Line #55 Music/TheReplacements


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_replacements.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''I'll try to find you left of the dial...'' [[note]] The classic lineup. L-R: Chris Mars, Bob Stinson, Paul Westerberg, and Tommy Stinson [[/note]]]]
3	->''"Oh, meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime\
4	Now I don't care, meet me tonight\
5	If you will dare, I might dare."''
6	-->-- "'''I Will Dare'''"
7
8	Defining AlternativeRock band before it was cool. The definitive lineup included Paul Westerberg (rhythm guitar, vocals), Tommy Stinson (bass), Bob Stinson (lead guitar) and Chris Mars (drums). Bob Stinson was replaced by Slim Dunlap in 1987 and Chris Mars by Steve Foley in 1990. Since the breakup of the band in 1991 Westerberg has released numerous solo records, and Tommy Stinson has played in a number of bands, most notably with Music/GunsNRoses.
9
10	Starting out as a loud fast HardcorePunk band, they transitioned into a melodic alternative rock band, driven by the heart on the sleeve, earnest songwriting of Paul Westerberg. In terms of general popularity the Mats barely register compared to the likes of their contemporaries Music/{{REM}} or their arguable successors Music/{{Nirvana}}, Music/PearlJam and Music/{{Soundgarden}}. But don't feel too sorry for them though, much of their unpopularity can be attributed to [[TheAlcoholic their drunken stage antics]], outright disdain for making music videos, and [[WriterRevolt a penchant for biting the hand that feeds.]]
11
12	The band (well, Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and two touring members) reunited in 2012 and played several shows for the next two years, until 2015, when Westerberg announced that, once again and for the last time, the Replacements were breaking up.
13
14	[[AC:Discography]]
15
16	* 1981: ''Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash''
17	* 1982: ''Stink: "Kids Don't Follow" Plus Seven''
18	* 1983: ''Hootenanny''
19	* 1984: ''Let It Be''
20	* 1985: ''Tim''
21	* 1987: ''Pleased to Meet Me''
22	* 1989: ''Don't Tell a Soul''
23	* 1990: ''All Shook Down''
24	* 2013: ''Songs For Slim'' (EP)
25
26	----
27	!! "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Tropes":
28	* TheAlcoholic: All the original members, particularly Bob Stinson, who was fired for being ''too much of a drunk''. It's said that part of their appeal was arriving to a show and not knowing how functional the band would be. Occasionally they'd just randomly decide to do entire sets of covers too. This actually got them banned from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', where they got drunk before both of their performances, (though Paul Westerberg did return to the show as a solo artist).
29	** The band's alcoholism is occasionally alluded to in Westerberg's lyrics, such as "If Only You Were Lonely" and "Here Comes a Regular".
30	* AlternativeRock
31	* AnswerSong: "Kids Don't Follow" was written as a response to Music/{{U2}}'s "I Will Follow" after Westerberg saw U2 perform in Minneapolis in April 1981.
32	* BandOfRelatives: The original lineup featured brothers Bob and Tommy Stinson, on lead guitar and bass, respectively. When Tommy was 11, Bob bought him a bass guitar and played music with him in order to keep him off the streets.
33	* BawdySong: "Gary's Got a Boner", about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a guy named Gary getting an erection.]]
34	* BigRockEnding: Their cover of "Rock Around the Clock" by Music/BillHaleyAndHisComets (from the expanded reissue of ''Stink'') ends with several, obscenely long Big Rock Endings.
35	* BigShutUp: "Shutup"
36	* BitingTheHandHumor: The back cover of ''Let It Be'' is a closeup of what looks to be a garage door covered with various in-jokey graffiti, including "Twin Tone eats slotty crap" [[note]]or possibly "sloth crap" depending upon how you interpret the scrawled handwriting[[/note]] - Twin/Tone was the record label they were signed to at the time. Humorously, on some editions of the album, the Twin/Tone logo appears directly beneath that message.
37	** The rarity "Lookin' For Ya" (which they would re-work into "Love Lines") ends with Paul Westerberg ad-libbing "Keep your riches, give me a Budweiser!" This is because it was originally recorded for ''Trackin' Up The North'', a compilation put together as part of a "Rags To Riches" battle of the bands co-sponsored by Miller High Life.
38	* CarefulWithThatAxe / ScareChord: The beginning of "Anywhere's Better Than Here" if you aren't expecting it.
39	* ClusterFBomb: "Fuck School"
40	* CollegeRadio: The subject of "Left of the Dial".
41	* CoverVersion: "Black Diamond", originally by Music/{{KISS}}, appears on ''Let It Be''.
42	** "Mr. Whirly" from ''Hootenanny'' interpolates both "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, the introduction from [[Music/MagicalMysteryTour "Strawberry Fields Forever"]], and the music from [[Music/AbbeyRoad "Oh! Darling"]] by Music/TheBeatles; the original pressing credits the song as "mostly stolen".
43	** The band were also known for throwing in sloppy, half-remembered covers during their live shows - the bootleg turned semi-official LiveAlbum ''The Shit Hits the Fans'' consists almost entirely of such things.
44	* DanceSensation: "Mr. Whirly" (which interpolates "The Twist" by Chubby Checker).
45	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Bob Stinson had a ''very'' traumatic childhood, which goes a long way in explaining his behavior in adulthood.
46	* DownerEnding: "The Ledge".
47	** The band's career in general was this for a long time, until their 2012-15 resurrection, which at least gave them a real send-off.
48	* DreadfulMusician: All of their albums have ropey parts, but ''Hootenanny'' really takes the cake.
49	** [[StylisticSuck Deliberately invoked]] in the song "Hootenanny". When the band recorded the song, they swapped instruments in an attempt to [[TrollingCreator mess with co-producer Paul Stark]] while he wasn't paying attention. The result sounds like a third-rate blues-rock bar band, complete with missed notes and an unsteady tempo. [[invoked]]
50	* DrivenToSuicide: The main character of "The Ledge". It's never explicitly stated why he wants to kill himself, but the song implies he feels ignored by the world.
51	** The demo version of "Can't Hardly Wait" had alternate lyrics that made it much clearer that the song was about suicide. It's possible they changed the lyrics because it was going to be on the same album as "The Ledge" and ''two'' songs about the topic on the same album could have been pushing it.
52	* DrowningMySorrows: "Here Comes a Regular"
53	* DrugsAreBad: "Dope Smoking Moron"
54	* DrunkenSong: "Beer For Breakfast"
55	* EmoTeen: "Sixteen Blue", likely semi-autobiographical.
56	* EveryoneHasStandards: Bobby Stinson was let go from the band partly as a result of his excessive drinking. YMMV on how impressive/shocking that is.
57	* FriendlyRivalry: With fellow Twin Cities punks Music/HuskerDu.
58	* {{Gayngst}}: Possibly the protagonist of "Sixteen Blue". He wonders if he is gay, because he shows no interest in girls and doesn't understand sexuality, and he lies to his dad about going on a date.
59	* HardcorePunk: Most noticeably on the first two albums, occasionally thereafter.
60	* HarshVocals: Most of the rocky tracks.
61	* IAmSong: "I'm in Trouble"
62	* IAmTheBand: Increasingly Westerberg, much to Tommy Stinson's well publicized chagrin, to the extent that ''All Shook Down'' was originally meant to be released as a solo record [[ExecutiveMeddling before his managers convinced him to release it as a Replacements album]].
63	* IWantSong: "Here Comes a Regular" and "Unsatisfied".
64	* InNameOnly: ''All Shook Down''. Westerberg was the only common denominator throughout the album, as the tracks featured maybe one or two other band members at random ("Attitude" is the ''only'' track with all four members playing together), and a whole slew of guest musicians and singers.
65	* IndecipherableLyrics: Applicable to a lot of the rockier tracks.
66	* JanglePop: One of the genre's more Punk-influenced and aggressive bands, but they still count. They started to play songs in this style on ''Hootenanny''. "I Will Dare", incidentally, is perhaps the band's most "jangly" sounding track- it even features [[Music/{{REM}} Peter Buck]] as a guest guitarist!
67	* LampshadeWearing: From "Swinging Party":
68	--> "Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there's a party"
69	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: The videos for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUmwzgFXfug Bastards of Young]]", "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUmwzgFXfug Left of the Dial]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5e6A_EozH0 Hold My Life]]" are all static shots of the same stereo system playing the ''Tim'' LP. Each is slightly different from the other. [[note]]"Bastards" is in black and white and has the song playing at the wrong speed; at the end, the speaker is kicked over. "Dial" features the song playing at the correct speed, and the speaker lives. "Life" is in full color, there's no zoom-out at the start like other two, and there's an intro featuring a man picking through records before settling on putting ''Tim'' on the turntable.[[/note]]
70	* LimitedLyricsSong: "Seen Your Video", which is mostly instrumental for 2/3rds of the song and only consists of the following text:
71	-->''Seen your video, the phony rock 'n' roll\
72	We don't wanna know, we've seen your video\
73	Your phony rock 'n' roll\
74	We don't wanna know''
75	* LiveAlbum: ''The Shit Hits The Fans'', perhaps one of the most representative live albums ever - it consists of 20 covers and only 5 'Mats songs recorded to regular cassette tape, and by the end the band are so drunk they can barely play.
76	** ''For Sale: Live At Maxwell's 1986'', released in 2017, represents what the band sounded like while sober, and was originally commissioned by Sire Records president Seymour Stein in an attempt to market the band.
77	* LongestSongGoesLast: ''Tim'' closes with "Here Comes a Regular", which is 4 minutes and 46 seconds long.
78	* LuddWasRight: Westerberg has a thing against the Answering Machine.
79	** In the liner notes for the CD of ''All Shook Down'': "The musicians who played on this recorded thing include"
80	* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Dick and Jane from "Androgynous".
81	* MeaningfulEcho: "Here Comes A Regular" has "ain't much to rake anyway in the fall".
82	* MinisculeRocking: They ''did'' start as a hardcore punk band. Specifically, ''Sorry, Ma'' packs 18 songs into 36:47.
83	* MoodWhiplash: They go from earnest, genuinely touching songs like "I Will Dare" or "Sixteen Blue" to blatantly crass ones like "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out" and "Gary's Got A Boner" seemingly at random. "We're Coming Out" does it in a single song: it starts out as one of their HardcorePunk songs, slows down for a jazzy, piano-based section, then starts speeding back up again and quickly ends in chaos.
84	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Hootenanny'', which introduced the CountryMusic and FolkMusic influences and more varied and introspective songwriting that characterized their later records. ''Pleased To Meet Me'' and ''Don't Tell A Soul'' marked a slight shift in sound towards more "polished", characteristically [[TheEighties 80s]]-sounding production (it's the reverb!) and more obvious PowerPop influences. And finally, ''All Shook Down'' was in a more low-key, even more Folk-and-Country-influenced Singer/Songwriter sound heavily evocative of Music/{{REM}} (partly due to it being produced by R.E.M. collaborator Scott Litt), basically being a Paul Westerberg solo album in all but name.
85	* NonSequitur: "Asking Me Lies" is made up of these.
86	* TheNotRemix: 2019 release ''Dead Man's Pop'' is more of a de-mix - one of the disks is their sixth album, ''Don't Tell A Soul'', restored to its original mix by its original producer, Matt Wallace, to remove the radio-friendly pop sheen added to it by label producer Chris Lord-Alge.
87	* OneWordTitle: ''Tim'', ''Stink'', "Unsatisfied", "Customer", "Willpower", "Skyway", etc...
88	* PerformanceVideo: "I'll Be You" and "Merry-Go-Round".
89	* PunBasedTitle: ''All Shook Down'' is a pun on "All Shook Up" by Music/ElvisPresley.
90	* RagingStiffie: "Gary's Got a Boner"
91	* RecordNeedleScratch: The applause at the end of "I Bought A Headache" ends with a record scratch, transitioning abruptly into the next song on the album, "Rattlesnake".
92	* RhymingWithItself: "Waitress in the Sky":
93	--> ''And the sign says "Thank you very much for not smoking"\
94	My own sign says, "I'm sorry, I'm smoking"''
95	* {{Rockumentary}}: [[http://www.whatwerewethinkingfilms.com/colormeobsessed/ Color Me Obsessed]]
96	* SelfDeprecation: Most evident in the EP titles ''Stink'' [[note]]The cover, of course, reads "The Replacements Stink" in all-caps.[[/note]] and ''Don't Buy Or Sell, It's Crap'' (which was a promo release sent to radio stations).
97	** Even their name was picked to make them sound second-rate - the intended implication is that they'd only be added to a concert lineup if a more popular band backed out and it was the best the promoters could do on short notice.
98	* SexyStewardess: Skewered in "Waitress in the Sky".
99	* ShoutOut:
100	** "Something to Du" (for Music/HuskerDu)
101	** ''[[Music/TheBeatles Let It Be]]''
102	** "[[Music/BigStar Alex Chilton]]"
103	** Received one via Music/TheyMightBeGiants' "We're The Replacements"
104	* SoundtrackDissonance: Some variation of this occurs in the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAmM0rR4yg The Ledge]]", about a man DrivenToSuicide. The video consisted of a bunch of generic shots of people eating chips and sitting on couches. About halfway through there's an inspirational scene in which Westerberg stares at the camera for a few seconds and then picks his ear using his middle finger.
105	* SpurnedIntoSuicide: "The Ledge" hints at this by having a search for "a girl that I knew once years ago" and changing the chorus to reflect that "she can't ignore" the protagonist "for the first time in [his] life."
106	* StudioChatter: Heard at the beginning of "Customer", "I Hate Music", and "Hangin' Downtown" from ''Sorry Ma''.
107	* TakeThat: "Seen Your Video", a swipe at hair metal bands of the era. (However, they've been known to cover "Merry Go Round" by Music/MotleyCrue live, so it's clear they don't hate ''all'' of them.)
108	* TalentShow: "Talent Show"
109	* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: "The Ledge" implies this is the initial plan by having the police desperately try to call a "girl that I knew once years ago" to resolve the situation. It's ultimately subverted, however, when a police officer reaches for the suicidal man, and [[DownerEnding he jumps anyway]].
110	* ThisLoserIsYou: The whole band, and a significant part of their appeal.
111	* TitleOnlyChorus: "Gary's Got a Boner", subverted after the first chorus with "Gary's Got A Soft On".

Context Music / TheReplacements