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

not voting for "run it" is a mistake i have already lived to regret. the struggle and ambition and confusion of the replacements is captured in like the first 15 seconds of this one. "red light red light run it" is standard punk band thrashing about in basement, then when it gets to the third line, where paul names the intersection, he figures maybe there should be a melody, only to quickly decide maybe not.

LOL

fcc otm x 2

I had “Run It” at 21, but it couldn’t easily have been higher.

A couple more before I disappear for absolutely ages...

https://images2.imgbox.com/45/4a/KNzIwRks_o.png

#44
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
from Let It Be (1984)
Score: 99
Votes: 8 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/46/1f/7lpANTGD_o.jpg

#43
Customer
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 100
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube: audio track

Tommy missed the cut, Customer my #15.

open wide, Tommy!

Other songs like “Customer”: “Checking Out the Checkout Girl,” by Wazmo Nariz (not quite as good) and “The New Teller,” by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers (on the same level).

WHERE ARE THE TWINKIES?!?

i like to think the doctor with his cadillac running is just a grown up version of the little snot who was running red lights one album ago, probably in a used chevy, and that he's now reacting to the horror and confusion of seeing his old self in the little snot whose tonsils he now has to remove. though i have a feeling my analysis wouldn't stand up to close examination, or any examination. classic either way.

(alternatively, the song could be about young tommy, under the influence of anesthesia, which is probably not mixing well with whatever else is in his system, confronting the ghost of normie future.)

POLL
While you can

(Before he takes his place as a regular)

Was it an intentional mastermind kind of deal where the last track on Tim includes the line “all I know is that I’m sick of everything that my money can buy” acts as a kind of rebuttal/response to “I’ll Buy”?
Nah, my money’s on “dumb luck.”

This is not a knock on anyone else's ballot--everyone has their favourites. But the countdown so far, a mix of songs I'm not big on and things I've forgotten, underscores my fandom, which is both intense and narrow. (Also that I expect almost my whole ballot of 20 to fall in the Top 30 or so.)

https://images2.imgbox.com/bf/5e/Eioeb1B8_o.jpg

#42
Hayday
from Hootenanny (1983)
Score: 101
Votes: 7 (1)
Youtube: audio track

Only the second first-place vote.

Hmm, never noticed how that was spelled. I don't see how the countdown could have been any other way, clemenza, because ILM, because not-so-big turnout, and because Replacements.

I know, I know--the ragtag first part of the countdown is exactly what some (probably most) people love about them.

Anyway, as I say that, "Hayday" is my first pick to show up.

Yeah. But it's not just them, there was a similar effect on some other POLL some of us participated in, Euler and I, to name two. Those being the Elvis Presley POLL and the Burt Bacharach POLL.

But with someone like Burt Bacharach (or R.E.M., or the Who, or lots of artists I more or less put on an equal plane with the Replacements), there are going to be lots of songs in the lower part of the countdown I love...the distribution will be much more even. Just something I have going on in relation to the Replacements.

I had to make a detour in the neighborhood where I work last week and discovered Black Diamond Crescent.

I'm not sure turnout is a factor at all. A quick survey suggest this is big turnout by recent standards. Possibly the largest single-artist poll turnout since [and this continues to amuse me...] Belle & Sebastian, from a quick check. A mere whisker smaller than the likes of Bjork and Smashing Pumpkins. And double Elvis.

Has my favorite line of the whole album: "Times aren't tough, they're tedious."

I love that we’re going through the lower reaches of the polls, but The Replacements have a relatively small catalogue and a lot of their best-loved songs are clustered on three albums.

I’ve only had two picks from a 30 song ballot place so far, but I’m expecting most of mine to place. ‘Torture’ from All Shook Down seems a long shot though - I think I like All Shook Down more than most voters, which makes sense because I also like Westerberg’s solo stuff more than most voters.

Right. I assume most songs further down will come from Let It Be, Time and Pleased To Meet Me. I think many of us voted for a lot of, um, deeper cuts on the first three records but also assuming the standouts from those will be placing high.

Love these images Nag. Happy to see Hayday place, I had it top 20.

One for aphoristical, then!

https://images2.imgbox.com/18/1d/RrHvxVBn_o.jpg

#41
Merry Go Round
from All Shook Down (1990)
Score: 103
Votes: 11 (0)
Youtube: original promo clip

That glare at the start of the video is hilarious methinks. Didn't quite capture it there, unfortunately.

I voted for that one, probably the only one from All Shook Down.

So #41 was where I was aiming, for the weekend. Was planning 20 each from the remainder, for each of Mon and Tues. Starting in about 20 hours.

i have nothing much to say about "merry go round" except that westerberg inadvertently namechecks my band within, therefore classic.

YOU'RE EMITT RHODES!?!?!?!

In summary...
                                                             pts     pts    #1s 
41  Merry Go Round          All Shook Down (September 1990)  103      11      0
42  Hayday                  Hootenanny (April 1983)          101       7      1
43  Customer                SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)          100       6      0
44  Tommy Gets His Tonsils  Let It Be (September 1984)        99       8      0
45  Run It                  Hootenanny (April 1983)           99       7      0
46  I'm in Trouble	    SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)           94       6      0
47  Treatment Bound         Hootenanny (April 1983)           90       8      0
48  Sadly Beautiful         All Shook Down (September 1990)   87       7      0
49  Nightclub Jitters       Pleased to Meet Me (April 1987)   81       6      0
50  We'll Inherit the Earth Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  79       6      0
51  Fuck School             Stink (June 1982)                 79       4      1
52  Anywhere's Better Than  Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  78       6      0
53  I'll Buy                Tim (October 1985)                73       5      0
54  Don't Ask Why           SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)           70       3      0
55  Love Lines              Hootenanny (April 1983)           65       5      0
56  Nowhere Is My Home      Tim era miscellany                61       4      0
57  Kick Your Door Down     SMFTTTOTT (August 1981)           58       5      0
58  God Damn Job            Stink (June 1982)                 58       4      0
59  Asking Me Lies          Don't Tell a Soul (January 1989)  58       3      0
60  Buck Hill               Hootenanny (April 1983)           57       6      0

I voted ‘One Wink At A Time’. I love that ‘magazine she flips through/is the special double issue’ line. Wasn’t ‘Happy Town’ the last song they all played on?

YOU'RE EMITT RHODES!?!?!?!

lol

XXP: One too many T's in 'SMFTTTOTT' there! #SecretSpreadsheetShame

only three from my ballot so far: "God Damn Job," "Love Lines," and "Run It"

I *thought* I saw you chowing down at The Proud Bird, fcc.

that wasn't me being emitt rhodes. that was me stalking emitt rhodes.

Poor guy just couldn’t catch a break.

I changed my mind. I'll post a couple more so it's less frantic later...

https://images2.imgbox.com/80/d9/cvB06mX5_o.jpg

#40
I Hate Music
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 104
Votes: 8 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://images2.imgbox.com/06/26/r0oo2Td4_o.jpg

#39
Careless
from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981)
Score: 106
Votes: 7 (0)
Youtube: audio track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQLeR0G1cyM

OTM.

Support for Sorry Ma tracks is wide and varied, apparently. They might even be best appreciated peppered amongst other stuff like this.

In a way it’s their most consistent album.

But on the other hand almost too dense to unpack, which is maybe what you are saying.

Yeah, the latter. I think like the record better than I did even a couple of weeks ago, having been to forced to think about isolated songs. I've been doing a fair bit of "wait, which is that one again?" etc.

_Let It Be_, _Time_ and _Pleased To Meet Me_

Hey, Ellen, Time says hi.