracks in about 9 hours time. Just from #60 to #50, to get things moving.

THE REPLACEMENTS - TRACKS

Actually, I'll post just #60 alone right now. Happens to work quite well as the Opening Theme, no?

https://images2.imgbox.com/07/6f/Oln6BiYD_o.jpg

#60
Buck Hill
from Hootenanny (1983)
Score: 57
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Awesome. I had it at 23.

Glad Popular Creeps made it, best Mats solo soon song

also great graphic on Buck Hill, classic MN church group field trip destination

glad Buck Hill showed up, it was a late cut from my ballot

it was disillusioning to learn the title was not a reference to Pete Buck

Lol

legend has it that in 1983 a young Charles Thompson IV heard "Buck Hill" and was so intrigued by its combination of surf guitar and deranged screaming that he thought he might use it as the basis for his new band

Well done.

buck hill always makes me smile but i think i like it more in the context of the sprawl that is hootenanny than as a thing of its own. it sounds very much like it was meant to be a song with lyrics but they never got around to it. i appreciate that the internet has done its best to monumentalize the lyrics it does have.

(that said, it's almost surely in my top 60 placemats songs!)

i just annotated it

i'm a Genius now because the other day I got really into a nevernending "LoFi Radio: Beats To Sip To | Pepsi" station on youtube and decided to transcribe and annotate all the Pepsi lyrics

hahaha perfect

I really couldn't find any great way to rank or decide what was going to be on my ballot. I was listening to Hootenanny and "Buck HIll" was one of the tracks that stood out to me that time so it made the cut.

https://images2.imgbox.com/d9/14/03oWcEGP_o.jpg

#59
Asking Me Lies
from Don't Tell a Soul (1989)
Score: 58
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube: audio track (DTAS)
Youtube: audio track (Matt Wallace mix)

Confession: I struggled to remember what this track was, as a relative newcomer to DTAS. (Plus I was thinking in terms of Top 50 until 12 hours ago.)

I can’t really remember it

Did it make it onto “Dead Man’s Pop”?