When it came time to record the debut album by now legendary Minneapolis band, the Replacements, it didn’t go so well—repeatedly. It wasn’t easy, but in the end, the classic LP, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981), was produced. Dangerous Minds is here to tell you how it happened.

In July 1980, Peter Jesperson, the Replacements’ first manager and earliest enthusiast, set up a demo recording/tryout for the group with Paul Stark, Jesperson’s partner at local record label, Twin/Tone. The event took place at Stark’s studio, Blackberry Way. That day, the Replacements tore through a number of their tunes, including “I Bought a Headache” and “Shiftless When Idle,” which both turned out so well these takes were chosen for inclusion on Sorry Ma.

A couple of months later, the formal sessions for Sorry Ma commenced at Blackberry Way. At first, the Replacements were nervous and cautious, so to make them more comfortable, a mobile unit was taken over to the Longhorn Ballroom, where the band had previously played. There the Replacements were recorded live without an audience. The same setup was also done at Sam’s (soon to be renamed First Avenue). It’s unclear what exactly happened, but those recordings didn’t meet expectations, so the tapes were abandoned.
 

 
In January 1981, they were back at Blackberry Way, though this time with engineer Steve Fjelstad replacing Paul Stark, whose personality clashed with the band. This seemed to do the trick, and they were off and running.

Here’s an excerpt from Bob Mehr’s essential biography, Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, concerning the sessions with Fjelstad now behind the board:

Typically, the Replacements cut fast, knocking out songs after a couple of passes. A track like “Kick Your Door Down” was done in one take, with no overdubs. “Some took longer, depended really on how much alcohol we had in our blood,” said [drummer] Chris Mars. “There’s some that you have to get a certain force [behind]. It’s hard to get that raw sound on a tape.”

Often, their errors turned out to be gems, as on the album take of “Customer.” “The lead was a mistake,” noted Bob Stinson of his spiraling, madcap guitar break. “That’s why we kept it.”

“To me, the soul of rock-and-roll is mistakes. Mistakes and making them work for you,” [singer/rhythm guitarist and songwriter Paul] Westerberg would note. “In general, music that’s flawless is usually uninspired.”

Their collective power as a unit—which seemed to grow exponentially during the late months of 1980—was a mystery even to themselves. They’d finish cutting a track and marvel at some peak they’d reached, never sure of the path they’d taken to get there. “We’d just kinda . . . listen back,” said Mars, “and say, ‘Hey, that was great—how did we do that?’”

 

 
Recording continued for a couple months, with new tunes frequently put to tape. Songs were flowing out of Westerberg, including what would end up as the awesome A-side of the group’s first single, “I’m in Trouble.” All in all, 35 tracks had been laid down when the Sorry Ma sessions wrapped up in March. Once mixing was complete and the album was trimmed to a tight eighteen songs, the Replacements’ debut LP was ready for the world.

The Replacements were most obviously under the sway of punk during the Sorry Ma era, though the influence of pop, blues, and straight-ahead rock n roll is also apparent. Westerberg’s heartfelt, insightful, witty, and frequently funny lyrics, combined with great, catchy tunes and the infectious energy of the band, resulted in a style they dubbed “power trash.”
 

 
When assessing their oeuvre, Sorry Ma has often been overshadowed by subsequent records like Let It Be (1984) and Pleased to Meet Me (1987), But Sorry Ma is where it all started, and, like those albums, is an exceptional LP, worthy of the box set treatment.

The 40th anniversary deluxe edition of the Replacements’ Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is now available from Rhino Records. The four-CD/one-LP set features a generous 100 tracks, in total, and a whopping 67 of them are previously unreleased. Among the formerly unissued are studio demos, outtakes, alternate takes and mixes, and basements recordings. There’s also a sprightly new live album that was captured for a radio broadcast, though only part of the show aired. Given the impudent title of Unsuitable for Airplay – The Lost KFAI Concert: Live at the 7th St Entry, Minneapolis, MN, 1/23/81, the disc contains otherwise unissued originals and covers, as well as songs that would later turn up on their debut LP. The original Sorry Ma record has been freshly remastered, while the vinyl, christened Deliberate Noise – The Alternate Sorry Ma, replicates the original running order, replacing the album versions with a selection of the demos and alternates. A most-excellent twelve-by-twelve hardcover book, with rarely seen photos and liner notes by Trouble Boys author Bob Mehr, is also included. Overall, this is a truly superb box set and an absolute must-have for ‘Mats fans.

Rhino has an exclusive web bundle, which contains a reproduction of the self-deprecating flyer from the 7th St Entry gig, a repressing of the “I’m in Trouble” single, and more goodies.
 

 
Below are new videos Rhino has produced for Sorry Ma’s “I Hate Music” and “Takin A Ride.” The latter is a tour of the band’s old haunts.
 

 
On September 5th, 1981, a couple of weeks after Sorry Ma hit record stores, two Replacements sets were professionally videotaped by Twin/Tone Records. Here’s a clip of the ‘Mats whipping through four Sorry Ma numbers from set #2:
 

 
Perhaps the biggest champion of Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is none other than Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul), who has frequently cited the LP as his favorite album of all time.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Trouble Boys’: The song that ignited the Replacements (with a DM premiere)
The Replacements battle their producer in stormy first attempt to record ‘Don’t Tell a Soul’
Legendary live Replacements recording finally sees the light of day (a DM premiere)

 
In late 1979, when the Replacements first got together, they started out as many bands do—playing cover tunes in the basement. They worked up songs by Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers, the Who, the Ramones, Slade, the Kinks, and others, including Dave Edmunds. They rehearsed several times a week, and it was during one practice session, after finishing up a particularly inspired rendering of the Edmunds rocker “Trouble Boys”—a number the troubled members of the Replacements could collectively related to—the foursome realized that they had something. 

The moment is chronicled in Bob Mehr’s indispensable biography of the group, Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements (2016).

During one weeknight rehearsal, as they tore through a version of Dave Edmunds’s “Trouble Boys,” they took the song’s twanging rhythm and gave it a screaming thrust. “There’s trouble boys all around me,” howled [Paul] Westerberg as he and Bob [Stinson] traded lead and rhythm back and forth, while Chris [Mars] and Tommy [Stinson] battered away at the beat.

When the last note rang out and the song was over, there was silence. Looking at one another, they realized, as Paul would recall, “that we had fallen in together.”

 

 
Though “Trouble Boys” was a pivotal song for the Replacements and was played live numerous times by the original lineup, it hasn’t appeared on a Replacements release. That’s about to change, as a live version has been included on Rhino Records’ pending 40th anniversary deluxe edition of the band’s dazzling debut album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. Out October 22nd, the four-CD/one-LP box set features a whopping 67 previously unreleased tracks (!!!) among the very generous 100, in total. Among the formerly unissued are studio demos, outtakes, alternate takes and mixes, and basements recordings. There’s a sprightly new live album that was captured for a radio broadcast, though only part of the show aired. Given the impudent title of Unsuitable for Airplay – The Lost KFAI Concert: Live at the 7th St Entry, Minneapolis, MN, 1/23/81, the disc contains otherwise unissued originals and covers (“Trouble Boys” among them), as well as songs that would later turn up on their debut LP. The punk-inspired Sorry Ma has been freshly remastered, while the vinyl, christened Deliberate Noise – The Alternate Sorry Ma, replicates the original running order, replacing the album versions with a selection of the demos and alternates. A most-excellent twelve-by-twelve hardcover book, with rarely seen photos and liner notes by Trouble Boys author Bob Mehr, is also included. Overall, this is a truly superb set and an absolute must-have for ‘Mats fans. Order your copy through Rhino’s online store or via Amazon.
 

 
Rhino’s exclusive web bundle has a reproduction of the self-deprecating flyer from the 7th St Entry gig, a repressing of their first single, and more goodies. Get all the details here.
 

 
Dangerous Minds is pleased as punch to present the premiere of the fiery live rendition of “Trouble Boys” from the Unsuitable for Airplay CD on the deluxe edition of Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.
 

 
Two other songs from the show are streaming online: Sorry Ma opener, “Takin A Ride” and the album’s ballad—concerning the notorious Johnny Thunders—“Johnny’s Gonna Die,” that then segues into a cover of the Heartbreakers’ “All by Myself.”
 

 
Rhino has put out three new Sorry Ma videos, including an animated work for the snarling “Shutup.”
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The Replacements battle their producer in stormy first attempt to record ‘Don’t Tell a Soul’
Legendary live Replacements recording finally sees the light of day (a DM premiere)
Get it on: The Replacements cover glam rock king Marc Bolan on legendary 80s bootleg

 
After a long search for who would produce the follow-up to the Replacements album, Please to Meet Me (1987), Tony Berg was selected. At the time, Berg was a 34-year-old musician/producer, though he didn’t have any production credits yet. Despite—or perhaps because of—his inexperience, ‘Mats leader Paul Westerberg immediately liked Berg, and the two hit it off. But it wasn’t to last. Over the course of ten debaucherous days recording at the isolated Upstate New York facility, Bearsville Studios, Westerberg and the other Replacements battled Berg in various ways. Though the sessions were frequently chaotic, combative, and ultimately shelved, they weren’t entirely in vain. 

A total of nine tracks from the Bearsville tapes have been included on the new Replacements box set, Dead Man’s Pop. Bob Mehr, author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, penned the liner notes, and we’ve got a few excerpts from the Bearsville passage.

Tony Berg would come to view the ten days he spent in the studio with The Replacements philosophically. Over the years Berg would become a respected industry veteran with over 100 productions to his credit. Back in 1988, however, he admits he was not fully prepared for the chaos of The Replacements. “They were like pirates—it was like producing pirates! They had everything but the Jolly Roger waving,” said Berg, laughing. “They came into Bearsville like a band of cutthroats—they lived up to their reputation and then they disappeared. There wasn’t a dull minute.”

 

 
Initially, Berg worked closely with Westerberg, but this intimacy and Berg’s growing influence over the material riled up bassist Tommy Stinson and guitarist Slim Dunlap. Notwithstanding, the band managed to get a number of songs down on tape. But the Replacements were growing restless.

While the session seemed to be going well on the surface, the stifling environment at Bearsville soon began to take its toll. After a week in the woods, The Replacements had come down with a severe case of cabin fever, à la The Shining. “In each of our cottages there was a little kitchenette with knives,” said Stinson.

“Every night we’d go to one of the cottages and start playing ‘Dodge Knife.’ That’s like dodgeball but with knives. It got very . . . troubling.” According to Berg, “They had car accidents. They trashed the studio. They trashed the living quarters. They were on medication that you would normally prescribe for horses and bears. They were just a mess.”

 

 
When a technical snafu resulted in an especially productive session being lost, the situation continued to deteriorate.

That night, while cutting “Asking Me Lies,” Berg wanted Stinson, the bassist later claimed, to funk-slap the instrument; Berg said he simply wanted a “funkier” part. The discussion ended abruptly when Tommy hurled a half-gallon of gin through a studio window. Then Westerberg lit the remnants of a guitar he’d smashed on fire in a garbage can on the studio floor. “You didn’t want to be around us,” said Stinson. “We were gone-crazy-devil-drunk.”

The chaos climaxed with a Stinson-Westerberg game of “I Dare Ya.” “I believe I was dared to walk across the studio console,” recalled Westerberg. Bearsville was home to a truly magnificent Neve 8088 board that had been custom-built for The Who. Westerberg was instantly up on the $250,000 console, Jack Daniels bottle in hand, nimbly tiptoeing around the faders and knobs. “He was very light on his feet,” observed Stinson.

At the sight of this, Berg became apoplectic. A screaming argument with Westerberg erupted, a week’s worth of frustration spilling out. As things boiled over, each man tried to flee the studio in a different direction, but they simply wound up following one another down the hall. “By the end of it, Tony and I were in tears, crying and yelling,” said Westerberg.

 
More after the jump…

 
In the summer of 1989, a promotional-only release by the Replacements was sent out to radio stations. Entitled Inconcerated Live, the disc included the group’s latest single, “Achin’ to Be” plus five exclusive live cuts. The concert recordings, taped during a June ’89 gig at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, are amazing, capturing the ‘Mats at their finest in a live setting. Inconcerated has long been coveted by fans—including me—and now, after 30 years, the complete concert is about to be released. Part of an incredible new boxed set, the full Inconcerated show is a thrill to finally hear—and Dangerous Minds has a preview.

For decades, the Replacements have been my favorite band. I saw them multiple times from 1987 until they parted ways in 1991 (plus a couple of reunion gigs), and the shows were always fun and exciting. In 1989, when I got word that there was a live promo thing floating around, I flipped—I had to have it. Though the details are now hazy, I managed to score a copy of Inconcerated Live, which I played over and over again. At some point, it occurred to me that a full recording of the performance surely existed—but would I ever get to hear it? Someday, I hoped.
 

 
Well, someday has indeed arrived. The Complete Inconcerated Live is part of Rhino’s upcoming boxed set, Dead Man’s Pop, which hits the streets on September 27th. The 4CD/1LP collection is the first Replacements box to document a specific period in the group’s history—the Don’t Tell a Soul era. The set features a new, spectacular mix of Don’t Tell a Soul by producer Matt Wallace, and reflects how both the band and Wallace intended the album to sound (the record was significantly altered during the post-production phase). We also get previously unreleased outtakes from the initial DTaS sessions with producer Tony Berg, as well as unheard ’89 recordings with Tom Waits. All great stuff, and a feast for fans. The Complete Inconcerated Live makes up the second half of Dead Man’s Pop. As the five songs on the promo indicated, the Replacements were on fire that night, playing with the kind of raw enthusiasm that defined their best shows. It’s a fantastic vintage ‘Mats performance, one that was professionally recorded and sounds stellar.
 

 
The box also includes a 180-gram vinyl pressing of the new mix of Don’t Tell a Soul, and a hardcover book with lots of photos and notes by Trouble Boys author, Bob Mehr.
 

 
Pre-order Dead Man’s Pop via Rhino or Amazon. Snoozers = losers on Rhino’s limited edition deluxe edition; it’s already sold out. 
 

 
I couldn’t be more pleased than to present to readers of Dangerous Minds the premiere of a Dead Man’s Pop track. Taken from the Inconcerated gig, it’s the song they burst out of the gate with that night, “Alex Chilton.”

Crank it like it’s 1989.
 

 
More Replacements, after the jump…

The Replacements and Johnny Thunders in the late 1980s.

In the spring of 1989, Johnny Thunders opened a couple of shows for the Replacements. For those of you who don’t know, Thunders was a founding member of one the best glam bands, the New York Dolls, and when he and drummer Jerry Nolan quit the Dolls in 1975, they promptly formed the proto-punk unit, the Heartbreakers. Both groups influenced the Replacements, but it was the Heartbreakers’ rousing blend of energy, attitude, slop, and catchy tunes that impacted the ‘Mats’ early development the most—perhaps more than any other group. The Heartbreakers only released one studio album, the essential L.A.M.F., but it was another record of theirs that made the biggest impression on the young Replacements. When the Replacements were experiencing their first hint of mainstream success in the spring of 1989, it made sense they’d invite Johnny Thunders to be their opener and then bring him up on stage with them—but it nearly didn’t happen.

In late 1979, Paul Westerberg brought a handful of records to the first rehearsal of the band that would eventually be named the Replacements, including the New York Dolls’ debut and the recent Heartbreakers release, the rowdy and fiery Live at Max’s Kansas City ‘79. During this initial jam session, the new four-piece played “I Wanna Be Loved” and “All by Myself,” which they learned from the Heartbreakers live album. On July 2nd, 1980, the first Replacements gig took place; their eighteen-song set contained three Heartbreakers covers.

The young ‘Mats blazing through “I Wanna Be Loved” in 1981:
 

 
By the dawn of the 1980s, Johnny Thunders was already a legend, but not always for the right reasons. His loose guitar playing style had loads of character, and he wrote some good songs, but he was also a notorious drug addict, who frequently appeared out of it on stage. In late July 1980, Thunders came to Minneapolis for a couple of gigs with Gang War, the group he formed with Wayne Kramer from the MC5. The Replacements really wanted to open the shows, but the slots went to Hüsker Dü. The night of the first concert, Westerberg and ‘Mats drummer Chris Mars were in the audience. When, after a delay, Thunders finally came out, he was obviously a wreck, and Westerberg took notice.

[Westerberg:] “The moment he walked on . . . I saw it.”

The look on Thunders’s face—imperious and desperate all at once—struck Westerberg: “He was frightening and beautiful and mean at the same time,” he said. “Like a child.”

Physically struggling through the show, while battling an audience hurling brickbats, Thunders had been rendered a prisoner of his own addictions and cult infamy. “When Johnny was playing, it looked like he was walking dead,” recalled Westerberg. “It was pitiful, like watching a guy in a cage.”

That image of Thunders lingered with him. The following morning Westerberg sat at home with his guitar, rejiggered the chords to the Heartbreakers’ “Chinese Rocks,” and turned out a haunting ballad, a requiem called “Johnny’s Gonna Die.”  (taken from Bob Mehr’s Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements)

 
Much more after the jump…

 
Bill Sullivan has been the tour manager for a number of acts, including Bright Eyes, Yo La Tengo, Soul Asylum, and Syl Johnson. But it all began with the Replacements. Sullivan worked as a roadie for the group, from their first tour in 1983 through their 1989 trek opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. His duties included hauling amps, keeping rowdy fans off the stage, and finding places for the entourage to crash. The Replacements’s debaucherous antics are now the stuff of legend, and Sullivan was a frequent co-conspirator. On many occasions, he was behind the microphone, taking the lead on lively covers of such gems as Roger Miller’s “Kansas City Star,” Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” and the goofy Elvis Presley tune, “Do the Clam.”
 

 
One night during the Petty tour, the Replacements were in the midst of their set, when Paul Westerberg started playing the opening chords to Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen.” Taunted by Westerberg, Sullivan ran out and grabbed the mic to belt out the Cooper chestnut for 20,000 people.
 

 
I met Sullivan decades ago, a few years after his time with the Replacements had ended. Mentioning I had bootlegs of him singing “If I Only Had a Brain” and other covers with the ‘Mats, he smiled and said, “If I only had a brain, I wouldn’t be on all of those bootlegs.”
 

 

Courtesy of Bill Sullivan.

Sullivan fronted Jefferson’s Cock, an informal Replacements side project that played just a handful of times. The story of Jefferson’s Cock begins in 1983 during a stop in Lawrence, Kansas. The Replacements had agreed to play a house party, but it turned into the first JC performance. In Sullivan’s absorbing new memoir, Lemon Jail: On the Road with the Replacements, he writes about the genesis of Jefferson’s Cock.

Paul decided we were going to play the party as Jefferson’s Cock, a name he just pulled out of his ass. Tommy and Bob were not involved, but [fellow roadie] Carton played bass and Mars played drums. We got into the roommates’ closets and dressed in housedresses and combat boots, which was the look at the time by the women who hung out at the Hüsker shows. We spent the afternoon painting our eyes and powdering our noses and then did a set of covers including “You Think I’m Psycho (Don’t You Mama),” “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” “Borstal Breakout,” and of course, “Eighteen,” “Kansas City Star,” and “Do the Clam.”

The Cock’s next appearance would be at the Rat in Boston.

We had more than ample help for this show and showed up in severe makeup (Paul had gotten a diagram and instructions from a beautician he had met in Ohio). We also had housedresses and boots. We hit the stage with no sound check and little gear of our own and gave them the Hits, this time adding a little Gary Glitter. After our set a little sweaty guy in an ill-fitting three piece came back and told us he wanted to sign us to a label. Pulling out an enormous ziplock full of blow, he shouted, How much of this will it take to make the deal? and dumped it on the carved-up cable-wheel table full of beer ashes and tahini. As we were digging the last crystals out of the grooves, security arrived and made him leave.

 
More after the jump…

 
One of the most beloved songs by the Replacements is “Alex Chilton”. This hook-filled number from their 1987 LP, Please To Meet Me, is a tribute to Memphis musician and fabled cult hero, Alex Chilton (Box Tops, Big Star). It’s been performed during virtually every ‘Mats concert since its release. This includes their 2013-2015 reunion, in which it carried a new weight, as Chilton had passed away in 2010. In 2014, the Replacements appeared on The Tonight Show, and “Alex Chilton” is what they played.

Replacements leader Paul Westerberg first met Alex Chilton at a 1984 gig in New York City. Westerberg, not knowing exactly what to say, blurted out, “I’m in love with that one song of yours—what’s that song?” Chilton would produce the demos for the next Replacements album, Tim (1985), and sang back-up on their ode to college radio, “Left of the Dial”.
 

 
The Replacements recorded Pleased To Meet Me in Memphis at Ardent Studios, the same studio as Big Star. The man behind the board was Jim Dickinson, who produced the storied third Big Star album. Alex came into the studio a few times while the Replacements were working on the record (and laid down a guitar fill for “Can’t Hardly Wait”), but the band avoided the awkwardness of playing “Alex Chilton” whenever AC was around. Chilton eventually heard the track while on tour with the ‘Mats in April of ’87. He conceded that it was “a pretty good song,” and seemed to appreciate the gesture, which was to both honor him and increase his exposure. 
 

Westerberg and Chilton during an AC gig at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey, on November 20th, 1987.

Alex penned his own tribute, of sorts, for the Replacements. During a gig that took place at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa on October 23rd, 1987, Chilton performed the half-finished, “I’m a Replacement.” Not much is known about the tune, other than what AC tells the audience, and there are no other known recordings of the bluesy number. It’s been called a “spoof answer song,” which sounds about right to me. It’s definitely tongue-in-cheek.
 
Have a listen, after the jump…

 
The second half of this local TV report on “The Minneapolis Sound,” broadcast on KTCA in 1988, has been on YouTube for some time, but earlier this year, one “Prince Rogers Nelson” uploaded an intact copy of the full program to Dailymotion.

I’ve grown so used to encountering music in the imaginary, racialized categories of marketers, radio programmers and record store owners, which still present punk and R&B as if they came from different planets. It’s refreshing to see Hüsker Dü and the Replacements presented as just two bands from Minneapolis, less popular than Prince and better-known than the Jets.

The Purple One declined to be interviewed for the special. Instead, there are glimpses of how he was perceived in his hometown, some sweet—three hockey players trying to sing “Purple Rain”—and some enraging, like the the smirking Twin Cities policeman at 4:50 who can’t control his laughter at the idea of listening to Prince: “I think he’s a fag.” The ‘Mats also refused to talk to KTCA, but Morris Day, Alexander O’Neal, the Hüskers and the Jets all appeared on camera, along with the Wallets and Ipso Facto. This was the very end of the road for Hüsker Dü; their segment ends abruptly with a one-sided phone conversation. “What? Hüsker Dü broke up? Why?”
 

 
Early in the show, the critic John Rockwell talks about discrete black and white music scenes going on in the city simultaneously, but it looks to me like the membrane separating them was exceedingly porous. Describing this period in his memoir, Mould writes:

Minneapolis was the “it” city, and the buzz was deafening. South side, you had Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, and Soul Asylum. North side, there was Prince, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Alexander O’Neal, and Morris Day.

More after the jump…

 
Cover tunes have always been an element of live performances by the Minneapolis band, the Replacements. For decades, their only official live album has been the cassette-only release, The Shit Hits the Fans. Confiscated from a fan bootlegging a 1984 gig, it’s a covers-heavy set—everything from the Carter Family and the Jackson 5 to Robyn Hitchcock and Tom Petty. Many are requests from the audience, with the ‘Mats acting as a kind of human jukebox.

Though they didn’t cover them that night, the band had a particular affection for the English group, T.Rex. The Replacements covered a number of T.Rex tunes, including one they recorded in the studio and put out as a B-side. On the surface, it seems the two groups are very different. The Replacements were outsiders, never all that comfortable in the limelight, while Marc Bolan, the leader of T.Rex, was the first glam rock superstar and fully embraced his fame.

I reached out to the Replacements’ first manager, Peter Jesperson, to see if he could shed light on the group’s affection for Bolan and the songs of T.Rex.

How did the Replacements come to record/release their version of “20th Century Boy”?:

Peter Jesperson: Like most bands as they’re first getting together, the Replacements started out primarily doing covers of other people’s songs. Even after they began doing original material, a cover could be the most impassioned and exciting performance in the live set. If memory serves, the first time we recorded one for real was “Rock Around the Clock” during the Stink sessions in 1982. In 1983, as we were recording tracks for what became the Let It Be album, several cover ideas were considered and recorded. The two that turned out the best were “Black Diamond” by KISS and “20th Century Boy” by T.Rex. We figured one should go on the album and one on the flip of the single, “I Will Dare.” I clearly remember having a discussion about which one should go where and we all agreed that putting the KISS song on the album would be less expected, less “cool,” so that’s what we did.
 

 
Why do you think they were so drawn to the T.Rex material?:

Peter Jesperson: All the guys in the Replacements were big fans of simple, catchy songs and T.Rex certainly fit that bill, but I seem to remember it was Paul [Westerberg] who especially liked them, especially the singles. I had the Bolan Boogie compilation, which had the semi-obscure B-side “Raw Ramp” on it, and I remember him asking me to play it quite often. The band toyed around a bit with that one, “Bang A Gong” and maybe “Jeepster,” but the only two they did seriously were “Baby Strange” and “20th Century Boy.”

Was the period in which Westerberg wore eye make-up on stage inspired at all by Bolan?:

Peter Jesperson: I never heard Paul credit anyone specifically with inspiring the make-up so I’m only guessing but I’d say it was bands like Alice Cooper, the New York Dolls, T.Rex, and later the Only Ones, that inspired the make-up.

                                                              *****
 

 
In 1973, “20th Century Boy” came out as a standalone T.Rex single and went to #3 on the UK chart. It didn’t come out in America until 1985, when it was included on the stellar comp, T.Rextasy: The Best of T. Rex, 1970-1973.
 

 
The “I Will Dare” single, with “20th Century Boy” and a live rendition of Hank Williams’ “Hey Good Lookin’” on the flip, came out in 1984, ahead of Let It Be. “20th Century Boy” can currently be found amongst the bonus tracks on the 2008 reissue of Let it Be.
 
Continues after the jump…

 
In 1988, the Replacements met Tom Waits. Unsurprisingly, they got really drunk together, but they also had an impromptu studio session, which resulted in a B-side. Many years later, more of the recordings were unexpectedly included on a digital-only release.

At the time, Waits had recently been talking up the band during interviews. The man liked the cut of their jib, their unpredictability: “They’re question marks.” Replacements leader Paul Westerberg had been a Waits fan for years, and told the press that the loungey “Nightclub Jitters” (from 1987’s Please to Meet Me) was inspired by Waits and the liquored-up beatnik persona he embodied on his ‘70s records.

During the late summer of ’88, the Replacements began recording at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, for what would become their seventh album, Don’t Tell a Soul (1989). While on a break, the unit learned a label rep they were friendly with was working with Waits. Westerberg jumped at the chance to meet Waits, and a gathering was arranged.

The band got together with Waits and his wife and collaborator Kathleen Brennan at the Formosa Café in West Hollywood. Though Waits and Westerberg could both be shy in such situations, they hit it off grandly. Waits was particularly enamored of [guitarist Slim] Dunlap, who seemed like a character straight out of one of his own songs.

The band invited Waits back to Cherokee to hear their new tracks. “Waits’ wife was with him, and he was being really mild-mannered,” recalled Matt Wallace [producer of Don’t Tell a Soul]. “And the band is drinking a lot, of course.” Around midnight, Brennan got tired and taxied home. The moment she left Waits reached for a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and began chugging. “And he just turned into Tom Waits,” said Wallace. “It was like Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde.” (from Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements)

In spite of (or because of?) their inebriated condition, they managed to capture a number of songs, drinking and recording until the break of dawn. Over the course of the evening, they tried out each other’s material, with Westerberg singing “Ol’ 55,” the Waits composition famously recorded by the Eagles, while Waits took on “If Only You Were Lonely,” the B-side of the Replacements’ debut 45. They even played a new Replacements song, “We Know the Night,” with Westerberg, Waits, and Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson all chiming in vocally.

They also jammed, resulting in one they’d call “Lowdown Monkey Blues,” in which Westerberg and Waits improvised the lyrics (with Westerberg throwing in a bit of the Replacements rarity, “Hear You Been to College”), and the gospel stomper, “Date to Church,” featuring some mighty-fine eulogizing courtesy of Waits. The latter would later appear as the B-side of “I’ll Be You,” the first single from Don’t Tell a Soul.
 

Note the songwriting credit.

Over the ensuing years, Westerberg occasionally talked publicly about the session with Waits, claiming someone involved had the only copy of the recordings, though he didn’t say who had the tape.

Continues after the jump…

 
Shortly after the release of Don’t Tell a Soul in 1989, Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson of the Replacements consented to an interview with MTV’s Kurt Loder. I’ve noticed that a few people are suffering from the misapprehension that the Replacments had gotten sober around this time—this video should be enough to convince anyone that this was not the case.

Westerberg and Stinson are funny and charming as fuck and don’t take a damn thing seriously. Loder’s first question involves the band having taken a “new direction” on the latest album—invoking “Gepetto,” Westerberg blurts “Well, we’re ‘mature’ now…..” while pantomiming his nose growing by three feet.

While Loder is inordinately interested in topics that retrospectively seem entirely uninteresting—music videos, the joys of residing in California, sampling, and how the 1980s will stack up in the annals of music history—Westerberg and Stinson ain’t buying.

The ‘Mats had long enjoyed an informal competition with R.E.M. ever since opening for the Athens indie rockers on a mini-tour in the summer of 1983—and this competition was quite mutual, Peter Buck paid close attention to the Replacements’ releases. In Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, Bob Mehr reports that Westerberg was initially relieved that Don’t Tell a Soul was so much better than Green, but R.E.M.‘s album rapidly hit gold while sales of Don’t Tell a Soul never got off the ground. Westerberg makes a crack to the effect that apparently only “half the people who bought the last one” chose to plunk down their cash for Don’t Tell a Soul.

More of the ‘Mats, after the jump…

 
The Replacements had a reputation for unpredictable live shows—gleefully raucous one night, drunk and disorderly the next. With the 1986 sacking of founding lead guitarist Bob Stinson—a move the band made, in part, due to his increasingly erratic behavior—many assumed the ‘Mats would clean up their act.

With new guitarist Slim Dunlap in tow, the unit hit the road in the spring of 1987 in support of their latest LP, Pleased To Meet Me. Though they were indeed more reliable, the band didn’t exactly get sober, and they could still flop like murder on stage, especially if there was something at stake. For a June gig in L.A., in which numerous staff from their record label were in attendance, they rose to the occasion by performing a set of songs that consistently didn’t reach the finish line (reportedly only one was seen to completion), and handing off their instruments to audience members. They would return to the west coast for a final run of dates in December, with pals the Young Fresh Fellows as their openers, culminating with a now legendary disaster of a show in Portland (the night ended with the Replacements playing in their underpants). ‘Mats ringleader Paul Westerberg felt so bad about the performance that he wrote the song “Portland” as an apology.

Prior to the concluding shows of the Pleased To Meet Me outing, the Replacements were having drinks with Scott McCaughey, the singer/guitarist of the Young Fresh Fellows. Perhaps the rigors of touring (along with the alcohol) had gotten to them, as the boys decided to do something most wouldn’t do if you paid them: They shaved their eyebrows. The episode was recounted in Bob Mehr’s fantastic biography, Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements.

On December 1st, the band was hanging out at Seattle’s Mayflower Hotel bar with Scott McCaughey when Westerberg suggested they all shave their eyebrows. “By the time we actually got done with it,” said bassist Tommy Stinson, “the feisty stage was over, and it was like, ‘Oh . . . shit. I’m going to bed. I hope this goes away by the time I wake up.’ It didn’t.”

McCaughey later recalled that his eyebrows took months to grow back and that he looked like a “cretin” without them.
 

The Replacements and the Young Fresh Fellows horsing around in 1987. Note: Eyebrows still intact.

The below interview with the Replacements was recorded for MTV’s The Cutting Edge Happy Hour, hosted by Peter Zaremba of the Fleshtones. The show taped in Hollywood, so the segment was likely videoed when the band rolled through Southern California a few days after the Seattle incident. Looking as they did—ragged from the road and just plain weird without their eyebrows—most groups would’ve cancelled a scheduled television appearance, but not the Replacements. After all, this is the rock-n-roll combo that took the concept of shooting yourself in the foot and made it into an art form.

A variety of topics are covered in the clip—as well as excerpts from their contrary videos—including the elephant in the room: Why’d they shave their eyebrows? According to Westerberg, they did it in order to prank McCaughey’s band-mates.

But who was the joke really on?!
 

 
The picture quality ain’t the greatest, but it’s classic ‘Mats, so just watch it already.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The Replacements incite a riot: An exclusive excerpt from the great new biography ‘Trouble Boys’

Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, the highly anticipated biography of the legendary Minneapolis group, is out this week. Author Bob Mehr has done nothing less than pen the definitive ‘Mats bio, and Dangerous Minds has an exclusive excerpt.

The Replacements had a reputation for rowdy, drunken performances, and our excerpt from Trouble Boys details a show in Houston that just might be their wildest gig ever. It takes place in the fall of 1985, during the early stages of the Tim tour. Bassist Tommy Stinson had recently been arrested for public intoxication prior to a show in Norman, Oklahoma, spending the night in jail.

The rising action of the tour reached its climax a few nights later in Houston, where the ’Mats played the Lawndale Art Annex.

It was an unusual venue for the band—a couple of miles from the University of Houston campus, it was basically an old warehouse the school used for more highbrow art events. The gig’s promoter, Tom Bunch, had been booking hardcore and punk shows in the city for several years, working with Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys (he would go on to manage the Butthole Surfers) without any problems.

The Replacements had sold some 600 tickets in advance to a mix of punk scenesters and college kids. The latter demographic was making up a more noticeable chunk of the band’s audience. “Hey, Greeks! If you like Springsteen, R.E.M. or U2, you’ll love the Replacements!” ran a show ad in one student newspaper that autumn.

There was also an increasingly large contingent of rubberneckers. “The audience no longer exclusively consisted of people who ‘got it,’” said Replacements’ soundman Monty Lee Wilkes. “I could see it looking around every night. There were the people that had come solely to see the car crash. You’d overhear them in the can: ‘I hope they’re not too drunk tonight.’ ‘Oh man, that’s the only way to see them.’ These were the kind of people who would’ve tried to beat up the band at a party two years earlier.”

The Lawndale Annex gig also reunited the Replacements with Alex Chilton, who’d come up from New Orleans to play a couple of shows with the band. Perhaps Chilton’s presence played a part—singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg was always looking to impress him—but that night Paul almost singlehandedly started a riot. “For years I claimed Alex had spiked my drink backstage and put some sort of hallucinogen in it,” said Westerberg, “because my behavior was so off the map.”

From the start, manager Peter Jesperson sensed it was going to be one of those shows. Early on the Tim tour, he’d tried harder to dole out the booze in increments, and not too far in advance. “I’d have to lie to them all the time about that: ‘We can only get a twelve-pack now.’ I was trying to ration it out as best I could.”

In Houston, Chilton asked Jesperson for a lift back to his hotel and to wait while he got ready, then took his time shaving and getting dressed. Meanwhile, the band got its hands on the rest of the liquor: “A bottle of whiskey, a bottle of vodka, two cases of Bud, one of Heineken, and one bottle of red wine,” recalled Bunch. When he went in to check on them a little later, “every bottle was empty. Completely bone dry. I thought, This is going to be interesting.” When Jesperson finally returned, he walked into the dressing room to find the band had “actually embedded bottles of Heineken into the drywall. Not only was the liquor gone, but I was required to get them more.”

 

 
More after the jump…

 
Oh, how I love this. Apart from writing for DM, I make my living as a copyeditor, so I couldn’t help but appreciate the Replacements’ smart, sassy way of announcing the release of an eight-disc box set—a copyedited press release complete with proofreading markup—they insist that the original was sent to them for review (so they kinda threw Rhino’s publicist under the bus, no?). Not too surprisingly, they found a couple glaring mistakes and more than a few lazy constructions. They also used the occasion to bust out a righteous version of the KISS logo.

Here it is—click on the image to see a larger version:
 

 
The box set is called The Complete Studio Albums 1981-1990 and will be released on April 14 via Rhino. The box set will include the band’s seven-album discography, plus 1982’s Stink EP. You can pre-order the box set right now.

The Replacements will soon be hitting a bunch of locations in North America before traveling to Europe in late May. Here are their upcoming tour dates:
 

04-09 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre      
4/10: Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom      
4/13: San Francisco, CA - Masonic        
4/16: Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium      
4/19: Denver, CO - The Fillmore      
4/29: Chicago, IL - The Riviera Theatre      
4/30: Chicago, IL - The Riviera Theatre      
5/2: Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom  
5/3: Detroit, MI - The Fillmore      
5/5: Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE          
5/6: Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion              
5/8: Washington, DC - Echostage        
5/9: Philadelphia, PA - Festival Pier          
5/28: Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound  
5/30: Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso      
6/2: London, England - Roundhouse

 
Below, the video press kit for Pleased to Meet Me:
 

 
Thank you Annie Zaleski!

 
The collective hearts of Replacements fans everywhere have been aflutter since the announcement that the reunited band would be returning to the small screen, as they are due to appear on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon September 9th. Naturally, there’s been much talk of their infamous Saturday Night Live performance in 1986, when they got drunk, stumbled around, and generally behaved like one would expect the Replacements to have behaved. Singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg even committed the ultimate TV sin, shouting the F-word during “Bastards of Young.” It was awesome. SNL producer Lorne Michaels was, of course, not amused, and reportedly banned the group for life from 30 Rock (The Tonight Show is filmed at the same address and Michaels is the executive producer).

The Replacements only performed in front of television cameras a handful of times, and while there’s no topping the SNL gig, their appearance on a long-forgotten awards show in 1989 is a close second.

ABC aired the International Rock Awards live on May 31st, 1989. Lou Reed, Living Colour (who took home the “Newcomer of the Year” prize), Keith Richards (there to be presented with a “Living Legend” award), and David Bowie’s ill-fated super-group, Tin Machine, all performed at the event. Winners were handed a bronze “Elvis” award.

The reason I was plopped in front of the family television that night was to see my favorite band, the Replacements. I had watched a crappy videotaped copy of the SNL show hundreds of times and was ready for anything. I was excited, to say the least.

The lights lower and an announcer says, “We apologize; here the are: The Replacements.” Wow, a more hilarious (and ultimately fortuitous) opening couldn’t have been imagined. It’s already a classic clip and the band hasn’t played a note! But then “Talent Show” begins and Westerberg walks up to the mic and manages to one up their introduction: “What the hell are we doing here?” And they’re off!

“Talent Show,” from their then most recent album Don’t Tell a Soul, couldn’t have been a better choice for this event. The song—about feeling vulnerable and scared to get up on stage only to be judged by and against your peers—suddenly becomes more literal than intended. The band were booked on a silly awards show with hip young acts and rock royalty, and the Replacements, a group of outsiders and punks at heart, perversely thrived on these sorts of moments. Instead of rising to the occasion and doing their best to “win,” they instead become the little engine that won’t.

But that’s not to say what transpired wasn’t great. Heck, any Replacements fan knows that half the fun is watching the band gleefully launch themselves off the stage ledge, flipping the bird to showbiz protocol. Bassist Tommy Stinson can barely keep from laughing throughout the performance and Westerberg is at least a couple of sheets to the wind—it’s rough and raucous for sure, but isn’t that’s the way its supposed to be?

Before the show, they were told they needed to change the line, “We’re feeling good from the pills we took.” Well, fittingly, Westerberg did no such thing, and the censors were obviously ready for it, as the tape goes silent during that section of the song. What the censors at ABC didn’t anticipate was this: Near the conclusion of “Talent Show” the lyrics address the time when the band hits the stage and there’s no retreating: “It’s too late to turn back, here we go” is repeated twice on the album version, but here Westerberg has changed the line to “It’s too late to take pills, here we go”—ha! The censors missed it and they’ve pissed everyone off again! To add insult, the line is sung three times.

 
The clip ends with a shot of movie star (and big ‘Mats fan) Matt Dillon enthusiastically whistling and clapping in the audience. Perfect.

I imagine the Tonight Show appearance will be a more orderly affair. Heck, it’s been 25 years since the International Rock Awards, the last time they were seen by a national television audience. People mature. Another famous admirer of the group, Keith Richards, will also be on hand (to promote his children’s book!), so the Replacements will surely be on their best behavior. Or not.

Mr. Michaels just might have to institute another lifetime ban. Fingers-crossed!
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Color Me Impressed’: Listen to The Replacements’ 1st show in 22 years!