Jeremy at the wonderful Moon in the Gutter has a post up about The Replacements – and he links to an article discussing “Pleased to Meet Me” – “one of the best albums of the eighties or any other decade you care to name.” Follow the links!!
Related:
Here’s the essay my brother wrote about The Replacements. Such good writing, Bren. I just read it again and got goosebumps, yet again, at the last couple of lines.
So did your bro ever read Jim Walsh’s book on the ‘mats, “All Over But The Shouting?”
If not…
…well, no. I can’t imagine him not reading it yet.
I think that’s the one Bren got for Christmas. He read it in less than 24 hours!
Did you love it, Mitch?
Oh, yeah.
The ‘mats were a key part of my motivation to move to the Twin Cities in the first place. I’d heard them, in college in NoDak, and it gave me the jones to try to move where the musical action was (in ’85, Minneapolis was *hot*) and give it a shot.
The book was a trip down memory lane. Or, given the context, a stagger down memory lane with a bunch of your best friends, hammered out of your mind and happy as could be.
Cool! I know Bren just tore thru it.
I am reading it again.
Great article about “Pleased to Meet Me”. I’ve been listening to their albums in chronological order. I’m 3 times through their entire oeuvre.
I CAN’T THINK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE.
Pleased to Meet Me – the record that made me a ‘Mats fan.
Great reads. What kills me is that The Replacements and the like were what I _should_ have been listening to in the ’80s but wasn’t introduced until the early ’90s when I got to know a very cool classmate my senior year. That, and Philly finally got a decent punk/”modern rock” station that I listened to all through college. “Waitress in the Sky” is on one of the tapes I made of the radio to take with me while I was going to school down south–for survival!
Kate – one thing I’ve realized is that it’s never too late! I come to most things late … I’m way behind the curve. My friend Mitchell, just this past year, discovered Nirvana. He obviously knew their songs before, thought they were good, whatever … but this past year he really HEARD them for the first time. That’s the great thing about really good music (whatever that means to you): it will translate to you no matter when you discover it!
And I love that you put Waitress in the Sky on your mix tape!
Oh please, you give me way too much credit! I wasn’t that savvy yet–I was so desperate to hear decent radio that I’d just put the radio on and record it, straight through, until it cut off. Even the commercials were plain better on this station. And my wonderful friend would help me identify all the songs afterwards.
Which I really appreciate now, b/c she passed away a few years ago and I still have her handwriting on those liner notes. That, her support with my writing, and the openness to “new” (different) music are the legacies I really treasure to this day.
Kate – that’s beautiful, a beautiful memory.
“Alex Chilton.” One of the best songs EVER.