From the Vaults: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE REPLACEMENTS (August 24, 2006)
I love the Replacements. Not the Keanu Reeves movie, but the band. The band from the 80’s that played drunkenly beautiful songs about getting drunk, drinking too much, resenting your friends, bad weed, needing a job, college radio, their favorite songwriters and why they feel the need to drink. Their’s a well-documented mystique about the band that I don’t necessarily feel like I need to get into (did I mention that they liked to drink?), but needless to say it is one worth finding out about for yourself. If this site could have one purpose, it would be to introduce music to people who normally wouldn’t care to discover new music. The Replacements aren’t a new discovery and tons of people are already mega superfans, but there are still some people left who have not been privy to such a great band. But where to start? What are the individual songs you need to get acquainted with? Don’t worry little man (or perhaps lady), Carson’s here to point out the 10 best songs written by the Replacements:1. “Bastards of Young” (from Tim)I first saw the Replacements on an old episode on Saturday Night Live. It was an episode from early ‘86, to be exact. Harry Dean Stanton was the host and it was the SNL cast with Anthony Michael Hall and Randy Quaid. During the opening credits when Don Pardo announced the musical guest, they showed a picture of these four guys, at least two of them were rocking a bottle of hair spray each in their mile high hair. They looked like that band Simply Red or something. I thought to myself “well these guys look like a dated hair band and I can only assume that their music will be shite and I will have no option but to flip the channel during their presumably awful performance.” Well, luckily I didn’t flip the channel. With idiot savant guitarist Bob Stinson (wearing a dress, probably drunk off his ass) playing the gorgeously dirty opening lick of “Bastards of Young” the band broke into one of the most impassioned and tuneful punk songs I had ever heard. It also helps that this “impassioned and tuneful” live performance was an utter train wreck with the band constantly muttering obscenities to the camera and to each other. The performance is a beautiful mess to behold. And the song absolutely blazes on CD as well.Key line: “It beats picking cotton / Waiting to be forgotten”2. “Alex Chilton” (from Pleased to Meet Me)The greatest power pop song ever? Well, I’m sure Big Star’s Alex Chilton would have something to say about that, but in the meantime it appears that the Replacements have plenty to say about Alex Chilton. In terms of lovable losers who make great music and have storied histories, The Replacements might only be bested by Big Star, the southern rockers who released three near perfect pop records in the 70’s to huge critical acclaim, but progressively fleeting commercial success, and for which Alex Chilton sang. This song is a love letter from Replacements’ singer Paul Westerburg (St. Paul) to his favoritist band, Big Star. This kind of hero worship is both charming and touching. But while the concept is nice, it’s the song itself that does all the work - guitars that cut through the mix with sharp, jagged precision and enough space to let the drums really deliver (courtesy Chris Mars: the world’s third best bad drummer). An ode to underground rock fandom that deserves its own song salute (my money’s on Ryan Adams).Key Line: “I’m in love / With what’s that song”3. “I Will Dare” (from Let it Be)That bouncy southern lead line played by REM’s Peter Buck is the picture of simple brilliance. It’s the prefect compliment to this jangly love song. I initially disliked this song when I bought the album (I think I was 16 or so) because it wasn’t “punk” enough. In fact, it isn’t punk at all. It was just that I was under the impression that the Replacements were a full time punk group, with one dynamic and one sound - always running the “on” switch. That isn’t to say this saying this song isn’t energetic, it is, it simply gets its message across on light bounce instead of screech. After a few years with the Let it Be album (yes, that is an intentional jab at the Beatles) I came to this song like it was comfort food - always there to wash over me in a sea of wistfulness and hope. The lyrics hint at the “us against the world” nature of romance. And it’s really really awesome.Key Line: “Meet me any place / Or anywhere / Or anytime / Now I don’t care / Maybe tonight / If you will dare / I will dare”4. “Androgynous” (from Let it Be)Let it Be came out in 1984. And “Androgynous” is a song about life in 1984, or more specifically, life in the post-MTV, new wave loving, unisex world of 1984. Boys were starting to look like girls, girls were starting to look like boys and Paul Westerburg penned this startlingly off-kilter and touching piano ballad as a way of saying “Who gives a shit? Everything’ll be ok. Fads come and go. Jeez, look at the 1980’s, these fads are ridiculous. There’s no way this stuff is going to last. Don’t sweat it.” And look, it’s over twenty years later and everything is fine. Sort of.Key Line: “Same hair, revolution / Same build, evolution / Tomorrow who’s gonna fuss?”5. “Kids Don’t Follow” (from Stink EP)The Replacements began right at the dawn of hardcore and although that’s not where they really belonged, they gave it their best shot. And this one is a beast. Starting off with an audio clip of the Minneapolis police crashing an early, possibly rowdy, Replacements show, “Kids Don’t Follow” shows the Replacements at their fastest, their angriest and possibly even their tightest (although that’s not really saying too much. Even the band’s more refined major label albums have a definite shambolic quality to them). This is the song that kicks off your Replacements mix tape.Key Lime Pie: “Hey, fuck you, man” - a pre-Soul Asylum Dave Pirner yelling at a cop.6. “Left of the Dial” (from Tim)There’s a reason that that giant indie and college rock boxset was named after this song. It is really the ultimate college rock song with the possible exception of Pavement songs, early REM songs, Dinosaur Jr songs, Sebadoh songs, Pixies songs, Teenage Fanclub songs or some other songs by some other indie/college rock band. But this one’s actually about college rock. Anyway, it’s a great song that is only a shade less invigorating than “Bastards of Young.” “Left of the Dial” captures that underdog spirit and turns it into a form of cool.Key Line: “Weary voice that’s laughin’ / On the radio once / We sounded drunk / Never made it on”
7. “We’re Coming Out” (from Let it Be)This song is the complete autobiography of the Replacements, even in spite of the limited lyrics. The first two thirds are the trademark sped-up drunken “power trash” the band was known for in it’s early days. But as the song careens into chaos, a schmaltzy lounge song starts to come through the mix with Westerburg faux-crooning “One more chance to get it all wrong.” It may be a lament of the band’s lack of success or a celebration of the band’s domination of the margins, but one knows for certain that it’s an endlessly entertaining song.Key Line of Coke: “One more time to do it all wrong / One more night to get it half right”8. “Color Me Impressed” (from Hootenanny)Let’s say that you’re a sceptic and you’re busy and you only have time to listen to one absolutely defining Replacements song. Well, “Bastards of young” is the best song, but “Color Me Impressed” is the quintessential Replacements song. The verses, the chorus, the bridge - all trademark Replacements moves that can be spotted in each of their other songs. If you’re down with this song, you’re pretty much down with the Replacements all together.Key Line Dance: “Put the party in the mirror / Oh shit, pass the bill to Chris / Intoxicated lover ending our French kiss”9. “Can’t Hardly Wait” (from Pleased to Meet Me)Yes, there was a movie called Can’t Hardly Wait. And yes, this song did play during the closing credits of that movie. But you should really ignore that fact and just enjoy this lovely ode to life on the road. Whether it’s the official version with the horn punched or the more straight forward, rockier version from the Tim sessions (available on the the B-side comp Nothing For All), “Can’t Hardly Wait” is a beautiful tune that uses Paul Westergburg whiskey and cigarettes rasp to perfect effect. A midtempo rocker with a heart of gold.Cree Line: “Jesus rides beside me / He never buys any smokes”10. “Here Comes a Regular” (from Tim)The benefits of selling your soul to the devil are pretty immediate, but there’s always a catch. The back end always holds plenty of unpleasant surprises. That’s just how the devil works. It’s like that SNL sketch where the girl sold her soul to become the best hairdresser alive, but her haircuts were so good that no one ever saw the need to come back for a second cut. That devil is a clever little bastard. Not quite as clever as St. Paul Westerburg, however. Paul Westerburg sold his soul to the devil back in 1980. The two signed a contract (in blood) stating that Paul would never ever write a bad song. And he never did. However, the devil made it so that even though Westerburg never penned a crappy tune, he didwrite an inordinate amount of filler. Even the Replacements very best albums (Let It Be, Tim, Pleased to Meet Me) contain filler songs that, while never bad, are not particularly noticable on their own. It could have really crippled Paul’s legacy, but instead Paul used the bum deal to his benefit. Here was his plan: write marginal uptempo rock boogies that nobody really loves or hates and contrast them with really kick ass ultra-moving ballads. That way, the ballads will be so heart wrenching that you won’t be able to turn off the filler out of the necessity to cleanse the palate. “Johnny’s Gonna Die” and “Go” provided variety from the drunken hardcore of Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take out the Trash and the Stink EP, respectively. “Within Your Reach” provides Hootenanny with an intimacy that the band would never again reach. Let It Be’s “Unsatisfied” is heart breaking and contrasts nicely against would be filler like “Gary’s Got a Boner.” But it’s “Here Comes A Regular,” St. Paul’s greatest ballad, that really sticks it to Mephistopheles. Never has the band been so poignant or moving. Also, it’s a really guys’ ballad, covering topics like wasting your life and getting drunk. Awesome stuff.Bee Line: “Kneeling along side old Sad Eyes / He says opportunity knocks once and the door slams shut / All I know is I’m sick of everything my money can buy / The fool who wastes his life, God rest his guts”That’s it, these are the ten key songs you need to get into the Replacements. Well them and “Customer,” “I Hate Music” and “Shiftless When Idle” from Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, “Within Your Reach” and “Run It” from Hootenanny, “Favourite Game” and “Answering Machine” (most notably the live version that can be found somewhere online) from Let it Be, “Kiss Me on the Bus” from Tim, “IOU,” “The Ledge” and “Skyway” from Pleased to Meet Me, “Talent Show” and “Achin’ To Be” from Don’t Tell A Soul and “Merry Go Round” from All Shook Down. That’s all you need. Just these twenty-four songs and you’ll be set!