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reprint of the Newsday article for the click-challenged
BY KEVIN AMORIM
Newsday Staff Writer
June 7, 2006
Color us obsessed, but there's really no substitute for The Replacements.
Back when "alternative rock" was "college rock" in the 1980s, the ragged and glorious Minneapolis quartet sat at the head of the class. Sure, they were a little punk, very drunk and destined to flunk. It didn't matter. The Replacements were our very own Beatles - and not just because the Yanks put out their own incredible album titled "Let It Be" (Twin/Tone).
With next week's release of "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?" (Rhino), a best-of with two new tracks, the band is back on our mind, even though thoughts of the group - singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg, original guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars - never waned. How could they?
Take for example, R&B kid Chris Brown's "Run It!" The Replacements have a "Run It," too. From 1983.
The Strays covered The Replacements' theme song, "Bastards of Young." (That's a popular tune; it's also the name of a DVD documentary and concert film about the rise of modern punk. It dropped yesterday.) Also out yesterday, Joan Jett's new album, which includes a cover of "Androgynous." And Ohio emo band Hawthorne Heights named its new album "If Only You Were Lonely" (Victory), which was the name of the B-side to The Replacements' first single, "I'm in Trouble."
This is nothing new, however. The Replacements, also known as the Mats, were part of the popular culture ages ago.
There was parody with They Might Be Giants' 1987 tune "We're the Replacements."
There was homage in the 1989 Winona Ryder flick "Heathers," which took place at Westerburg High, a nod to Westerberg, on whom Ryder had a crush. The movie also worked a Mats title into the dialogue: One of the Heathers utters, "Color me impressed."
There was pilfering. Tom Petty nicked a Westerberg line, "rebel without a clue," from the Mats' "I'll Be You" for the title-track of "Into the Great Wide Open," the 1991 Petty and the Heartbreakers album. It's not like Petty heard "I'll Be You" that much - the Mats only opened a tour for him in 1989. Coincidentally, that Petty album was released July 2 and the Mats played their final show July 4 in Chicago. (So, Tom, don't be so quick to sue the Red Hot Chili Peppers.)
There's more.
Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz sang "I Will Dare" in 1996's "Feeling Minnesota." An aside: Reeves also starred in the 2000 football film "The Replacements." Interesting.
"Can't Hardly Wait" wasn't just a song off the Mats' 1987 "Pleased to Meet Me" (Sire) album, it ended up as a Jennifer Love Hewitt movie in 1998. Bonus coincidence: The soundtrack also contains Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" - guess who plays bass for Axl now? A Replacement named Tommy Stinson.
Just what we wanted.
The answer: Yes. The question: Any new Replacements song is a good thing, right? "Message to the Boys" and "Pool and Dive," the new 'uns on "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?," were recorded at Christmas by Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, Chris Mars and stand-in drummer Josh Freese. The tracks indeed are presents to the band's fans. That said, if these three-chord rockers showed up on, say, 1985's "Tim" (Sire), they may have gotten lost. But they're better than anything the Goo Goo Dolls can come up with.
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The last sentence of the article ends with a prepostion...hmm, they must have skipped that class with a hangover.
Anyone remember when The Replacements were on 120 minutes & they all shaved off their eyebrows for the segment?
Them doing Bastards of Young on SNL is one of the best musical guest moments in the history of that program.
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