Nice tribute... Poignant for those of us in the college radio trenches of the 1980s.
What we did with R.E.M., we thought we could do with The Mats. No chance. While the Athens Boys seemed to galvanize year by year, the Minnesotans... Well, they were a cool looking go-cart with a loose wheel. Their records were great and getting greater, but you could tell that any momentum would be suffocated. Big timers like Warner Brothers were not going to trust The Mats with even a million, let alone the ten that R.E.M. got in '88. So, 'get 'em while they are hot'.
I recall my roommate stumbling in from a Detroit show. "How was it?," I asked. "Crazy," he said, "Stinson didn't show up on time so they played without him. Bob walked on stage after the others had played almost an hour, and Westerberg ripped into him right there, told the crowd not to cheer for him." I had to know more: "No kidding?! How did they sound, though? Was it still a good show?" And my roomie lit up. "It was great! They were a wreck and they were fantastic all at once. I'll never forget it." Gotcha. On the Rock and Roll Profile form, Paul had checked 'Burn Out', rather than 'Fade Away'.
If the Replacements had been (just) criminals, they wouldn't have been drug dealers or bank robbers. They would have been guys who steal hubcaps and then put them on someone else's car. I miss 'em, and even forty years ago, I knew I would.
Mister Stick: What a fabulous comment! Thank you.. I got to see them on Valentine's Day on that last tour in Ann Arbor and it was a tremendous, all-business, soup-to-nuts show. I did a review of it that I posted on my site Substack site. https://johnnogowski.substack.com/p/in-another-lifeme-as-rock-critic?utm_source=publication-search Thanks so much for reaching out. There are a few Replacements/Westerberg posts on my Substack.
Nice tribute... Poignant for those of us in the college radio trenches of the 1980s.
What we did with R.E.M., we thought we could do with The Mats. No chance. While the Athens Boys seemed to galvanize year by year, the Minnesotans... Well, they were a cool looking go-cart with a loose wheel. Their records were great and getting greater, but you could tell that any momentum would be suffocated. Big timers like Warner Brothers were not going to trust The Mats with even a million, let alone the ten that R.E.M. got in '88. So, 'get 'em while they are hot'.
I recall my roommate stumbling in from a Detroit show. "How was it?," I asked. "Crazy," he said, "Stinson didn't show up on time so they played without him. Bob walked on stage after the others had played almost an hour, and Westerberg ripped into him right there, told the crowd not to cheer for him." I had to know more: "No kidding?! How did they sound, though? Was it still a good show?" And my roomie lit up. "It was great! They were a wreck and they were fantastic all at once. I'll never forget it." Gotcha. On the Rock and Roll Profile form, Paul had checked 'Burn Out', rather than 'Fade Away'.
If the Replacements had been (just) criminals, they wouldn't have been drug dealers or bank robbers. They would have been guys who steal hubcaps and then put them on someone else's car. I miss 'em, and even forty years ago, I knew I would.
Thanks.
Mister Stick: What a fabulous comment! Thank you.. I got to see them on Valentine's Day on that last tour in Ann Arbor and it was a tremendous, all-business, soup-to-nuts show. I did a review of it that I posted on my site Substack site. https://johnnogowski.substack.com/p/in-another-lifeme-as-rock-critic?utm_source=publication-search Thanks so much for reaching out. There are a few Replacements/Westerberg posts on my Substack.
They were fucked up on drugs all the time and things did not work out. They were my favorite band for decades and they were idiots.
Thanks for spotlighting a track from the underrated All Shook Down, my personal favourite Mats LP.
Ah, this is just a great piece about a great band. Thanks you! 🙏🏽
I was just finishing today’s when your comment popped up! Enjoy some more Replacements…hahaha