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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Summary:
The Replacements were the populist,
grass-roots alter-ego of Husker Du. Their early albums were influenced
by the epic frenzy of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls. But on
Hootenanny (1983)
Paul Westerberg emerged as a confessional and visionary songwriter, and the
band began to spin blues, country, rockabilly and boogie while retaining
the anthemic spirit (and the raw sound) of punk-rock.
Let It Be (1984) slowed down the pace and toned down the guitars,
giving Paul Westerberg the front stage and a messianic role.
His inner torture became the spiritual journey of an entire generation,
a sort of passion/martyrdom that ordinary American kids identified with
in an almost genetic way. It was his iconic mixture of pride, defeat,
longing and will that propelled the band's power-ballads.
Tim (1985) was at the same time a documentary of American teenage life
and a parade of authentic, impeccable rock'n'roll. In its desolate cries,
the mythology of the misfit and the loner reached another zenith of pathos.
The versatile, eclectic, encyclopedic style of Pleased To Meet Me (1987)
signaled that the Replacements had exhausted their historical role.
They had exhausted their generation's sorrows.
(Translated from my original Italian text by DommeDamian)
The Replacements ("Mats" for fans) were, alongside Husker Du, the glory of Minneapolis punk during the
early 1980s. Like their cousins, the Mats represented a moment of recollection
and rethinking, in which the humble private lives of the provincial
"kids" took precedence over the public disgust. Compared to
their cousins, the Mats were, however, even closer to the soul of their peers.
Deafening,
raw, fast and passionate, the Replacements were the epitome of the marriage
between art and life that young punks were looking for, but at the same
time Paul Westerberg was the natural spokesperson for his generation. Bob
Stinson, a rocky and brutal guitarist, served as a bit of a driving force in
the sound.
They debuted in 1981, in the midst of the hardcore boom, with the single I'm In Trouble and the album Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash! (Twin Tone, 1981). The album was piloted by two vulgar generational anthems such as Takin 'A Ride and Shiftless When Idle , reaffirming their status as alcoholic and “brawling" kids in some demonic thrash punk (Don't Ask Why , Shut Up , Customer , Rattlesnake ) that borrowed the frontal assault from the Sex Pistols and the charge from the New York Dolls, but also highlighted debts to country (Love You Till Friday), rockabilly (More Cigarettes), and boogie (Hanging Downtown). The
sarcastic social reflections on the musical milieu of I Hate Music , Johnny's Gonna Die and I Bought A Headache are particularly impressive. "I ain't got no idols / I ain't got much taste / I'm shiftless when I'm idle / And I got time to waste" sums up their whole philosophy of vagabond and unemployed kid of the "low".
Sorry Ma was one of the most enthralling and mature albums of 1981, all
the more surprising when you consider that the oldest, the leader Paul
Westerberg, was twenty-one and the youngest was only fifteen.
Stink (Twin Tone, 1982) brought out precisely the most violent and arrogant qualities of their show. From epilepsy to more epilepsy, the Replacements traced an epic
fresco of their generation (see the four terrifying anthems of the first side,
among the most excited ever: Kids Don't Follow , Fuck
School , God Damn Job , Stuck In The Middle)
and their perception of the world (Dope Smokin
'Moron , Gimme Noise). But
Westerberg's personality was beginning to emerge both as a passionate performer
(in the blues shuffle of White And Lazy)
and as a lyric reporter (in the ballad of Go).
Crowned by this record as one of the greatest rock'n'roll bands of the time, certainly one of the most authentic and visceral, two steps above the X and the other ambiguous Californian acts, the Replacements on Hootenanny (Twin
Tone, 1983) moved decisively towards blues landscapes (the title-track
and Treatment Bound ), surf ( Buck Hill ),
true rock'n'roll (Take Me Down To The Hospital),
folk and country, brushing a lot of ballads of precocious wisdom (Color Me
Impressed) as much as instigations to commit crime (Run It , You
Lose , Hey Day), and touching the heights of pathos
in Willpower's emotional collapseand
in the U2-esque ballad Within Your Reach. Incorrigible
rebels, they had the courage to shout with animal enthusiasm "the label
wants a hit / and we don't give a shit". The album, precisely because
it renounces the theatrical exaggerations of punk, is possibly the one that
best captures the spirit of the "Mats". Color Me Impressed, Willpower and Within
Your Reach will remain among the classics of their generation.
Let It Be (Twin Tone, 1984) confirmed the new style but avoided its dispersion. The songs
are tight-fitting power-pop tracks like the anthem I Will Dare (with
country tints) and the almost-instrumental hard rock of Seen Your Video,
with some wild novelty (Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out , and
Aerosmith-style grooves in Gary's Got A Boner) and a couple of
lyrical ballads (Unsatisfied and Sixteen Blue). Even
the youngest raging adrenaline rushes (We're Coming Out , Answering Machine) are arranged to moderate the violence.
Its underlying theme is being someone no one else would like to be, being proud and desperate, marginalized and mythologized at the same time. The form of the hard-folk ballad turns out to be the most pertinent to the program, even if in this way the Mats lose the shock force of the pure rock and roll of the
origins, and the funs cry out to betrayal. The record is a blockbuster for
indies and established a new standard of punk rock for
the mass of ordinary kids, as opposed to the new abstruse rock of Minutemen and
Black Flag. Indeed, it is the work that best balances the adolescent
thrill of punk with the proletarian yearning of a mature youth.
Considered by many to be one of the top names in punk rock music, Let It Be (Twin Tone, 1984) was the album that transformed Replacements from simple generational icons to universal artists.
Thus it was that Tim (Sire, 1985) imposed them as warm and male life singers in a more moderate style of
punk-pop that oscillates between their classic boogie (Dose of Thunder , Lay
It Down Clown) and the emotional ballads (Swinging Party and
above all Here Comes A Regular), with a whole series of
generational pictures a la Kinks (in particular Kiss Me On The Bus ,
but also Little Mascara and Hold My Life) and
vintage photos a la Stray Cats (I'll Buy). Above all, the sick
invectives of Bastards of Young and Left of The Dial arise.
It is perhaps the most ‘complete' and coherent album of their career, in which the genius of Westerberg churns out memorable ballads, one after the other, effortlessly (Here Comes A Regular , Left of The Dial , Here Comes A Regular). Bob Stinson and Chris Mars assist the leader with punchy guitars and tight cadences. And the ensemble produces some of the most touching moments of all 80s rock.
Far from the scorching hardcore atmosphere, the Replacements resumes
the tradition of the rock song where it left off before the punk flood.
Westerberg is the most typical cantor of the so-called "me generation", of which he captures the
constitutional weaknesses (insecurity, immaturity, unpreparedness, and
passivity). The guitarist, Bob Stinson, was responsible for the most
reprehensible excesses, especially in live performances. Downsizing him
(and put to the door a few months later, replaced by Slim Dunlap), the
personality of the leader has a way to catalyze all the attention on the
stories. Angry, cynical, desperate, Westerberg lives the violent world of
his contemporaries, a world of drugs, sex, alcohol, fights, and car racing.
On Pleased To Meet Me (Sire, 1987), encyclopedic in its sources of inspiration, lyrical and melodic even in
the general abrasive chaos, their slogans are therefore less provocative, even
if more mature. From the scruffy male rock and roll of IOU, Valentine and Red
Red Wine to the power-pop of Alex Chilton (moving
tribute to their dark muse), from the sour and tender ballads of Skyway (one
of the best of the genre) and Nightclub Jitters to rhythm and
ironic blues of I Don't Know and above all Can't
Hardly Wait , from the southern boogie of Shooting Dirty Pool to
the heavy metal of The Ledge (one of their most popular
songs), these are the Rolling Stones of punk.
Suspicion was also confirmed by the more commercial Don't Tell A Soul (Sire, 1989), between a
country-rock lament (Achin 'To Be ,
very radio-friendly), a depraved boogie (I Won't), a rhythm and blues
bar-band (Talent Show), a couple of chart-topping power-pops (I'll Be
You , Back To Back), an old-time "slow" (They're
Blind) and the lyrical, spooky ode of Rock And Roll Ghost,
which sinks into the personal ordeal of the leader's
misunderstanding. Westerberg's ambivalence has now become schizophrenic:
his ego as a rabid rebel, a stray dog, constantly fighting against a crowd of
liars, snobs, hypocrites, cowards, sold, is contrasted with the art of chiseling
formally flawless songs , a far cry from the wild rock
and roll of yesteryear.
All Shook Down (Sire,
1990) was not the last Replacements album, but in fact the first solo album by
their capricious and self-injurious leader, Paul Westerberg, undoubtedly one of
the greatest songwriters of the 1980s. Musically, the work is a completely
unsuccessful, even inferior to the group's previous album, Don't Tell A Soul , which had already been their biggest let-down of the decade. Sadly Beautiful , Merry Go Round , Bent Out of Shape (the only one played with Mars and Stilton), When It Began , Happy Town , and My Little Problem are not songs, they are the obituary of one of the most important bands of the 80s.
The superb trilogy of Let It Be, Tim and Please
To Meet Me& (or tetralogy, also counting the
underrated but no less wonderful Hootenanny ) has remained
without sequel. At the same time, rumors are rampant, the background on
the management of the Replacements, which portrays Westerberg as a little
unscrupulous Hitler, determined to take maximum personal advantage from the
operation, with no respect for others.
Westerberg's proud singing is the purest voice of his generation's restlessness. His ballads were dedicated
to boys like himself. Taken together, they make up a great, epic saga of
the "sick" adolescence of the American province.
All For Nothing (Reprise)
is a bad anthology of the later years.
Slim Dunlap,
Chris Mars e
Paul Westerberg launched
prolific solo careers, while bassist Tommy Stinson
formed
Bash And Pop.
Bob Stinson instead became the umpteenth
victim of rock and roll (dying of an overdose in 1995).
Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? (Sire, 2006) is a career retrospective.
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