All Over But the Shouting

I just started reading The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting, An Oral History(2007). Written by Jim Walsh who was in the front row as The Replacements plowed through the basements and bars of Minneapolis to semi-national fame in the 1980s-indie underground. Walsh estimates that he saw The 'Mats 150 times over twelve years. I never saw them live, but when I first heard them on college radio 1988, my 15-year-old self was immediately in love.

I'm only through the preface, but I can already tell that this book is going to rule. This part made me laugh out loud:

Because Steve Perry's cover story for the October 1989 issue of Musician magazine called them "The Last, Best Band of the 80s," and next month, Jon Bon Jovi wrote a letter to the editor that asked, "How can the Replacements be the best band of the '80s when I've never heard of them?"

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Here's one for you JBJ:

Unsatisfied.mp3
Buy: Let It Be (1984, reissued 2008)

Walsh says that he inspired this song during the Hootenanny days when he told Paul Westerberg that they were "playing like they were satisfied." This statement pissed off Westerberg, so he wrote this song in revenge.

For comparison, here is Bon Jovi's hit single from 1984. "Runaway" peaked at #39 on the Billboard Top 100.

Runaway.mp3
Buy: Bon Jovi (1984, reissued 1999)