Wow, I'd forgotten how good that is
The Replacements' Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash -- first punk record I ever got (given to me on a dubbed tape by, I'm pretty sure, this Brad Witham). That tape stayed in my tape player for months, probably until I got Let It Be (and I still remember hoping my mom wouldn't look too carefully at the track listing, especially, oh, around midway through side 2, when I was buying it at the record store).
Yes, the remastered CDs mentioned here showed up, and they sound incredible. Do I have a point? No. Except that the Replacements changed my life in important ways. They're especially well described in the liner notes by Gina Arnold for Let It Be. It's worth reading all of it (and you must buy these records, right now), but a quick excerpt might be interesting:
That was the thing about The 'Mats. You didn't just listen to them or like them or drop by a gig every now and again. You simply were them. You wouldn't have said that about R.E.M. or Sonic Youth or Husker Du or any of the other well-known bands of the era, much as you may have loved them. You wouldn't have said it about Springsteen, Madonna, or Prince. Unlike those acts, compelling as they all were, once you fell into The Replacements vortex, you took on their attributes--and their battles. It was sort of like that episode of the X-Files where hapless city workers are usurped by an amoeba in the sewer. You didn't listen to The 'Mats, you channeled them.
By the time I was old enough to go see shows (and, more important, had access to a car), they were almost done. I saw them once, on the Don't Tell a Soul tour. It was good, though it was in a mid-size theater rather than something like First Avenue, and by all accounts it was at best a middling show. And yet it was still great.
My point? Again, I have none. There are virtually no 'Mats songs we can play on the show. But if you need to know why you hear them fairly regularly, that's why. And if you have those old records and haven't listened to them recently, listen, now.
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8 comment(s)
8 Comment(s):
'Mats and Minutemen... that was my punk rock diet growing up in Detroit. I never saw the Replacements but I caught the Minutemen 3 times, I'd say. Brilliant. Vital. You had to be right there and I was.
My "Mats records got worn through... especially Pleased to Meet Me, my personal favorite. Equal parts beauty and bash. Pretenders 1st and 2nd also recommended...
Minutemen, yes. Again, I was a little too late for them, but fIREHOSE did well for me as a substitute (and honestly I like a lot of fIREHOSE songs more than most Minutemen songs, but don't tell the indie cred people). There was a time when I saw fIREHOSE more than any other band (probably a dozen times or so); some other bands have come into the lead since then, but not many.
Wow, you guys, maybe we should all hang out & drink beers & laugh & hug & yell (occasionally bumping into the turntable)! I knew about the Minutemen, worhiped them, but it was right after D. Boon was gone. BUT I, too, saw fIREHOSE about a dozen times throughout Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, often enough to where Mike Watt (goddam I love that stinky old guy!) would give you a nod before and after a show.
Bill and David, I just recently "rediscovered" the Replacements, a couple weeks before the reissues, and man, I just keep turning up my iPod louder and louder everytime I listen to "Hold My Life" or "We're Comin' Out" or "Kiss Me on the Bus" or "Stuck in the Middle" ... shoot fire!
I didn't even mention the bonus tracks. I have a lot of them already, but mostly on weird vinyl things, and some I've never had. Stink's got "You're Getting Married," which is just a heartbreaking thing he did in his parents' basement, Let It Be's got a pretty sweet "Temptation Eyes" and a demo of "Answering Machine", and Sorry Ma has an instrumental we can even play on the show, "A Toe Needs a Shoe."
It's essential stuff, certainly for the two of you.
It was "Tim" for me. and "let it be" as a close second. I bought a bootleg of video clips and live stuff off the ebay a while back. crazy stuff there. the replacements and "x" (of course, i'm a left coast guy) through the '80's - ahhhh, the good ol' days......
I had several invitations to see them, but I was busy seeing as many movies as possible (worked at a theater, so I could see anything showing inside the theater chain).
By the time I finally saw the 'Mats, they were opening for Elvis Costello at Madison Square Garden - their final tour... the only time they ever played MSG. Nice set, but the people I was with had no idea who they even were.
I remember seeing them in '89 at the Beacon in NYC. I was 17 and my mind was blown. I thought they both sucked and ruled at the same time. Will get the re-issues stat.
Just today at lunch I told someone that the Replacements were the greatest band ever. I first learned of them in CREEM in summer of '84; Paul Westerberg's comments were sarcastic and I knew I'd like them without ever having heard a note. Let It Be was everything: funny, sad, yearning and boot-to-the-head rock n' roll and I quickly got the rest of their catalog. How could any band be this good? How come no one knew about them? My house/band mate Jimbo Mathus and I ate them up like chocolate.
We went to see them in Memphis when Tim came out, got there way early and peeked thru a door while they sound-checked with Bastards Of Young. I timidly approached Paul at the bar and we talked for about 15 minutes. He told me how to tune to open A so I could play Answering Machine and politely asked about my band. I still wear that conversation like a badge.
The crowd was sort of hanging back when they took the stage, but when they opened with Takin' A Ride, it was so LOUD and good there was a surge forward and my heart exploded like fireworks. They only played 3 tunes from Tim and there was a "slow" section in the middle consisting of "Go", "Unsatisfied", "Johnny's Gonna Die", and a soaring "Sixteen Blue". Friends who saw that tour in other towns complained about Bob Stinson being too drunk to finish the show, but lucky for us they were dead-on that night.
I saw them 4 more times post-Bob and loved it, but that night was transcendent. Won't say it changed my life, because they'd already done that, and there's always a sweet heartache when I listen to them. Apologies for the rambling....
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