Overview

The Replacements (also known as the 'mats) are a seminal indie band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their career spanned from 1979-1991 and they released 8 studio albums, 2 live albums and a career retrospective in 1997 (more details of releases in Discography section.) Live they were either brilliant or a drunken shambles (more often the latter).

Career Overview

Who were they?

The original line up was :

Paul Westerberg - Vocals/Guitar

Bob Stinson - Lead Guitar

Tommy Stinson - Bass/Backing Vocals

Chris Mars - Drums/Backing Vocals

In 1986 Bob was fired from the band for being too much of a drunk and Robert "Slim" Dunlap was drafted in. In 1991 Chris Mars left because he felt he had too little input on the last record and was "replaced" for the tour by Steve Foley.

How did it all start?

Janitor Paul Westerberg heard the other members of the band playing above a shop on the high street. He said that his key reason for joining the band was 13 year old Tommy only being half the height of his bass amp. They played their first gig at an alchoholic half-way house under the name The Impediments. The inevitable happened and they were told that they would never play in Minneapolis again. However they quickly changed their name and got a gig at First Avenue. Meanwhile they recorded demo versions of some songs at Blackberry Way Studios. The songs recorded included Shut Up and Bought A Headache which were included in demo form on their debut album. The demo tape found it's way to Peter Jesperson at Twin/Tone Records, who signed them up immediately. This decision caused much ill feeling in Minneapolis especially from a band called Husker Du (Scandinavian for Do you Remember?). The 'mats responded to these criticisms in songs from their debut album. Shut Up dealt with them all ".. Tommy's too young, Bob's too drunk, I only sing one note..", and Something To Du was an attack on the Huskers.

Where Next?

The Replacements then made what some considered a step back. The next record an 8 Track Ep called Stink has been considered too one dimensional by many critics and fans. Paul himself described it as pseudo macho black flag style posturing. However as a straight up punk record it is sheer brilliance, starting with a recording of the Mpls police breaking up a party followed by the mats kicking into Kids Don't Follow. This song is sheer adrenaline fueled brilliance. Then angry teen anthem "F**k School" a less than subtle song. Toying with harmonica driven blues on "White and Lazy" before reverting to type. Towards the very end of the album (the penultimate track) a rare gem evoking later work of Paul's but with his ravaged vocals still present "Go". They then seriously diversified their music with the release of Hootenanny, an album encompassing many styles from Punk to Country. Highlights include "Within Your Reach" a poignant and beautiful song, "Colour me impressed" about being the white trash at a party and "Red Light" based supposedly on a real life experience of Chris rushing through St Pauls on his bike ("Lyndale, Garfield, here comes Knox run it").

The trilogy

After the huge critical success of "Hootenanny" the 'mats produced what was to be their last record for twin/tone and the first record of the supposed holy trinity. The trinity is a name given by fans to the three mid-career records that show Paul at his best in terms of writing. They are "Let It Be", "Tim" and "Pleased to Meet Me". "Let it Be" is in my humble opinion the best record ever made. the production is pretty much spot on and there are no tracks I would exclude (as opposed to "I'll buy" and "Lay It Down Clown" on "Tim"). This record also marked the first attempt to record "Can't Hardly Wait". Unfortunately it wasn't included (it was mixed by Alex Chilton before they got in Tommy Ramone to do it) and the far inferior version released on PTMM was their only released attempt at this song (excl. SHTF*.

Sire

The Replacements were signed to Sire records following Seymour Stein (the label owner) seeing them live in New York one week after an infamously terrible gig at CBGB's to which a member of KISS (Gene Simmons) had invited most of the A&R men in America. They proceeded to play covers in possibly the most sloppy and drunk manner known to man. The A&R men were not impressed. However on the night Seymour saw them, they were playing at the height of their abilities. Once they had signed to Sire the Twin/Tone demos for what was to become "Tim" were shelved and recording started anew with Tommy "Ramone" Ederyei. Unfortunately playing with the Ramones for a long time had made Tommy all but deaf and this lead to a very murky and poor production of what is otherwise a top quality batch of songs. This album was also the last recorded (Replacements) appearance of Bob Stinson and this was mainly in name alone. Once Bob was kicked out of the band Tommy Stinson is said to have had, sadly, only a limited amount of contact with him before his [Bob's] tragic death in 1995. Actual reasons for him being kicked out of the band differ, with the remaining members claiming that substance abuse was the main reason. However many claim that the 'mats continued to abuse aforementioned substances fairly heavily after this, casting doubt on the reason the band cite¹

Pleased To Meet Me

The final album in the "trilogy" was recorded without a lead guitarist, Paul filling in for the departed Bob (Slim joined for the PTMM tour) and acquitting himself well. Many of the songs on this album were demoed with Bob still in the band and the lead guitar doesn't differ much from the final album on those demos. The sessions were probably the last classic examples of old-school Replacements behaviour. During the sessions they managed to write off a car and permenantly injure the producer of the album, JIm Dickinson. After the album was completed they went on a radio station* to promote it and in a drunken state started talking nonsense (example : Interviewer - "Why do you write songs?", Paul - "Because I'm gay, no actually to make Chris and Tommy feel bad.") The next morning the station destroyed a copy of the record live on air and wondered why "any major label would sign that band".

Don't Tell A Soul

This was to be the last replacements album proper and takes on a far less rock oriented style than any of the previous releases by the band. It is widely believed that this is due to Paul getting more control over the output of the group after Bob left. Paul has said that he is more comfortable playing and writing music on the acoustic guitar. The most interesting thing about this album is that the initial producer Tony Berg was fired by the band ostensibly for being too young. The problems seemed to begin when Paul smashed his Martin Acoustic Guitar in the studio* this made Tony Berg very angry and distrust festered between him and the band. As a result of this album Slim made a veiled death threat against him. Tony left (apparently on friendly terms with the band) and was replaced with REM producer Scott Litt. The other key point about this album is that it is the Replacements album debut for Robert "Slim" Dunlap.

The last

Widely regarded as Paul's first solo album the next Replacements album, All Shook Down, was also their final one. Only two tracks featured the entire band and many tracks featured only Paul and session musicians. It was mainly due to this that Chris Mars left the band. His replacement Steve Foley was, according to the band, selected entirely at random. They were sitting in a bar after hearing that Chris had quit when they resolved to hire the next person to come into the bar, luckily the person to come into the studio was a drummer. The mood of the album is one of wistful remembrance and of an ending. The final song on the album is titled "The Last" and when questioned about this title in "The BOB" Paul said that it means the last song, the last album, the last word. The song "Merry Go Round" is about Paul as a small girl and being ignored by his family. When asked about the song on a radio show (Interviewer : "Merry Go Round, thats a song about a girl called Mary, right?") he said it wasn't about him but in other more reliable places he has admitted it. The Replacements career officialy ended at a free concert in Grant Park, Chicago on the 4th of July 1991. In true Replacements style they finished by one-by-one being replaced by members of their road crew during Hootenanny until the entire band had left (Paul : "This is the last time you'll ever hear this song"). They never returned to the stage.

3/4 Less Mats

Since the demise of the replacements most of the former members have started a Solo career. First amongst these was Bob who joined a band called Static Taxi as lead guitarist around the time. Chris produced three quality albums before giving up music and becoming a visual artist. He remains very bitter at the other members of the replacements (barring Bob). Tommy formed a band called Bash and Pop with Chris and Steve Foley. They released one album before breaking up. He then went on to a band called Perfect who released one EP and had created an album which went unreleased. He is now working as a session musician in the dire Guns 'n' Roses, this is to never be mentioned again. Slim has released many albums and plays out live in Minneapolis he currently has no deal. Paul scored the movie "Singles" and has released three albums to critical if not commercial acclaim. He is reportedly now signed to Hollywood and working on a new album with Tommy. A collection of selected tracks from their Sire albums along with outtakes from that period was released in 1997.

Discography*

Replacements

1981 - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take out the trash (Twin/Tone Records)

1982 - Stink (Twin/Tone Records)

1983 - Hootenanny (Twin/Tone Records)

1984 - Let It Be (Twin/Tone Records)

S**t Hits The Fans [Live] (Twin/Tone Records)

1985 - Boink [Compilation] (Twin/Tone Records)

Tim (Sire Records)

1987 - Pleased To Meet Me (Sire Records)

Inconcerated [Live] (Sire Records)

1989 - Don't tell a soul (Sire Records)

1990 - All Shook Down (Sire Records)

1997 - All For Nothing/Nothing For All (Reprise Records)

Paul

1991 - Singles Soundtrack (Warner?)

1993* - 13 Songs (Sire Records)

1996 - Eventually (Reprise Records)

1999 - Suicaine Gratifaction (Capitol Records)

2000 - Grandpaboy (Monolith)

Tommy

1993 - Bash and Pop* - Friday Night is Killing Me

1997 - Perfect - When Squirels play Chicken

1999 - Perfect - 7 Days A Week (unreleased)