The Replacements

Certain Songs #1852: The Replacements – “Shiftless When Idle”

June 25, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

I ain’t got no idols

Of course, after writing a long song about one of his idols, in the very next song Paul Westerberg denies having such a vulgar thing as an idol. Because that’s just how he rolls.

And speaking of contradictions, “Shiftless When Idle” is one of the poppiest songs on Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, but at the same time, it sounds like like it was recorded inside of a portable AM radio at the bottom of a garbage can.

Certain Songs #1851: The Replacements – “Johnny’s Gonna Die”

June 24, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

Nah nah nah nah nah nah

Sticking out like a sore thumb in the midst of all the short, sharp, speedy songs, “Johnny’s Gonna Die” was a definite harbinger of things to come, both musically and lyrically.

Musically, “Johnny’s Gonna Die” was the first sign that The Replacements were more that just a band that was gonna pummel you to death, as its slower, bass-heavy groove — Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars in utter lockstep, especially Mars’s snare drum — was a template for slower ones for the rest of their Twin/Tone years, from which sprang quite a few songs I’ll be writing about in the next couple of weeks. For example, “Go” and “Willpower” repurpose the beat, and the mildly phased guitar comes into full fruition on “Within Your Reach.”

Certain Songs #1850: The Replacements – “Careless”

June 23, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

Irresponsibility’s my closest friend

You’d barely even caught your breath from Paul’s final scream of “takin a ride” when with a scream of “Yeaaaahhhh,” the somehow even more manic “Careless” comes blasting out of your speakers, muddy and near-incomprehensable and at :68 — the shortest song in their catalog — practically over before it began.

Certain Songs #1849: The Replacements – “Takin’ A Ride”

June 22, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

The radio’s blastin, turn that shit off!

OK, here we go!!!

If The Replacements hadn’t existed, then I would have had to invent them.

Luckily, they did. An ever-changing confluence of balls and brains; cockiness and insecurity; stellar musicianship and drunken incompetence, The Replacements didn’t so much change my life but affirm it. Affirm that I could stupidly rock the fuck out while also crying my eyes out, affirm that I could alternate the most profound thoughts with silly dick jokes, and most importantly, affirm that rock ‘n’ roll could save me right this second even as it was killing me slowly.

Certain Songs #20: Bash & Pop – “Friday Night (is Killing Me)”

November 14, 2014 by Jim Connelly

Album: Friday Night is Killing Me.

Year: 1993.

1993 was a weird year to be a Replacements fan. The full reality of their breakup finally kicked in with the release of 4 solo albums – like KISS! (and yet, not at all like KISS) – being released that year: Paul Westerberg’s 14 Songs, Chris Mars’ 75% Less Fat (his second album), Slim Dunlap’s The Old New Me, and the Tommy Stinson-led Bash & Pop’s Friday Night Is Killing Me.

And yet, despite this seeming bounty, most Replacements fans would have preferred another ‘mats album. I know this because in 1993, I met dozens and dozens of Replacements fans from all over the country online. And so we got to not only discuss the band we all loved with new people, we got to dissect these records as well,

Me, I thought that Westerberg had made overall better album: he was my favorite singer-songwriter in the world at that point, and his craft – even on the throwaways – was unimpeachable. But the song that haunted me that year was “Friday Night (Is Killing Me)”.

I guess you don’t spend that much time with the greatest songwriter of your generation without something rubbing off, because this song spoke directly to my soul in a way that some of Paul’s songs had previously.

1993 was a weird year for me: I’d had a number of creative endeavors go south or just plain end the previous year, so the first time in a long time, I didn’t really have any public outlet to express myself. I wasn’t in a band, I wasn’t on the radio, I wasn’t writing anywhere.

And furthermore, the tumult of my late 20s came to a screeching halt when I hit 30.

I was in stasis, just kinda drifting until I could figure out what to do next. Part of it involved getting on the internet – I instinctively knew that – but beyond interacting (slowly) with strangers on Prodigy & AOL, I still did my normal routine of going out to Livingstones or The Blue or Club Fred or wherever to drink and hang out, looking to recapture the excitement of when it was all newer.

And it was killing me. Maybe not so much the drinking, but the routine. The boredom. The “what else am I going to do” of it all. And more than anybody else that year, Tommy fucking Stinson – my nemesis! – captured it with those melancholy guitar leads, wrecked voice and the sad sad “again” after the title phrase.

I think the fact that I latched onto this song so hard is that I knew on a molecular level that things needed to change.

Fan-made video for “Friday Night (is Killing Me)”

My Certain Songs Playlist on Spotify

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Medialoper Bebop Episode 22: Time Change!

November 9, 2011 by Jim Connelly

This week, Kirk, Tim and Jim are reeling from the ramifications of the reversion back to Pacific Standard Time, so there are fewer topics, but more digressions!

First, a look at Amazon’s Kindle Owners Lending Library, and what it might mean for the Publishing industry, and you, the Consumer. Yes, you!! (07:20 – 21:00)

A voicemail from Commissioner Loper leads to a plot to capture Jay Fung, who still doesn’t know that he’s been mentioned on nearly every single podcast for the past couple of months. (21:02 – 23:00)

Then, a Musical Moment to Die For: The Dream Syndicate – Then She Remembers. (23:02 – 25:02)

Finally, Jim reveals his amazingly simple 21st Century plan to fix the problem of Daylight Saving Time, something that has been publicly affecting our lives since at least 1983. (25:03 – 33:32)

Here’s what’s in Jim’s mix this week: John Doe, Deer Tick and some rare Smiths. (33:33 – 37:54)

All that, and commentary from our special guest, Siri!!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:18 — 65.0MB)

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Subscribe to us in the iTunes, yo!

Medialoper Bebop Episode 2: Buried in a Sea of Coverage

May 4, 2011 by Jim Connelly

Welcome, once again, to the Medialoper Bebop podcast. This, right here, is Episode 2: Buried in a Sea of Coverage.

As always, your hosts are Jim Connelly, Tim Gaskill & Kirk Biglione, holding forth on a wide variety of topics.

There are 8 million podcasts on the naked internet, and we can guarantee you that no other podcast this week will focus on both Osama Bin Laden and Coco Crisp. Which is weird, because when we originally conceived the podcast over the weekend, we weren’t going to focus on either one.

But then, head-related things happened to each man, and we were compelled to discuss them.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:46 — 28.3MB)

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For those of you keeping score at home, here is today’s starting lineup:

19 Musical Moments To Die For

February 13, 2009 by Jim Connelly

Mick & Keith Singing This month, in honor of St. ~~Hallmark’s~~ Valentine’s day, it’s a special theme version of Musical Moments To Die For.

Love songs! Nothing but love songs!

Well, that’s not exactly right: not so much love songs, but songs about love, which is a totally different head. Totally.

However, just because I’ve applied a theme to this month’s post, it isn’t meant to be a definitive list of greatest songs about love or anything like that. It just happens that all of the songs this month are about it, that’s all. Which means, not uncoincidentally, a lot of these songs were huge hit singles or are incredibly familiar or obvious. Which, of course, doesn’t make them any less to die for.

This is the seventh in a series: The first one had 25, the second one had 24, the third one had 23, the fourth one had 22, the fifth one had 21, and the sixth had 20.

22 Musical Moments To Die For

November 14, 2008 by Jim Connelly

You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of a hook is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

The is the fourth in a series. The first one had 25, the second one has 24, the third one had 23.

And good news! The latest version of Flash solves the problem that was going on with Windows, Flash and Firefox. You might wanna download it.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.

Oh, and this isn’t in any kind of order, despite the numbering.

25 Musical Moments To Die For

July 25, 2008 by Jim Connelly

The Who - Live at Leeds (I hope) You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of hooks is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.