It turns 40 today and has probably only gotten better as years have gone on. Here's a recreation of the album cover by some friends.
Oct 2, 2024
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One of the most controversial album mixdowns updated from 1985 to 2024. A pinnacle of indie rock and a deep introspective into balancing talent and lifestyle. With the passing of guitarist Slim Dunlap 2 days ago, The Replacements are still America’s band.
Dec 20, 2024
Zoomers may know it from Lorde's cover of "Swinging Party". But, being a GenXer myself, I have no idea when I first heard The Replacements. They're a band that have always seemed to be there in my life, with every song on "Tim", their should-have-been-a-hit album, always sounding familiar.
Broadly speaking, the Minneapolis quartet, known affectionately by fans as 'The Mats', have three phases: the early hardcore and noisy period, the middle period with power pop sensibilities, metallic guitars and big choruses ("Bastards of Young" is perfect), and the final period, without one of the core founding members, trying (and failing) to fit into the mainstream.
It's a cliché to say that The Replacements lost the game against themselves, lost to other bands of the same era who had talent and discipline, and lost precious time building a reputation as unreliable drunks. It's a shame, of course. But The Replacements wouldn't have been The Replacements with any other behavior, and that's part of the tragic beauty of the story told in the book "Trouble Boys: The True History of The Replacements", in which author-fan Bob Mehr traces the family roots of each member, tying together the story of the rise and fall of a band that sabotaged every opportunity they had.
Ken Burns should make a documentary about The Replacements as an essential American band. It's a story with everything that went wrong with the American Dream: families plagued by unemployment, alcoholism and depression, young people with little education and no prospects, childhoods lost to violence and abuse. The story is very sad and "Trouble Boys" challenges even the most hardened fan (especially since it's about three hundred pages longer than it should be).
"Tim", from 1985 (which was reissued and remastered in 2023 and received a rare 10/10 from Pitchfork!) is a seminal album that laid the foundation for what would become "alternative rock" in the 1990s - even if it's not loved by ‘Mats fans from the early days, when the band was closer to, for example, Husker Du. Mixed by Tommy Ramone, the original "Tim" marks the moment when the band got a contract with a major label (they signed wrong names in an attempt to leave the label later, go figure), a music video on MTV (the result is a brilliant piece of sabotage) and an appearance on Saturday Night Live (the band got drunk, trashed the place, got kicked out and didn't appear on TV for over three years, but the recording is great).
Never heard it? Start here: "Can't Hardly Wait", from the album "Tim", already in the less punk and more melodic phase. For me, that's where Paul Westerberg's punchy hooks and catchy melodies shine (guy wanted to be in Big Star so badly).
Feb 20, 2024
twenty great songs to celebrate twenty years of making music
has some of my less well-known favorites on there: be still, pressure machine, quiet town
Sep 30, 2024
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One of the few apps with no ephemeral "story" feature or whatever so you don't need to check it every 24 hours. Cherish this.
Mar 6, 2024
It's just like John Swartzwelder said:
"Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible […] Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. It’s lousy, but it’s a script. The hard part is done."
Jul 2, 2024
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Maybe some kettle cooked chips as well… on a paper plate… now we're talking
Aug 19, 2024