The Replacements

Certain Songs #1866: The Replacements – “Unsatisfied”

July 14, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Be
Year: 1984

. . .

I’m so, I’m so unsatisfied

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

Shit, it might just be the greatest song anybody’s ever written. And yet, it’s not even my favorite song on Let It Be.

Certain Songs #1865: The Replacements – “Androgynous”

July 13, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Be
Year: 1984

. . .

Mirror image / see no damage / see no evil at all

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

Let it Be was the album where I started thinking in terms of Replacements albums having “major” songs and “minor” songs. In general, the “major” songs were usually — but not always — grand statements where he somehow universalized the personal. The minor songs were the jokey ones, the pisstakes, the ones delivered with a wink. Or, the major songs could be the ones I loved more.

Certain Songs #1864: The Replacements – “We’re Coming Out”

July 11, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let it Be
Year: 1984

. . .

One more chance to get it half right

In December of 1984, a couple of months after Let it Be came out, the Village Voice published an instantly infamous cover story — pretty much forever known as “The R.J. Smith story” — which described the tumultuous chaos (or chaotic tumult) that surrounded the ‘Mats. And by “surrounded,” I, of course, mean “created by.”

Certain Songs #1862: The Replacements – “I Will Dare”

July 9, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let it Be
Year: 1984

. . .

How smart are you? How dumb am I?

“I Will Dare” might just be the greatest song Paul Westerberg has ever written.

And so, in the summer of 1984, this single just arrived at KFSR. A brand-new 12″ 45-RPM vinyl record from The Replacements, that scruffy sloppy garage band that had made one of my favorite records of the previous year. Maybe I knew that “I Will Dare” was coming, maybe I didn’t. Maybe I knew that some guy named “Pete Buck” played the guitar solo before I read it on the jacket, maybe I didn’t. I don’t remember any of that.

But what I do remember is knowing that it was a fucking classic before Paul Westerberg even opened his mouth.

Certain Songs #1861: The Replacements – “Treatment Bound”

July 8, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hootenanny
Year: 1983

. . .

Label wants a hit, and we don’t give a shit

The self-mythologizing song has always been a rock ‘n’ roll staple, done by countless bands from The Who to the Clash to Too Much Joy to the Hold Steady, and with “Treatment Bound,” Paul Westerberg entered the Replacements into the canon, with a typically funny and unstinting look at exactly where the ‘mats were and where he thought they were going.

And it wasn’t pretty:

Certain Songs #1860: The Replacements – “Hayday”

July 7, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hootenanny
Year: 1983

. . .

Going to the party that we weren’t invited

I would never claim that “Hayday” is one of Paul Westerberg’s greatest songs, however, I would claim that it’s easily my favorite song from Hootenanny, as pure of a blast of fucking punk rawk that the Replacements ever committed to vinyl.

Certain Songs #1859: The Replacements – “Lovelines”

July 6, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hootenanny
Year: 1983

. . .

Oh yeah, oh yeah, Kitten!

The fast blues shuffle “Lookin For Ya” had been kicking around since even before Paul hooked with the rest of the ‘mats, but for whatever reasons, they didn’t record it for Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash, but did do a version of it for a compilation album in early 1982.

Certain Songs #1858: The Replacements – “Within Your Reach”

July 2, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hootenanny
Year: 1983

. . .

I’ll die within your reach

Wait. What? Is that a goddamn drum machine? And a goofy phased guitar? And a fucking synthesizer? I thought the Replacements were, you know, a rock band. I mean, sometimes a drum machine is OK, like on that one song from New Order. I mean, what the fuck? No, seriously what the fuck?

The fuck, of course, was that Paul Westerberg had finally written a song that was too great for him to ignore and too difficult for his band to properly play. Especially his drummer, who had tagged along for what was originally a solo session and was too human to nail it.

Certain Songs #1857: The Replacements – “Willpower”

July 1, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hootenanny
Year: 1983

. . .

I don’t wanna stop it

Those looking for any kind of consistency on Hootenanny probably gave up right here. Following the glorious punk-pop party of “Color Me Impressed” with a long, echoing — let’s just call it — goth hangover was as off-putting as it was obstinate genius.

Certain Songs #1856: The Replacements – “Color Me Impressed”

June 30, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hootenanny
Year: 1983

. . .

Can you stand me on my feet?

“Color Me Impressed” just might be Paul Westerberg’s greatest song.

It’s the late spring of 1983, and my college radio station, KFSR has been on the air for about six months. Long enough for me to start becoming friends — in some cases, life-long! — with the other DJs, one of whom had joined the R.E.M. fan club. And they had gotten a letter from R.E.M. that listed a bunch of other bands that R.E.M. liked, one of which was The Replacements. And since Hootenanny had just come out and we got multiple copies, I took one home.

And fell instantly in love.