The Replacements

Certain Songs #1892: The Replacements – “Wake Up”

August 14, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Nothing For All
Year: 1988

. . .

Wake up and wonder where you are

While its importance has been somewhat muted by the various reissues, the 1997 release of All For Nothing / Nothing For All was a huge deal in ‘Mats land. While the All For Nothing disc was a pretty solid “best-of” overview of the Sire years — nearly all of the songs on on that records will be featured here — but it was the Nothing For All disc that well and truly got me.

Certain Songs #1889: The Replacements – “Skyway”

August 11, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

There wasn’t a damn thing I could do or say

I’ve lived in California my whole life. And while there are places in California where it snows, none of the places I’ve lived — Fresno, The Bay Area and L.A. — are those places.

Certain Songs #1888: The Replacements – “Valentine”

August 10, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

Well you wish upon a star that turns into a plane

The song that Skyway founder Matt Tomich still emails to us every year almost didn’t make it on Pleased to Meet Me. It seems insane now, but according to Bob Mehr’s Trouble Boys, “Valentine” was only added because the original version of the album was barely 28 minutes.

Certain Songs #1887: The Replacements – “Never Mind”

August 8, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

The words I thought I brought I left behind

The second time I saw the Replacements was early in the summer of 1987, when the days were long and hot. It was also in Fresno, down the Ikeway at the Old Town.

Even cooler, I was able to secure yet another on-air interview for 90.7 KFSR. And so I wrote up a bunch of questions for Paul, hoping to get his thoughts on the two major-label albums, and Bob leaving, making videos, writing a song about Alex Chilton, etc. All the things you would have asked Paul Westerberg in 1987. I was sure he was going to be as awesome of an interview.

Certain Songs #1881: The Replacements – “Hitchin’ A Ride (Maxwell’s 1986)”

August 1, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Live at Maxwell’s 1986
Year: 1986

. . .

From their earliest days, covers were a key of the Replacements aesthetic. Hell, as everybody knows, they stuck a KISS cover right in the middle of Let It Be. And while that was the only cover they ever put on an album (until Songs For Slim, which was all covers), any Replacements show worth its salt had more than one cover, and the show documented in For Sale: Live At Maxwell’s 1986 had five: an aborted take on Sweet’s immortal “Fox on the Run;” the aforementioned “Black Diamond;” plus T. Rex’s “Baby Strange,” The Beatles “Nowhere Man” and the cheesy pop goodness of Vanity Fare’s 1970 top 5 single, “Hitchin’ A Ride.”

Certain Songs #1879: The Replacements – “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out (Maxwell’s, 1986)”

July 30, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Live at Maxwell’s 1986
Year: 1986

. . .

Nothing to fear, it’s only murder

I was lucky enough to see The Replacements five times during their original run. And never once did I see one of their infamous disintegration shows. I’m sure they were sloppy and fucked up, but they always seemed like the greatest band ever.

But, of course, during the 1980s, they only put out a pair of live recordings: The Shit Hits The Fans cassette, and the Inconcerated promo-only CD release. And while I admired the story behind the former and the performances of the latter, neither had what I was looking for in a Replacements live album.

Certain Songs #1878: The Replacements – “Nowhere is My Home”

July 29, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Boink!
Year: 1986

. . .

Nowhere is where I’m from

The next thing we saw from The Replacements, however, wasn’t a brand-new album, but rather an U.K.-only compilation from Glass Records — which as also The Jazz Butcher’s label at the time — that was just flat-out weird.

Purportedly an overview of the band’s Twin/Tone years, it consisted of just eight songs, none of which were from either Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash or Let It Be, instead, going with three from Stink and three from Hootenanny, plus “If Only You Were Lonely” and an outtake from the early Tim sessions, produced by Alex Chilton.

Certain Songs #1869: The Replacements – “Answering Machine”

July 17, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let it Be
Year: 1984

. . .

How do you say “I’m lonely” to an answering machine?

“Answering Machine” just might be the greatest song Paul Westerberg has ever written.

And it’s my official All-Time Favorite Song. But, how do you say a song, any song, is your all-time favorite song?

Certain Songs #1868: The Replacements – “Sixteen Blue”

July 16, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Be
Year: 1984

. . .

Your age is the hardest age

Out of all of the major songs on Let It Be, the hardest one for me to get into was “Sixteen Blue.” Sometimes it just happens that way: you know on every objective level that a song is great, but it just doesn’t resonate with you.

Maybe because I was 21, and didn’t want to try to relate to teenagers, having just escaped being one for what felt like an eternity, and so it didn’t quite resonate with me the same way that the more adult themes “I Will Dare” or “Unsatisfied” or, heh, “Answering Machine” did.

Certain Songs #1867: The Replacements – “Seen Your Video”

July 15, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Be
Year: 1984

. . .

We don’t wanna know

April 19, 1985.

That was the first time I saw the Replacements. At the Star Palace in Fresno, CA, a 500-seat club that our college radio station, KFSR, managed to sell out for a band based 2000 miles away that only we played. There were a lot of other things going on that day: the same radio station was choosing a new station manager, and the band that would eventually become The Miss Alans — who just released their first album in nearly a quarter-century — was playing their first gig ever that night.

But the most important thing to me: I was getting to interview Paul Westerberg. Live, on the air, in the KFSR studio. Just him, answering my questions (with, of course, a bunch of people hanging around the station.)