The Replacements – All Over But The Shouting
I recently finished reading this book which is a mix of band interviews, quotes from Minneapolis music scene diehards and fan musings.
It’s a tough read at times because there is an index in the back where you feel compelled to reference everyone who is being quoted. There are so many different sources and most of the names aren’t familiar which makes it difficult. There are some obvious ones like Grant Hart from Husker Du, Dan Murphy from Soul Asylum and a few others. But it seems like every local Minneapolis writer and musician who ever went to a Replacements show is quoted.
If you are a big fan of the band, it is interesting to follow their career from start to finish. They were a group of talented guys who, in the end, weren’t ready to play the major label game. The saddest part is the death of Bob Stinson, who died from years of alcohol and drug abuse in his 30s.
When I was in college at NYU, I interned for the ‘Mats management company in NY. Their managers worked out of a building that doesn’t exist anymore due to the new gentrification of NYC. It was an old five story building across from the now extinct Tower Records on West 66th Street.
This was the tail end of the Replacements career. Bob Stinson had been kicked out, and Slim Dunlop was the new guitar player. Their Minneapolis manager who had been with them from the beginning had also been given the boot. They were trying to make it as a major label band with New York management.
The Del Fuegos were also managed by the same guys. It’s pretty funny that Dan Zanes is now a kid’s music star. I’ve taken my kids to see his band many times, he’s really a great musician. But, back in the late 1980’s the Del Fuegos were best known as the band from Boston who appeared in a Miller Beer commercial. The ‘Mats loved joking about that, how the Del Fuegos were sell-outs.
Over the year that I worked for their management, the Replacements had just finished Don’t Tell A Soul and Warner/Reprise was ready to launch them into hit single heaven. But, it seemed like all of the fun had been taken out of what the ‘Mats were by that time.
The first time I saw them was at The Ritz on 11th Street in NYC (now Webster Hall). It was on the Please To Meet Me tour. They came out wearing matching yellow and blue plaid suits and by the end of the show they were drunk off their asses throwing toilet paper into the crowd. Regardless, as a music fan, you could see through the absolute stupidity. Paul Westerberg’s songs were the reason we were all there and Tommy Stinson always looked like he was having the time of his life.
In the end there wasn’t any hit single, they were being pushed into a direction that wasn’t what the spirit of the band was about. Westerberg has gone on to write many other great songs that are clever, introspective, and just good rock tunes.
I just read on the Westerberg site that The Replacements’ first three albums and an EP will be reissued in remastered, expanded form this April. Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out the Trash, Stink, Hootenanny and Let It Be will be released on Rhino.
Finally! Since the cartridge broke on my turntable I haven’t been able to listen to Hootenanny which I only own on vinyl…
