The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

This may be a bizarre take but I kind of see a parallel between the Replacements and Blink 182 w/r/t to the silly songs and "antics" on their earlier albums.

I was at that Aragon show. Utterly life changing

No kidding. I was living in Denver at the time--I just happened to be in town for the Blues Fest. My buddy, who lived in Chicago, and I were trying to figure out what to do that night and I was like, "Hey, look at this, the Replacements are playing tonight."

xpost I think Blink-182's shtick always came off as such. The one time I saw them live it was just insufferable, because they were undeniably tight and catchy but then they would just stop the show for a few minutes to make fart jokes, like it was expected of them. But it came off as momentum killing to me. When the Replacements got wrecked, they took the whole set down with them. And when they had it together, they blew the roof off. Not knowing which Mats you were going to get was I suppose part of the appeal, vs. Blink, who were gimmicky goofs. Similar affinity for covering the Only Ones, though.

At least the Replacements had the decency to be utterly self-destructive and self-sabotaging alcoholics

Also there is nothing in the Blink songbook even in the same galaxy of sensitivity and power as, say, Sixteen Blue.

Reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me about seeing Coldplay two nights in a row (his kid was a big fan). Not only was it the same setlist both nights, they told the same jokes.

Blink 182 mostly sucks but it seems like millennial nostalgia is pretty stuck on them

The best thing about them was the title and cover of "Enema of the State."

Late to the conversation, but a.) I love Hootenanny — spiritually it might be the best encapsulation of the Replacements whole ... gestalt; and b.) "Mr. Whirly" would be classic just for the songwriting credit: "Mostly stolen."

The most remarkable thing about the Replacements, and maybe it is because they were so sort of uneven by design, is I can imagine any of their albums being someone's favorite album, except maybe the last one.

I like Hootenanny but I think Sorry Ma also captures their chaos but just has way more good songs

Sorry Ma was my first Mats album, which I found for sale for £5 on vinyl at a record store round the corner from my house in 91 as a teen who'd just bought Nevermind and wanted to get into everything that came before it (same shop also sold me dirt cheap OG copies of Zen Arcade, You're Living All Over Me and SY's Bad Moon Rising). I just loved the bratty joie de vivre of it so much - my mate had bought copies of Hootenany and Let It Be and I didn't dig those nearly as much (I changed my mind on the latter as I matured, however). Raised In The City is still a personal anthem for me, and Don't Ask Why is a fantastic break-up song.

Stink also fucking rules, sometimes I think that's still the best one

I always forget about Stink.

I LOVED Sorry Ma when I heard it (after ASD) and I feel like Hootenanny is where the dots are connected, the bridge between early and late Replacements

Yes, ^this exactly.

Although sometimes I prefer Sorry Ma. Sorry, LL.

Boringly, I think Let It Be is their best — it has a little bit of everything they ever did, and the songs are mostly great. But huge affection for everything before it too.

I usually prefer Sorry Ma too, if I’m in the mood for this band — that’s why I hadn’t listened to Hootenanny in so long. I was also afraid of it conjuring bad memories but it didn’t, which was a huge relief frankly.

Bad memories because of something you read in Trouble Boys or…?

No just my life back when I was super into this band, sad lol

In exchange for relief from bad memories, I was reminded that Buck Hill and Hayday were 2 of my absolute faves and tunes that I always fit nicely at the end of a mixtape.

I hear you.

I had a friend who was a huge replacements fan and 'all shook down' had just come out and I couldn't figure out what he saw in them. A few years later another friend's band covered 'hayday' which had a really weird visceral impact so I promptly bought Hootenanny (or actually called the first friend and asked him to buy a CD for me and bring it home from college at Thanksgiving because I didn't have a record store nearby).

It's still my favorite record by far. I also still get the urge to run the lights every few years when I find myself driving across Lyndale and Garfield in Minneapolis.

Feel like what LL described in her last post is kind of a common, um, arc of being a fan.

I love all four studio records from the Twin/Tone era, they're A-level records to me, but when I first got into them, I recall loving only part of each one and not caring for the rest. Like maybe a few tracks from the debut, "Kids Don't Follow," and then maybe three or four cuts from Hootenanny and maybe five or six from Let It Be. For whatever reason, I couldn't get into the sloppier and less-serious stuff, which feels ridiculous now because that's so much of the band's appeal to me. That's NOW after I've grown to love the band, so maybe it was just something I was generally wary of from anybody at the time?

I've never really listened to the Descendents, did they have any serious stuff mixed in with the snotty goofs and adolescent frustration?

"Jean Is Dead" off of Milo Goes to College...that album and Fat are really the only ones that I've gone back to.

Actually now that I remember the lyrics, "Hope" and "Bikeage" from the same album too.

There's a bunch of very tuneful and impassioned ballads in the Descendents' stuff. but it's often hellaciously misogynist too.

I have fond memories of Silly Girl, Sour Grapes, Clean Sheets and Bikeage from when I was a teen but I listen to them now and the "I hate you bitch" vibe between the lines is pretty noxious.

my controversial opinion is the best Descendents's best album is 96's Everything Sucks

Still infected with the noxious friendzone bullshit but as always they make it catchy

Some great tunes on that one, no question

The Replacements feel like the smoking, drinking, disaffected fuck-up burnouts at school compared to the Descendents who are farting, junk food eating nerds who think they're smarter and better than the burnouts but in fact are angry misogynist assholes in the modern gamergate / incell / "nice guy" sort of way.

my controversial opinion is the best Descendents's best album is 96's Everything Sucks

It was almost like their "Some Girls".

The Replacements feel like the smoking, drinking, disaffected fuck-up burnouts at school compared to the Descendents who are farting, junk food eating nerds who think they're smarter and better than the burnouts but in fact are angry misogynist assholes in the modern gamergate / incell / "nice guy" sort of way.

Yes, this, definitely.

Though the Mats could probably actually ruin your life, whereas you'd simply block the Descendents on Twitter and never think of them again.

especially after Milo went to college

Hello why do you think I loved the Replacements with all of my tiny foolish heart and didn’t have any time whatsoever for Descendants??? But for evading the misogyny trap no one beats the Dü ❤️

yeah I was listening to some Descendants last year for the first time in years and it was pretty shocking how much they scan to modern incel stuff

🤮🤮🤮

I honestly only know the super short food songs.

I only know the cover of “Wendy” from the SST Duck & Cover comp. They seemed like weenies.

not necessarily saying this is a good thing, but I think there's a very good argument to be made that they are the most influential punk band of all time

This thread's making me scared to go back to my ALL records.

But for evading the misogyny trap no one beats the Dü ❤️

oh hells yeah

I thought that first Descendants album and first EP were great, but I think I'll pretend they split up after that rather than finding out for myself what I "missed."

This thread prompted me to relisten to Milo Goes to College for the first time since the 80s. Tight playing, catchy melodies, wonderfully snotty vocals, but yeah some really repulsive views of sexuality.

Ugh...looking through lyrics as it's a different experience to read all of them clearly but I feel like I just died a little bit inside. Maybe I'll just pretend "Weinerschnitzel" was the only thing they ever released.

Shared a cigarette for breakfast
Shared an airplane ride for lunch