Within Your Reach

The Replacements producer/manager Peter Jesperson:

We cut "Within Your Reach" during that secret solo Paul [Westerberg] session. And Chris [Mars] tried to play drums on it, and it just wasn't working. It didn't fit the song. And for some reason, [Suicide Commandos drummer] Dave Ahl had a drum machine there and we turned that on and [engineer Steve] Fjelstad mic'd it up and that's what we used for the song. (p.111)

Buy: The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting, An Oral History (2007)

Within Your Reach.mp3
Buy: Hootenanny (1983, reissued 2008)
I can't remember exactly, but I am pretty sure that this is the first Replacements song that I ever heard. It is also on the Say Anything Soundtrack (1989). I thought about Say Anything when I heard that John Hughes passed away yesterday, and even though Say Anything is a Cameron Crowe movie, the soundtrack rates up there with the Pretty in Pink soundtrack, both of which shaped my teenage years. More on Mr. Hughes tomorrow.

Kids Don't Follow

The Replacements first studio album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981), which many consider one of the best American punk albums of all time, barely got any play outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Regardless, they followed-up this release with an EP entitled Stink. The cassette and album covers were hand stamped, giving the release even more of an underground feel.

Lori Barbero, a Minneapolis musician and drummer for Babes in Toyland, talks about the opening track in the book The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting, An Oral History:

I was there, at that warehouse party [the live recording of which opens Stink]. I'm the one who goes "Whoo!" at the beginning. I remember the Replacements being set up on the floor, and the cops coming, and there were only twenty-five, thirty people there. I was a little lit, and I was like, "You have to be kidding me. This is the most terrorizing thing going on in Minnesapolis tonight?"

That's Dave Pirner [of Soul Asylum] screaming ["Fuck you, man!"] at the beginning of "Kids Don't Follow." (p.89)

Kids Don't Follow.mp3
Buy: Stink (1982, reissued with bonus tracks 2008)

If Only You Were Lonley

Grant Hart, Mark Olson, Prince Rogers Nelson, and Paul Westerberg were all born within three and a half years of each other in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Hart, New York-born Bob Mould and Illinois-born Greg Norton stated the hardcore band Husker Du at about the same time as Westerberg and his Minneapolis- born friends Bobby and Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars formed The Replacements. The two bands even performed together and had somewhat of a healthy competition in the Minneapolis music scene. Although by the time that Husker Du and The Replacements released their first albums in 1981, Prince had already released four albums, and was on the verge of mega-stardom with his fifth release 1999 (1982). Jim Walsh's book The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting, An Oral Historyhints that Westerberg and Prince may have gone to high school together, with Prince being a year ahead of Westy. Walsh even reports of a crazy 1981 Replacements outdoor show where "Prince sat on the grass wearing a confused smirk throughout the set." (p. 148) To quote Westerberg:

[Prince has] always been a great musician: If he's a pop star or he's in vogue is irrelevant. Like Coltrane or Sly Stone, he's creative, he's great. He's the shit. He's a great, great musician. And, in a way, I think that I am - you know, not as great - but maybe more of a songwriter. I am a musician and a writer, and I'll always be. And if I'm hip or if I'm an old man, that shouldn't really matter. I'm gonna do this forever, and I think we have that in common. (p. 53)

A few years later Mark Olson along with his Toledo-born pal Gary Louris and friends Marc Perlman and Norm Rogers formed the seminal alt country band The Jayhawks. Their first release came out in 1986. Likewise, in that same year a slightly younger Minneapolis-based band, Soul Asylum was releasing their second album.

It completely blows my minds that five very different, yet highly influential artists could emerge from a city like Minneapolis all within a few years of each other. This isn't New York, or Los Angeles, or even London. Its a land-locked city in the upper Midwest settled by Northern European loggers, where one freezes their ass off in the winter, and which, until very recently, contained an Norwegian Consulate. But, its also where Bob Dylan first learned how to play folk music.

The Replacements were massively influential on American rock music, while Husker Du similarly influenced hard rock and punk. Soul Asylum became a pop band with some huge hits in the early 90s, while, as mentioned, The Jayhawks were wildly influential in alt country and country music. And Prince, well, Prince's music has had some influence on every style of music, but most notably on pop and R&B. And, all of these artists are still active in their respective genres. Westerberg, Mould, Olson & Louris, and Prince all put out albums within the last year, they have over 30 years of music experience each. Westy was right, they are gonna do this forever.

Prince - Head.mp3
Buy: Controversy (1981)

Husker Du - Never Talking to You Again.mp3
Buy: Zen Arcade (1984)

Soul Asylum - Made to be Broken.mp3
Buy: Made to Be Broken (1986)

The Jayhawks - Martin's Song.mp3
Buy: Blue Earth (1989, reissued 2003)

The Replacements - If Only You Were Lonely.mp3
Buy: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981, reissued 2008)
This Westerberg solo track was not on the original album, but can now be found among the 13 bonus tracks on the 2008 reissue. This song was originally released as a B-side to "I'm in Trouble," The Replacements first official single.

I Will Dare

After two days of reading I am now on page 95 of Jim Walsh's The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting, An Oral History. At first I didn't like the book mainly because of the style in which it is written. It literally is an "oral" history in that every paragraph is a quote from someone associated in some way with The Replacements, be it a fan, a musician, a fellow writer, or even a relative. Walsh did tons of research finding hundreds of old interviews from various magazine and newspaper articles that quote Paul Westerberg and others from that era. Plus dozens of personal interviews conducted in 2006 and 2007. Unfortunately Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson did not participate in Walsh's research. The writing style, or lack thereof, makes the book sort of hard to read, and I can understand the critiques on Amazon which say that Walsh was "lazy" in compiling this book. However, to me it is still very engaging.

I'm now through the part of the book that covers the release of their first album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash(1981) and their followup EP Stink(1982). Like Walsh, I've decided to take the so-called lazy approach and instead of trying to blog about the legacy that is The Replacements, I am just going to post quotes from the book which I really like, and add some music to go along with it. You should read the book and learn about The Replacements on your own.

Each chapter starts with the lyrics of a song about The Replacements from a different artist. I am surprised and amused by how many artists wrote songs about The Replacements, but I will write more about that later. The introduction quotes the lyrics to the Tommy Womack song below, which I completely forgot that I had in my collection. The below quote is from Joe Henry, now an accomplished musician and producer himself. Henry's new album Blood From the Stars comes out on August 18.

The first time I heard the Replacements? It was a spring day in 1984 in Ann Abror, Michigan. I'd just gotten home from the medical library where I was being paid to waste my time, and I pulled a new record called Let It Be out of its sleeve and set it spinning. Even before the vocals came in on "I Will Dare," I was sold. It swung; and the Replacements sounded funny and pissy and arrogant and mopey all at once. I had felt for a long time like a forgotten soldier, but on an afternoon that was unseasonably warm after a hard Midwestern winter, they sounded to me like the goddamn cavalry coming through. (p. 39)

I Will Dare.mp3
Buy: Let It Be (1984, reissued 2008)

Tommy Womack - The Replacements.mp3
Buy: Circus Town (2002)