These Are A Few of My Favorite Bands...

(revised 30 January 2006)

The Replacements... Left of the Dial

Though Paul Westerberg wrote "Left of the Dial" - arguably one of the quintessential love songs of the '80s alternative music era - for a chick, it always reminds me of The Replacements themselves, 'cos for years the only place I could hear a Replacements tune on the radio was left of the dial at Vanderbilt's 91 Rock back when I was in college.  Those were the days when "alternative" was not yet a word used to describe music and bands like the Replacements, R.E.M., Husker Du, the Violent Femmes and others were referred to as "college rock", "cutting edge", and some other terms I no longer recall.   Way back in those olden days you had to wait 'til Sunday night fairly late to catch any videos by bands like these on MTV, and after I moved to Memphis it became a real scavenger hunt to find a radio station that played any large amount of alternative music (and managed to stay on the air for more than a few months).  When Rhodes College's station switched formats in the late '80s, I was reduced to waiting 'til the middle of the night to hear any new music on the radio for only a few hours a night. Nowadays I'm still amazed that, for several years anyway, there was actually an alternative station on the air here 24/7, as well as all across the country, and not only could I hear "The Ledge" or "Talent Show" fairly regularly on that station, but a Paul Westerberg song on TOP FORTY RADIO ("Love Untold")???? Oh my.  

The 'Mats, as they're fondly referred to by fans (as in placemats), came out of Minneapolis with the ultimate garage band album Sorry Ma,  Forgot to Take Out the Trash LP in 1981, but it wasn't until a friend of mine turned me onto them in 1985 that I got bit by the 'Mats bug.  The album was 1984's Let It Be, and I still consider that the classic must-have 'Mats LP.  I don't know what I was expecting - I had read quite a bit about them in the various music rags, they were the darlings of the critics at the time.  I was listening to a lot of Black Flag and the Minutemen at the time, and I guess I had always thought the 'Mats were just another hardcore band, and yeah, it turned out they could thrash with the best of them (the Sorry Ma and The Replacements Stink LPs).  But my first listen to Let It Be, oh - those songs. The sweet, playful, opening chords of "I Will Dare" (recently featured in the film Feeling Minnesota).  A cover of KISS's "Black Diamond", no doubt impressing this child of the '70s.  The absolutely hilarious "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out".  The completely heart-wrenching, angst-filled and just downright painful lyrics of "Unsatisfied", "Sixteen Blue" (a guy's song if there ever was one) and "Answering Machine".   The music was great - the words gotcha right in the gut, whether they were happy words, funny words, or horribly depressing and cynical words.   Paul Westerberg had written words that reached out and grabbed me by the soul - I had to know more.  (Guitarist Peter Buck of R.E.M. made a guest appearance on "I Will Dare", FYI.)

I backtracked and picked up the older albums - the mostly-thrash but still with grab-ya lyrics of Sorry Ma and Stink and the brilliant, all-kinds-of-songs-jumbled-up-in-a-big-bunch Hootenanny - and loved them just as well. The 1986 album Tim came out not long after my first 'Mats exposure and though it took me a little while to get used to the cleaned-up, more commercial 'Mats, I now consider that a classic 'Mats album, second only to Let It Be.  Featuring two of my very favorite songs, "Bastards of Young" and the melancholy acoustic "Here Comes A Regular", as well as what must be the most hilarious ode to flight attendants that exists ("you ain't nothin' but a waitress in the sky"), it also featured a guest appearance by our boy from here in Memphis, former Box Tops and Big Star leadman Alex Chilton (who would later be immortalized by the 'Mats in song with, what else, "Alex Chilton" on the 1987 Pleased to Meet Me LP).  I wore out at least two cassette tapes of the album and for several years had a picture from SPIN magazine of an open-shirted, sweaty Paul Westerberg on my bulletin board ... after all, he was not only the greatest songwriter in the world - yeah, he was cute. <grin>

Special thanks to Mike Monello for giving me permission to borrow this totally cool 'Mats animation he created.  © 2006 Mike Monello

Throughout all the years, the 'Mats seemed to change and grow with every album - every album was a little more polished, a little more commercial.  I admittedly am not as fond of the albums post-Tim as I am Tim and  the previous ones, though I do love them well, mainly because I just liked them the old, usual way - a little messy, raw. The real difference, to me, started with Pleased to Meet Me in 1987 (it and others of the ones post-Tim have managed to grow on me a lot more over the years) - and, as a side note, this album was recorded here in Memphis and produced by the great Jim Dickinson, also featuring the Memphis Horns among some other fine folks.  PTMM was followed by Don't Tell A Soul, which marked the first time I ever heard a Replacements song on a commercial rock station when the local classic rock station here briefly put the single "I'll Be You" on their playlist - I was shocked into a stupor, but remember thinking, "Well, it's about time!"                             

All Shook Down was next and led to the only time I ever had the opportunity to see the 'Mats live in person, in 1991.  Due to rotten luck, I always managed to miss earlier shows, which back in the old days the band was famous for playing sloppy drunk and "anything goes".  The 'Mats I saw were rather toned down and conservative and still rocked, but they just looked miserable up on stage.  No one up there was having much fun at all.  By this point in time original guitarist Bob Stinson was long gone and drummer Chris Mars had left more recently, and though their "replacements" were excellent, it seemed pretty obvious to me that night that Paul was miserable. I wasn't surprised to hear the band had broken up not long afterwards.  My friend who had introduced me to the 'Mats in the first place accompanied me to the show at the New Daisy Theater in Memphis, and I recall remarking later that I was glad I went, because it seemed like it might have been the last time to see them play together live. And indeed it was. 

I often have said Paul Westerberg, guitarist, lead singer, songwriter extraordinaire, wrote the soundtrack to my life.  Even songs that are more geared towards a guy's point of view, it's easy to turn that around when you're a chick listener.  I by no means deny the value of the other band members saying that.  Bob Stinson, who was kicked out of the band for drinking and drug problems just prior to the Pleased to Meet Me sessions and sadly died several years ago, was the kind of guitarist that can twist your heart with a few chords. Bob's little brother Tommy, bass player, all of 13 years old when he joined the band; drummer Chris Mars; second lead guitarist Slim Dunlap - all wonderful. But the man who wrote all those lyrics is the one who touched my soul with them, and to me, Paul Westerberg is the greatest songwriter that ever lived.

Heck... I've even had a relationship borne out of mutual appreciation for the 'Mats, one that probably never would have been had that not been so.  A brief one nonetheless, but one that's still a fond memory that gives me a smile now and again.  And isn't that how all such relationships should turn out, don't you think?  Sounds like a Westerberg song to me...

A friend of mine a while back told me another fan's anecdote of how the fan ran into Paul once and told him they felt he'd written all his lyrics for them, and Paul's response was this:  "I didn't write them for you, but I knew you were out there somewhere."  You bet.

After The Replacements, within a few years Paul released two solo LPs - 14 Songs, which featured the single "World Class Fad", and 1996's Eventually, which has become somewhat of a pretty good hit as far as everything that came before is concerned.  The "Love Untold" single got a lot of airplay commercially and the whole album appears a grown-up, more together Paul... voice sounds better than ever, tunes are tight, non-messy. A bit different from the Paul I'm used to, but yeah, it's good.  And seeing him play here in Memphis to an audience of mostly kids who were babies when the 'Mats started out - with most of us "older folk" up in the balcony of the New Daisy Theater, staying out of the mad crush down front - was yet another great experience.   Hearing the new songs was terrific - and I got a major kick out of hearing some of my favorite "oldies", like "I Will Dare", "Valentine", "Hold My Life", among many others, once again.  Later in the Nineties came another solo release, Suicaine Gratification.

Paul also contributed two tunes, "Dyslexic Heart" and "Waiting for Somebody" to the 1992 soundtrack of the film Singles, as well as two more songs, "Sunshine" and "Stain Yer Blood", to the hit soundtrack of the TV show Friends in 1995.  In 1997, he released a single and EP on Monolyth Records under the pseudonym Grandpaboy, which many 'Mats diehards consider to be some of the best stuff he's put out since The Replacements' heyday in the Eighties.

In 2002, we saw the release of what could be called the best of both worlds Westerberg-wise - the CD Stereo, which is sort of the usual Paul solo stuff, and its accompanying Grandpaboy CD Mono, which just frankly kicks ass all over the place.  After a brief mini-tour doing in-store appearances in record stores around the country in the spring of 2002, Paul did a couple of shows shortly thereafter in his hometown of Minneapolis and more touring on down the line behind the CD.

And now, 15 years after The Replacements' demise... the man just keeps going!  Paul released Come Feel Me Tremble in 1993; Folker in 1994; another Grandpaboy (!!) release in 2003, Dead Man Shake; and the "greatest hits" compilation Besterberg in 2005.

Tommy Stinson had some success with his band Bash & Pop and the CD Friday Night is Killing Me in the '90s, and then put together Perfect, based in L.A., which put out two albums (the first one being When Squirrels Play Chicken and the second one finally released about seven years after it was recorded: Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe) and toured around a little before Tommy split to join up with Axl Rose in the newly-reformed Guns N' Roses.  In 2004, Tommy released a solo CD, Village Gorilla Head, to wide critical acclaim.  Chris Mars and Slim Dunlap have continued to put out solo material over the years and Slim can still be found touring around the country now and again.

The 'Mats are kinda an acquired taste - they're not necessarily for everyone, but I've forced friends who didn't like them much to at least listen to the words and they tend to agree - some of the greatest lyrics ever written.  I've put up a few of my favorite Westerberg lines and phrases on another link and you can find them here.

The ultimate and most comprehensive 'Mats website, run by one of the coolest folks I've ever had the good fortune to know, Matt Tomich's The Skyway, appears to be currently down but I have faith that it will rise again one day and when it does, you can click here for 'Mats stuff galore.  'Mats fans galore can also be found in the alt.music.replacements and alt.music.paul-westerberg newsgroups on Usenet.

There's also Kathy's Paul Westerberg page, Man Without Ties, which has been running for years and has always been regularly updated and chock full of news 'n stuff - click here.

And, you can also see early vintage 'Mats video and other cool stuff at the website of their original label, Twin/Tone - click here.

If you're interested, or if you know a little bit about them but not much - my recommendation is to get yourself a copy of Let It Be or Tim as fast as you possibly can.  Now, now, now!!  Why are you still here reading?  Don't delay!!  

- Lynnster

In any  good.

(originally penned February 1997 - revised 30 January 2006)

Check out The World According to Paul Westerberg - click HERE