______________________________________________________________________________ // // The \\kyway \\ // skyway@novia.net Issue #47 January 21st, 1997 ______________________________________________________________________________ (c) 1997 Bastards of Young (BOY/BetaOmegaYamma) Productions list manager: Matthew Tomich (matt@novia.net) technical consultant and thanks to: Bob Fulkerson of Novia Networking ______________________________________________________________________________ SKYWAY SUBSCRIPTION/LISTSERVER INFORMATION Send all listserver commands in the body of a letter to "majordomo@novia.net" To subscribe to the //Skyway\\: subscribe skyway To unsubscribe from the //Skyway\\: unsubscribe skyway THE //SKYWAY\\ WEB PAGE Check here for back issues, lyrics, discography, and other files. http://www.novia.net/~matt/sky/skyway.html ______________________________________________________________________________ Send submissions to: skyway@novia.net ______________________________________________________________________________ 0. SOMETHING TO DU Hey, welcome to 1997! It's 1 a.m. and I'm going to get this out quick-like, so briefly: - The web page has undergone some additions! First off, I updated the much-needed-updating links page. Bill Ruef sent in a new version of the tape list. Charles Ford updated his wonderful "Collecting The Replacements" article. And various changes have been made to the lyrics file thanks to your contributions! All these and more are at the Skyway web page at http://www.novia.net/~matt/sky/skyway.html. - Rumor has it that Paul has left/has been dropped from Reprise, his record label! However, there's little reason to doubt that he'll have trouble finding another record label to keep rockin' under. - Again, if you haven't received your Christmas trade tape, let me know! (matt@novia.net) And me? I'm now doing tech support over at MCI, planning to hit Europe for a couple weeks in May, learned how to cook lasagna, and just started reading _Watership Down_. And if anybody out there is in/near Harrisonburg, VA, drop me a line...I'll be playing bass for a friend's band at a show on February 13th...they sound like, in one listener's words, "Richard Hell fronting the Replacements". It'd be great to get together and hang if anybody Virginans are free and can make it! (Check out the way-great insightful quote at the end of the issue from Skyway subscriber Sharon Boo!) Luego! Mateo matt@novia.net _____________________________________________________________________________ I. GIMMIE NOISE: STORIES OF CRANKIN' THE 'MATS From: "Kreienbrink, Marc A1C" Subject: 'Cranked the 'Mats' story Date: Mon, 23 Dec 96 08:57:00 PST For 12 years I lived in Barstow, CA, a desert town with custom vehicles, Los Angeles-style gangs and go-nowhere jobs. For the last six years I cruised around in a beat-up baby blue Ford truck. In summer of 91 I decided that it was time to replace the cassette collection with CD's, so I went out and bought 10 CD's in one swipe. One of these was 'Let It Be'. Upon returning home I made a cassette for my truck and headed out to a desert party. Being the musician out of all of us, I used to make party tapes. I would throw all kinds of rock songs on a tape, occasionally (at least once per side) adding a curve ball to the works, such as an obscure gem from the Coolies, the Fastbacks, or the mighty mighty 'Mats. Hardly anyone ever complained, and most got used to the music I added to the mix. One night a couple of buddies and I headed to Del Taco for some food. I popped in one o' them tapes and cranked "Favorite Thing". My friends thought that it was such a cool song that they wanted to hear it again. So I rewound it and blasted it all night everywhere we went. A few weeks later I had wound up recording 'Let It Be' for about 12 people; six of those actually went out and bought it and four of those are now hard-core 'Mats fans. Long live the 'Mats! Marc Kreienbrink kreienbm@vafb5a.vafb.af.mil P.S.: I'd love to correspond with others 'Mats fans. FYI, I am a male, age 24, married, father of 2, and am a part-time musician. Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 13:18:56 -0600 (CST) From: "Jim M. Kaihatu" Anyway, you wanted 'Mats blasting stories. Here's one. I was riding around in my pickup truck with my thesis advisor. We had just taken some stuff from the main building to the lab and was returning for another load. I dropped him off in the front part of the building and drove around to the back; he had to stop by his office first. On the way to the other part of the building I slipped in Pleased To Meet Me and cranked it up. After awhile I got to the other part of the building and shut off the ignition without popping out the tape, I met him there and started loading stuff. When we got done and were going to drive back, he got in the passenger seat and I hit the ignition. "Alex Chilton" came pouring out of the speakers. I reached to turn it down when he exclaimed, "The 'Mats!" and turned it up! We took the long way back to the lab, 'Mats cranking all the way.... Who woulda thought? Happy New Year! Jim Kaihatu _____________________________________________________________________________ II. KIDS DON'T FOLLOW: FIRST-TIMERS From: Owed2G@aol.com Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 16:22:09 -0500 I'm new on the Skyway, and thought I'd drop a short line to carry on with the tradition. I've been a fan for 4 years. Got caught up in the Replacements when Columbia House sent 'Pleased To Meet Me' by mistake. Boy did they do something right there. Then I read a Rolling Stone write up on 14 Songs, bought it, and it really struck a chord. I haven't got much of the early stuff, but have been slowly adding to the collection, so now I think I only need the first two. I have TWO live recordings of Paul: Gravel Pit, and a copy I made off of the radio of a show this year from the Troubador in L.A. Both are outstanding...anyone wanting a copy, e-mail me at owed2g@aol.com and I'll tell you where to send a blank tape. Favorite songs are First Glimmer, Things, and Seein' Her. Date: Mon, 23 Dec 1996 15:50:36 PST Subject: another new face From: bjm18@juno.com (Benjamin J Miller) Hi everyone - I've been snooping around the corners of the Skyway for awhile now (well, the web page anyway...) and I figure it's about time I wrote something. I first found out about the Mats around the time of their infamous Saturday Night Live appearance. The next day my uncle asked me if the Replacements were any good. I told him that they were drunk or something, to which he replied "I'll take that as a yes." A few years passed and I finally really heard the Mats when a guy I was playing in a band with made me listen to "Don't Tell A Soul". I was hooked instantly. I felt like the biggest idiot for not listening to my uncle when he told me to buy anything by the Mats. I quickly bought up all the old albums and have been a fanatic ever since. I never got to see the Mats live, but I've seen Paul twice. Both times he put on the best shows I've ever seen in my life. Anyone who says he doesn't have an edge anymore hasn't been to see him live. So anyway, here we are. I'm 22, still in college in Alabama (God help me...), and still playing in bands that specialize in ripping the Mats off. I promise I'll write in more often if I can continue to use the Skyway as a support group... BJ Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 13:07:45 -0800 From: Dan Just got inspired by two letters in today's issue of Skyway. One from a 39-year old fan. Another from a non joiner. I'm pretty close to being both. I'm 35 and a fellow non joiner for the most part. But when I first got access to the Internet some 10 months ago, I surfed a little and was excited to come across Skyway. Ever since, I've sort of wanted to say something, but everytime I began to write I thought "how stupid!" I've now come to realize this is the best I can possibly do, so just go with it. Anyway, I'm a late bloomer when it comes to the Replacements. I was raised in Maine and was not quite curious enough (combined with a touch of laziness) to go out and discover new music on my own. Because the airwaves were not providing it there. I moved to Washington, DC in late 1989, began listening to WHFS, and started hearing some modern rock. Where the hell did it come from?! The next year, my girlfriend bought me tickets to see Elvis Costello, and the opening act happened to be the Replacements. Even though I had vaguely heard of them their music immediately struck me as special. I remember looking at Felicity and saying "I really like these guys." And then a few weeks or months later they broke up. By the way, I was a huge Elvis fan back in the mid to late 70s, then lost interest in the 80s. I wasn't impressed in concert. Think he lost his edge, which I know, is also some Skywayers problem with PW. But not me. I love all of his stuff. I guess I'm just more in tune to -or with- his music, because I accept his less edgy stuff. But EC's simply bores the piss out of me. OK. My minor brush with PW fame is this (and quite minor it is!)... at the D.C. show in August I went with my girlfriend and several other friends. We got split up at the beginning. I went immediately to the center of the floor of the 9:30 Club and stayed anchored the entire show. (By the way, sorry to the Mats fan next to me who had to put up with my constant questions about songs and from which album they came). Anyway, at the end of the show, I found my girlfriend. She handed me a cup of water and said it was P.W.'s! Of course I was grateful to receive it, but it took a bit of convincing for me to believe it was his. She and a friend had spent the entire show in the front row! And I'm the one who had turned them on to the Mats and PW... Well, unfortunately the bouncers wouldn't let me take the cup with me. I was pissed about that, but how does it look for a 35-year old to argue with a bouncer over a cup of water. Anyway, those who were at the show know it was incredible. The next week my girfriend and two other friends who went to the show with us went to Italy, rented a car with a cassette deck and proceded to attempt to OD on PW. I can't get enough of "Things." My sister lives in Colorado, one of the gifts I sent her was a copy of 14 Songs. I hope she appreciates it 1/10 of how much I do. Finally (sorry about rambling so long), I went to see PW in Pittsburgh a couple of months ago. It seemed a lot of the crowd was there to hear the single, which bummed me a lot, because I love the Mats stuff too, and PW played a lot of it. I've never been the groupie type, but I'd travel just about anywhere to see PW, and I'd rather the Mats got back together than the Beetles. Preaching to the choir hear I guess! Anyway, wish I had more to say in far fewer words...happy holidays Skywayers. Dan C. Arlington, VA formerly S. Portland, ME Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 13:17:25 -0500 (EST) From: "John Campbell Mcmillian" So I've been reading and enjoying Skyway for about a year now, and decided on this dreary morning that perhaps I should introduce myself. My name's John, and I'm a 26 year-old graduate student here at Michigan State. I should be finished with my M.A. by May, and by next fall I expect I'll be pursuing a Ph.D. at some other university. Childhood interests in comic books, skateboards and Star Wars seem to have given way to more recent preoccupations with scotch whiskey and the pursuit of a rich social life. I'd very much like to go tarpon fishing in Key West, but have never done this. Ditto for bird watching and playing rock guitar. My favorite leisure activity has always been the reading of fiction, and lately I've been paying special attention to several writers from the American West, including Tom McGuane, William Kittredge and Rick Bass, along with Dostoyevsky and James Baldwin. I also enjoy hiking and camping, and so this past summer I spent about six weeks touring about various forests, mountains, and deserts of North America. While I mostly prefer running as a means of staying in shape, on Sundays I typically play touch football with a group of fellow graduate students. (Later in the day I'll send out for pizza, read the paper, and watch way too much NFL football). Okay, so about the Replacements. My connection to them is closely linked, I'm sure, with the fact that my formative years were spent in a generally lousy, small and provincial town in mid-Michigan called Essexville. My high school was thoroughly white, middle-class, and way too clickish (sp?) for my taste. People with acne were called "pizza face", and one crippled guy was called "gimpy". Another unfortunate person in my high school had only one testicle, and everyone else knew about it and called him "Johnny One-Ball". I don't have any unusual physical problems, and even though I had some good friends, I generally felt alienated and uncomfortable. My first music love was probably the Clash, but the Replacements were the band that I really felt I could connect with on a serious and emotional level. I bought "Tim" without having ever heard any of their music, and I still remember taking it home and rewinding "Hold My Life" about a dozen times before I could let myself listen to the rest of the first side. I had one good friend who liked the Mats as well back then, while everyone else I knew listened only to Bon Jovi and U2. So I grew to adore the Replacements even more over the years, and saw my first show (with my aforementioned friend, Jeff) in Ann Arbor, where they'd just begun the "Don't Tell A Soul Tour". I'd heard this might be a sober tour, but as soon as the lights went down I was sure this wasn't the case, as Paul sort of stumbled onstage, tossed away a cigarettte, and tried to say something but instead he just sort of smashed his face into the microphone. They opened up with "Color Me Impressed" and played a great set. I know a lot of die-hards never really dug this album, but I think it might have been their best tour. A lot of those songs really roared to life when the played them live, and their musicianship seemed to have improved quite a bit by that point, while at the same time they were still fun and spontaneous. Anyway, After they were through, I started snooping around near the front of the stage and pretended to look for my wallet while everyone was leaving. Then, from the side of the stage, I spotted Paul, who just seemed to be watching me mope about. I introduced myself, but I doubt I made a terrific impression as I was about probably drunker than he was, and since I was only 19 at the time I don't think I had much to say beyond "I really like your work" over and over again. Soon we were crowded out by a bunch of other fans, so I left. Twenty minutes later, however, my friend Jeff and I saw Paul, Slim and Tommy walk into a bar called the Nectarine Ballroom, right across the street from where they had played. We followed them in, only to discover it was "Gay Night" on that particular evening, and so Paul and Slim made an abrupt departure right after we'd paid our cover. We ended up talking some more outside their bus, and I bummed a couple Marlboros from Paul, one of which I saved for a few years until finally losing it. This is getting long. I saw the Mats about a year later when they opened up for Tom Petty. There were about two dozen or so faithful Mats fans who went wild, while a bunch of chuckleheads who came to see Tom Petty generally ignored us. At one point, Tommy looked out and saw us cheering and said "Well at least we have one fan...In a bootleg T-shirt!", which, I believe, was me. Later I snuck backstage, drunk again (on Captain Morgans and Coke, I remember) and had a few minutes of conversation with Paul, who didn't seem particularly happy to see me. Neither did Slim. I remember Tommy and Chris were real nice, however, and I had some of their beer and food and talked about the tour until I wandered away for just a minute and was promptly kicked out of the whole concert. I was locked out of my friend's car, so I stood in the rain and listened to Tom Petty from the parking lot. The next show I saw was during their last tour, and they sort of stunk. I knew the Hill Auditorium pretty well, so I afterwards I went right to the backstage door with a bag of chocolate chip cookies my girlfriend had given me for Valentine's Day. Slim, the big fucking jerk, was only letting in foxy young female fans, and didn't seem very moved that I'd thought to bring the whole band cookies. After a few minutes, however, Paul waved us all in. This time I made a point not to be the typcial fawning and obsequious fan, and I remember Paul acknowledged that the show sucked and told me about how weird he thought Bob Dylan was. I talked with Tommy for a bit as well, but he was sort of preoccupied with a fan who was sitting on his lap and jamming her tongue in his mouth. Later I swiped a bottle opener for a souvenier and split. I've never seen Paul play solo. I had tickets to a show at the Ogden theatre in Denver a few years ago, but he cancelled, and last summer I was travelling around and couldn't manage to catch up with him. "14 Songs" had a few really soulful tracks on it, but I think this latest effort is pathetic and never should have been released. I sure didn't mean to write so much here. A nice woman from Berkeley sent me a copy of Paul's show at Fantasy Studios a while back, and I promised her a tape in return, then explained I was running late in getting it out because my dual-cassette deck was in for repairs. It's fixed now, but I've lost your address. Please pass it on if you're reading this. Also, I got a bootleg video called "The Shit Hits the Screen" in the tape-trade, from some guy in Massachusets, and thought that was a really generous gesture. Thank you. Also thanks to you, Matt, for Skyway. Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 14:33:46 -0600 From: Carter Smolik Subject: New(ish) guy on the list Hi Matt. Since I just got the last issue of Skyway and there were some nice profiles of folks, I thought I'd introduce myself and say a few words, etc. I've been a fan of the Replacements since around 1992 (unfortunately for me), around which time I remember hearing "When It Began" and being blown away. I consider _Pleased To Meet Me_ one of the most exceptional albums ever, with the others very close behind. Having been in bands most of my life, I've had the opportunity to do a few covers -- my favorite, with my acoustic band (including cello and bongo/ shaker percussion) is "Here Comes A Regular," a song that breaks my damn heart every time. Getting to Westerberg shows has always been quite a story -- the first time I was going to see him here in St. Louis I ended up with the chicken pox of all things (quite an event at 21) and couldn't go. When I finally did get to go a few months later (back at school in Peoria, IL) a friend and I made the road-trip to Champaign and promptly got run into by a real jerk in a Cutlass. Wrecked the front end of the car. Loved the show anyway. I still remember Westerberg making a crack about "Tommy Stinson" tuning and finishing the show with the mic on the floor doing "Left of the Dial." After the show, we didn't care so much about the car. The second time I saw him, in St. Louis this summer, I got to chat with him at the bus, and told him what an influence he was on writing, and how I was finishing up an album, blah blah blah . . . and he asked me, "are you in a band, or just on your own." I responded, "well, you know, I've done the band thing, and this time I'm just doing it myself." With a knowing look he responded, "well, that's the way to do it, for sure." I kind of had a feeling for what was behind the comment, so it meant a lot to me. The more I consider it, the more I'm convinced of Westerberg's stance as the greatest recent American songwriter. No one can touch his blend of irony and honesty, not to mention an impeccable sense for a melody. Sometimes it frustrates me when I'm trying to write and I know there's no chance of getting it as good as his stuff. I know there's a lot of tape trading going on, and I'd like to get in on it. Unfortunately, I feel like the kid at school that didn't bring his marbles because I have nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe a poor soul could take pity on me. In any case, thanks for the Skyway -- I loved it. Can't wait for more. The recipe was nice too. Carter Smolik Date: Tue, 14 Jan 97 09:28:41 UT From: "Jon Culp" Subject: okay, I'll try this out Hi there, My name's Jon and I am I guess a fairly new Replacements fan. I got Tim around three years ago (has it been that long? I'm getting old) when I saw the "Bastards of Young" video on Beavis and Butthead. The video's minimalist style caught my attention more than the song ( I could barely hear it over their babbling anyway), but it was still enough to make me buy the album. Over the last few months I realized that I loved the album so much that it was time to buy some other ones. I'd say that "Here Comes a Regular" is my favorite song of theirs, although some others come close. "Regular" still captures for me the mood most essential to me in the Replacements' repetoir: melancholy. They're mix of great and stupid lyrics eventually produced songs that give a great amount of respect and dignity (don't hear those words in a discussion of the Replacements very often, do you?) to the condition of being a fucked-up kid that, despite his or her greatest attempts, still has emotions that can't be controlled. Gosh, that's sounds really cheesy, doesn't it? Oh well, it's true. Very few bands produce songs like "Sixteen Blue" or "Never Mind," much less "Here Comes a Regular" or "Achin' To Be." As for myself, I'm 19 as of a few months ago and I've been playing in punk bands since I was about 14, most notably--though probably only in the Seattle-Olympia-Berkeley areas--the Rickets and Pud. Pud recently broke up and I'm in a new band, but who knows how long that'll last. Pud will have an album--vinyl and CD--out eventually. We have a 7"ep on Recess Records. I'd definitely say that Paul Westerberg is becoming a major influence on me, although in the frustrating sense that I'll never write songs that measure up to his. I can dream, though. My other favorite bands are as follows: Fugazi, REM, Rolling Stones, Tom Waits (not a band, I know), The Smiths, Elvis Costello and the Clash. I used to listen to a lot more punk than I do now (and have the record collection to prove it), but lately "smart pop," as a friend of mine calls it, has become my preference. Does this happen to everyone when they go to college? Damn... Okay, this is the first time I've written to anything like this; I hope I did it right. Signing off, Jon Date: 14 Jan 97 14:36:39 EST From: Peter Haley <73712.16@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Playing makeup . . . wearing guitars Well it's good to know there are other Mats fans still alive in the world today. Most people I know have never heard of them but that is their loss. I heard "I'll Be You" on the radio and bought "Don't Tell A Soul" based on that great song and a friend of mine said, "If you like that then you'll love this album." Well, he was right and that album, "Tim" (still my favorite album of all time), turned me into a devout Replacements convert. I was lucky to see them open for Tom Petty at Great Woods (outside of my hometown of Boston) and after I saw them from the 3rd row, I traded my ticket with someone in the cheap seats because my ticket didn't say "Tom Petty with The Replacements" on it (I heard Petty from the parking lot.) On the "All Shook Down" tour I waited in the cold for 6 hours and was rewarded with second row seats for the Mats. The people in front of us had won their tix from the radio and wouldn't stand up during the show, so Paul threw his cup of water on them, very funny move. I remember They Eat Their Own was the opening act and Paul later called them The Lobby Magnets cuz that's where everyone went while they played. I also saw them open for Elvis Costello that year. Of Course, I was devestated when the officially broke up but at least they continue to play as solo acts. I saw Paul play a warm-up show for the "14 Songs" tour at Boston's TT the Bear's (holds about 300 people). They played as Thaddeus Moonbeam and the Brothers Grief and it was a great, great show. I also saw him a couple of months later and of course that was great too, because P.W.I.G (Paul Westerberg Is God). I saw Bash & Pop at TT's and they were great. I read an interview with the rest of the guys in the band and they all said they wouldn't be doing the tour with Tommy if he was drinking, and at TT's they were straight and great. I saw Tommy about three months later and he had a new bassist and guitarist and he was drunk and they really sucked, I walked out before the encore. This past July I saw Paul at Lupo's in Providence, R.I. and he really did a great job rockin' out the tunes on Eventually but I thought the set lacked something. I then saw him in Boston 2 nights later and to my suprise he had Prince's drummer from the New Power Generation playing with him, there was no explanation as to what happened to the drummer from Lupo's but this rotund gentleman was a superior drummer. We kept requesting "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" but to no avail. Still, this show was much better and he played "If Only You Were Lonely" (which I had never heard before) and "I. O. U." plus he did "Left of the Dial" which is my favorite Mats song. I have all the Mats's albums and all of Paul's and Bash and Perfect. I've got the feirst two Chris albums, but never was able to find Slim's (is it any good?) I just recently got a CD copy of "Don't Buy or Sell, It's Crap" which was $20 but worth it if only for "Sattelite". I never heard that Perfect came to the Boston area but would like to know if they did or will. Well I've probably ramble on way too long, but the Replacements are a passion for me and its rare to find anyone that even knows who they are/were. See Ya, Pete Haley R.I.P Bob Stinson From: "ralph bryant" Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 13:16:09 -0600 Well, I suppose I've lurked here long enough without doing this officially, so here it goes. I am a 23 year old college student who is in the last semester of the thing many students like to call the five year plan. I will graduate with a degree in history, secondary education, and a minor in learning disabilities...so as you can see I've been busy. Right now, however, I am student teaching and looking forward to life after school and all that fun stuff. Anyways, enough about me. I ran into the Replacements by default in...as much as I hate to say it....late 1988/89. A boyfriend of my sister who had recently turned me onto the Huskers suggested/demanded I give them a try. At the time, I was in ninth grade and was tired of the typical music that abounded on the radio and MTV. I saw Don't Tell A Soul in a local record store and decided to purchase for two reasons: 1) the insistence of my sister's boyfriend and 2) the store had a promotion called "Buy It and Try It". This way, I figured, if I didn't like it I would always be able to give something else a try. As you can guess, I didn't return it. I listened to it over and over. I look back on that now, and while it's not my favorite Mats album, it sure wasn't similar to what was being played on the radio. The real moment came a month or so later when my sisters boyfriend dropped off a tape one afternoon. It was labeled "A Double Dose of the Mats" and contained Let it Be AND Tim. I think as a music listener, you get one or maybe two moments when you hear something that is everything you've always waited to hear. For me, Let it Be was that moment. I listened to that album on headphones on my bike, in my mom's car, in the shower, after school....I loved every moment of that album. I still think that it is truly a masterpiece. As many of these stories go....I managed to round up copies of all the other "official releases" and the lunacy began. The funny thing is, while it is no longer just Let it Be, I still listen to everything I can get my hands on ALL the time. Now it is in my car, or after I'm done teaching school. This music has seemed to grow along with me. I hate to read debates about which album is great, because the simple fact of the matter is this: they are all great. I can listen to the Mats no matter what mood I'm in. To deny Westerberg the courtesy of viewing his music for what it was at the time it was released is a great disservice. The man is far more talented to remain solely a punk rocker or a balladeer. As we know, people never stay the same, and Westerberg is no exception to this rule. In this sense, the fans can count on one thing, the music will always be wonderful.The funny part of this story is that it's me who now suggests all this music to my friends. I have a legion of friends who search for records and boots for me. I have never in my life made a tape for a friend without sneaking at least one Mats song on there! I was able to catch the Mats live three times: once in '89 and twice in '91. Since I have seen Westerberg twice solo and Slim once last October at the Entry. This weekend, weather permitting, I will be able to see him again in Rock Island. Some of the highlights would include: meeting the Mats after the '89 show and sitting on their bus. They told me a score of wild stories about Westerberg throwing the original tapes of Hootenanny in a river, and fights they started from the stage. The best thing they told me was that in a week or so, they planned to play on a television awards show...it was a one time only thing in spring '89 and also featured the debut of David Bowie's Tin Machine...and the producers asked them to play I'll Be You. It was at that point in the story that Slim paused....and continued with, "But...I don't think we're going to do it." I asked what was up and he told me that they planned to rehearse I'll Be You but when it came time to play, they would play Talent Show. Sure enough, they played Talent Show and had great big smiles on their faces. I stood in front of my TV and cheered out loud. Does anyone remember that show? When I was younger, the Mats were the one thing that I had in common with my sister who was almost four years older than I. Since, we've become great friends...but without the Mats I would not have had some of the great times I had at their shows because I attended them with her. As I got into college I started searching high and low for all the rarities and have collected them all outside of the Barefoot and Pregnant soundtrack which I recently heard was supposed to be re-released. I would have to say that my prize possession is a copy of Trackin' Up the North that was still sealed when I bought it. And yes, I bought it at...you guessed it....OarFolk Records in Minneapolis. I currently am building a live tape collection and am always up for trades, oh yeah...I have an extra copy of the I Will Dare 12" if anyone's interested. Well, I guess that's it in a nutshell. Thanks to all those who share in this craziness...LONG LIVE THE "MATS!!!!!! Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 18:15:38 -0800 From: Mike Wahweotten Subject: hello out there! hi, my name is mike blur, i am from lawrence kansas (affectionately known as larryville) a nearly lifelong resident. i graduated lawrence high school in may of 1982. my favorite albums of my senior year were the descendents "milo" and the mats' "sorry ma". the mats are near and dear to my heart to this day. my first mats sighting was on july 22, 1982, when they played here in lawrence at a place called "off the wall hall". local legends the micronotz opened for them. OTWH (as it was known) served free beer from 8-9 pm, i remember trying to get as tanked as possible during that time. while i was at the bar, paul came up to get a beer, and i wanted to talk to him, as i was putting out a small fanzine and wanted an interview. he said "sure" but wanted to wait till after the show. there were about fifty souls in the bar that night, there was no promotion, it was summer time (the students were gone) it was hot as hell and I just loved it. the mats were the first 'american" band I throughly enjoyed. my most vivid memory of the show was yelling out "i need a god damn job!" and paul goes, no shit man, and the band proceeded to play the song! after the show, i was able to hook up with paul and talked to him briefly (as they had to load out). we walked out the back door, and he had this big jug of whiskey (can't remember if it was jack daniels or something similar) he was sippin' from. I never drank whiskey before, only beer. he offered me a few sips and i took them. almost gagged but tried to act proud. to this day, i tell people the first time i drank jack daniels was with paul westerberg! want a transcription of my brief interview? here it is! A couple lines are kind of funny in retrospect...shows the progress of the band at the time. (reprinted from BLUR issue 4, Sept 3 1982) Paul Westerberg, guitarist for the Replacements, was interviewed by Mike in the alley behind OTWH after their July 22 performance. Mike: How did the band form? Paul: Bob, Tom and Chris used to play together in this band. I used to hide in the bushes by their house and listen to them play. Eventually, they invited me in to play guitar. I told 'em I could sing, I managed to fool them and become the singer. M: When was this? P: '79 or '80, I guess the winter of '80. M: Did you start with any set ideas in mind? P: Not really...we like each other more than we had any real ideas for the band, it was friendship, we had fun together, we had good times, and it sorta came out of that. M: All of a sudden you hit it big... P: (laughs) Not really, we probably lost $50 coming down here. M: How much studio time did you spend on the album? P: Not a whole lot, four sessions of recording and a week of mixing, but it was spread over three months, like we record one day, then wait three weeks, then record another day. M: The album sounds kind of live to me. P: Yeah, that's what we're trying to make it sound like. M: Were there any overdubs? P: A few dubs, not many, like half the vocals are original, we overdubbed one or two vocals and leads. M: You said "Johnny's Gonna Die" is about Johnny Thunders, right? P: Yeah. M: What made you write that? You're the main songwriter, right? P: Sort of...when Johnny was playing, it looked like he was walking dead, it was pitiful, like watching a guy in a cage, it was like he didn't want to be up there, he was playing for pay... M: Is there any other songs with special meanings..."I Hate Music", that kind of confuses me. P: It's a frustration song. One of the standing jokes in the band is that we're not musicians, and we're sorta proud of that in that we don't wanna be. It's like, we can try to play music and try to play it tight, but we just don't have any fun, and then one day Chris said " I hate fuckin' music, it's fuckin crap"... M: Was the song improvised in the studio? P: In the basement, we recorded it in the studio, but it was just like that--Chris said "let's do a song called I Hate Music", and Tommy went dadadada on the bass, and we all came in, and it was done in five minutes. M: How far have you toured? P: Not very far, this is the farthest we've been. We've been to Chicago, and Madison, dinky towns. We're supposed to go out east soon, but I dunno... M: Are you familiar with other Minneapolis bands like Husker Du? P: Oh yeah, they're real cool. They're in LA now. They're going over real big out there. They're doing an album, it's called "Let the Buyer Beware", 'cept it's in Latin. M: Any other plans for recording other than the EP? P: We're thinking about it, we might go back into the studio soon, to keep some ideas fresh... M: What's the main idea that you wanna get across to yer listeners? P: We're having fun, there's no message, the message is right there in the title of the song, if there is one...we're a rock and roll band, that's the way it should be, we're not into this political bullshit... M: So you write songs that are you... P: Basically, we don't do songs that we don't like. That's like the first criteria that we have to...it has to be real for us, we don't so something just cause it sounds good, it has to be something that's fun for us to do. well, that's it...i have more stories about my personal contacts with the band members, just a few. but this is for starters...rock on out guys! --mike blur Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 22:08:41 -0800 From: Dayne Herren Subject: What The Mats mean to me. First I'd like to say that I'm excited about this newsletter in honor of the greatest band ever to walk this planet. The Replacements mean more than words can possible say. When I first discovered them when I was a freshman in high school, I didn't like what I heard. But then I heard them again and something inside my heart just became floored by the sheer power, beauty, and grace of The Replacements music. I listened to them at a constant rate and I still do to this day!! The more I listen, the more things I find in their music and in myself...it is powerful to say the least. "Answering Machine" is my most favorite song of all time and I don't think anything can top it. The way Westerberg sings and strains, the power of the guitar rhythms, and the lyrics just move me every time. That song can bring tears to my eyes at times because I can feel his pain or else it strikes a chord within my soul of my own personal life. I've seen Paul in concert twice, but I never got to see The Replacements live. Just when I was getting into them, they broke up. That is one show I would of loved to witness. Long live their music...because without them, I would feel like I lost a best friend! _____________________________________________________________________________ III. TIME FLIES TOMORROW: YEAR END LOOK AT "EVENTUALLY" Date: Sun, 22 Dec 1996 11:01:36 +0100 From: Dag Hjermann Subject: A very short review of "Eventually" "Behind a seemingly casual musical facade, Paul Westerberg explores the heart of the rock'n'roll soul. This record has more terrific tunes than any other this year." (Asbjorn Bakke in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten (Norway's "serious" newspaper), as he picks "Eventually" as number one record of the year. Quoted from memory. This guy is one of the veterans of Norwegian rock journalism. He used to be the editor of the music magazine Nye Takter ("New Beat"), a one-time terrific magazine that sprung out of the punk movement. If my memory is right, he once got famous for being accused (even sued?) for racism after he wrote a review of a Sami (Lapp) Music Festival. His quite entertaining section on the somewhat barbaric drinking habits of young Lapps was too much for some people. (He was certainly truthful - people seem to try to drink themselves to death on any festival (or party) in the Norwegian countryside. His mistake was to call them "Lapps and not "people".)) Among the other three journalists, Paul wasn't even on their top-ten lists (but one is a hip-hopper etc., one is a "dance" fan and one is old (pre-1977) so what do you expect). Dag Date: Tue, 24 Dec 96 13:02:44 EST From: Mark Timmins Subject: New Jersey Online Dear Matt & Skywegians : Let me tell you about a cool website I found while surfing on my lunch hour. It's called New Jersey Online, and weekly these two guys named Scott review a couple of recently released albums and then insult each other over their opinions. It's pretty amusing. Anyway, I dug up their review of _Eventually_ and I don't recall having seen it in previous editions of //Skyway\\,. I can't say I agree with it, but here it is (copied w/o permission, etc. etc.) Review / Debate of Paul Westerberg's Eventually (Reprise) by Scott Hersey and Scott Brodeur of New Jersey Online (http://www.nj.com/arts/music/sos/edition17/westerberg.html) Scott H: Once upon a time, Paul Westerberg was a scruffy punk poet. He was the guy sitting next to you at the bar who--depsite the fact that he looked like the town drunk--turned out to be witty and smart and a heck of an interesting guy. Eventually that guy grew up: He left the corner bar and started hanging out downtown. He became a trendy sort, whose haircut and clothes were expensive replications of his former cool persona. And now he makes records like Eventually. With pristine production, easy-to-understand verse-chorus-verse songs about growing up and not wanting to be like your parents and partying on the weekend, this album proclaims Westerberg as the Tom Petty of the alternative generation. Not that Petty's unlistenable. And Eventually can be pleasant radio music in a clean, friendly Petty-like way. It's just that with pseudo- Replacements songs like "Trumpet Clip" (featuring former 'Mat Tommy Stinson in a cameo role), this album is every bit as much of a replication of his former self as the well-dressed, highly-fashionable scruffy guy on the cover. Scott B: Come on, Hersey. You were probably one of the folks who criticized the Replacements when they were too drunk to make it through a whole song live. And now you're sitting back, reminiscing over when Westerberg was the witty corner-bar regular. I don't hear the self-mimmickry you talk about on here. What I do hear is another solo record that's not quite up to the caliber of the latter-day Replacements albums, though not that dramatically different. This was the direction Westerberg was shoving the band toward after the near-genius of Let It Be and Tim and before he decided to do it alone. "Love Untold" and "These Are the Days" are the stronger songs on Eventually and sound like they could have made it onto either of the last two 'Mats albums. And even "Trumpet Clip" has a certain rocky edge that's fun, especially hearing Stinson's shaky but spirited trumpet parts. But this record has huge flaws that are tough to look around--mainly mediocre songs and no real lead guitar to speak of. Though it's been three years since Westerberg's first solo album, it sounds like he didn't have much to write about and may have even penned the lyrics right in the studio. And while Slip Dunlap was no Bob Stinson, he was markedly better than Westerberg whose feeble guitar work brings down this album even more. I'm not one of those who wish Westerberg, as an elder statesman of the high-energy, low-fidelity movement, would never grow up. I just wish he would be a little choosier with what he releases. Scott H: Like I said, it's a competent pop radio album. And I'm afraid that is the same way I'd categorize the last few 'Mats albums. But I expect Westerberg to do a lot more. So no matter how listenable the album is--and, you're right, "Love Untold" is a nice radio song-- I just expect more than that from Westerberg. Scott B: Seems like there's a lot of that disappointment going around. And if you're right, Hersey--which I don't think you are--about sustained radio play, my hope is people become so enamored with a Westerberg hit single that they go out and pick up the mid-80's Replacements catalog to hear some truly worthwhile music. -Mark From: "Phil Clayton" Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 17:07:04 +1200 Subject: Eventually in top 10 of year Spotted in The Press, 27 December 1996, page 24: Alistair Armstrong's Top 10 albums of the year. Sandwiched between Pearl Jam and Soundgarden is the following: "Paul Westerberg 'Eventually' The second solo album by former Replacements main man. Paul Westerberg has the erstwhile slap-up rock and roller more sharply focused than before, showing that he can produce melodies of great beauty and tenderness." Phil Clayton phil@ch.planet.gen.nz [Suzanne from Iowa also wrote in via papermail to let everybody know that "Eventually" made the _People_ magazine's "Best of Song" list in the Dec. 30 - Jan. 6 double issue. "It was described as 'a second solo round of rowdy rockers and wistful, literate, cry-in-your-beer tunes." Thanks Suzanne! - M@] _____________________________________________________________________________ IV. SONGS AND STORIES Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 21:04:59 -0600 From: Weston Cutter I live in St. Paul and I picked up an issue of the Twin Cities Reader and I'm gonna type out this thing they had in there--it's an issue all about music and the past twenty years of it. The story is fucking great--said by Pete Jesperson, their manager (you know that) and it's almost a tear jerker for us sucker romantics, so ere ya go: "During the summer of '82, the Replacements got a gig in Duluth, Minnesota, opening for the Suburbs. It was before we had a van of our own, so Tom Carlson (a.k.a. Carton), our pal and and roadie, had borrowed a pick-up truck to transport the gear and Tommy and Bob. Chris, Paul and I drove up in Carton's car, trailing somewhat behind, hitting on a bottle of whiskey all the way. The show was to be held in a big tent attached to a bar called Grandma's right on Lake Superior. As we walked into the tent, Paul grabbed me by the arm and said he'd just written the best line he'd ever written for a song, and did I want to hear it. I said, yeah. He said, "I can live without your touch/if I can die within your reach." -Peter Jesperson, Medium Cool Records, former Replacements manager I thought you'd dig it. MUSIC!!! Subject: Mats Stuff From: gregh@avenue-edit.com (Greg Huber, Avenue Edit) Date: Mon, 23 Dec 1996 15:18:46 -0600 I recently put a collection of Mats tunes together for some friends of mine and wanted to include a history of them. I checked out past articles and interviews at the library and with MASSIVE plagerism I assembled the following. You may not read anything new here, I just thought you might enjoy the result. A couple interesting stories (again, maybe old hat for you) that didn't make the write-up due to space discussed the 1985 burning of their own tour van, the 1987 raid of Twin-Tone and dumping of their original masters in the Mississippi, and the interesting change in his songwiriting credited to his father's retirement: until that point in the early-eighties he wrote all his songs on the electric guitar in his parents' basement, but with his father home he was forced to write in his apartment where the neighbors limited him to the acoustice guitar. "I Will Dare" was the first song he wrote on acoustic guitar. Again much of this was lifted from reviews and acticles so I don't know what the rules for posting any of this on the web would be, but feel free to take anything you wish from it. I still have copies of all the articles, so if you have any questions, feel free to write. Have a great XMas and thanks for all your hard work. There is no replacement for Paul. Greg Huber gregh@avenue-edit.com If The Replacements fell in a forest, who besides the rock press would hear them and were they drunk at the time? With a blend of punk guitar and pop melodies that garnered them critical acclaim but little commercial success, The Replacements emerged from the 1980's Minneapolis that produced a range of act including Hsker D and Prince. Their devout following affectionately dubbed them the 'Mats, short for place mats. Inspired, as most post-punk bands were, by the Sex Pistols, Paul Westerberg quit his band, Neighborhood Threat, for whom he played guitar, but didn't sing. He admitted, "it was Johnny (Rotten')s voice that convinced me I could sing, too... or that I couldn't sing, but I was going to anyway. What I heard was the excitement... they were really angry. I wasnt sure what they were angry about, but I wasnt sure what I was angry about either." A janitor for a U.S. senator, Paul used to hide in the bushes and listen to Chris Mars, Bob Stinson and Bob's 12-year-old half-brother, Tommy, rudely violate Yes Roundabout in their basement with their band, Dog Breath. He finally struck up the nerve to approach them, claiming to be a singer, and the four formed The Impediments. Their first real gig was at a half-way house for alcoholics, but they showed up drunk and never took the stage. Threatened with a city-wide blacklisting for their antics, they changed their name to The Replacements. Though inspired by punk, they were more similar to the rock band The Faces, whos toughest tunes held onto a thread of vulnerability, and whos saddest laments kept a sense of humor. Paul agreed, "We were never a punk band... we were a pop band that played really loud and really fast... but I dare say we were truer punks than those who dressed in black and had the haircuts and the slogans... we did what we wanted, which was more daring than saying, I am the Anti-Christ, I am an antiperspirant or whatever." Great rock and roll bands seem to have a characteristic obsession. If the Stones' was sex, and The Who's was identity crises, the Mats was fear... of success, of failure, of embarrassment, of rejection. It was this fear that began the Mats drowning their nerves with drink. It was Paul's fear of failure that forced him to hold back something from his songs, but only in terms of not finishing or perfecting them- they were always 100% honest. "Every song title has to apply to the band in some way or we can't use it," he qualified, "'We're gonna make it' was never a strong emotion with me... I tried to write (songs like that) but they (would) always ring false." His fear of embarrassment kept the more personal songs slightly vague, often substituting she for I. In addition to feeling no one wanted to listen to songs about one person for a whole album, there was simply less emotional risk singing about someone else. Throughout the 80s, Paul produced a catalog of brilliant angst-ridden compositions, long before angst became trendy. Whether loud-fast rockers or heartfelt, acoustic weepers, his songs were about social rejects; the vulnerable, the lonely, the lost, the ones in the shadows rather than the spotlight. What distinguished him from the misfits populating his songs was his uncanny ability to speak for the tongue-tied, articulating their aspirations and insecurities with intuitive sensitivity, boozy whimsy and street-wise poetic license. The songs rocked hard and funny and never fell into cliche. Whether singing about the loneliness of an abandoned mother or the bass players tonsillectomy, he said things that hadn't been said in rock songs, and he did it without holding up a sign that said big statement or comic relief. Despite mainstream obscurity, The Replacements combined these songs with a raucous style to stand with R.E.M. and U2 as arguably the most influential bands of the decade. With an early musical style they termed power-trash the Mats signed with Twin/Tone Records in 1980 and released their debut, Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, in 1981. The snottiest hardcore anyone had heard, it embodied rock and roll in its purest form, a fearless unschooled and impassioned cry from the twisted soul of youth. However much their drunken craziness and gleeful incompetence might have added to their live performances, the bottom line was always Paul's songs. While Sorry Ma showed the bands warped sense of humor in tunes like I Hate Music (...its got too many notes) it soared on the melodies of Shiftless When Idle, and I'm In Trouble (If you're in love then...). Sorry Ma was followed by the EP, (The Replacements) Stink, in 1982. Originally titled Too Poor To Tour, Stink added acceleration but little else; an effort Paul admitted was a futile attempt to write true hardcore, with titles like Kids Don't Follow, God Damn Job, Fuck School, Dope Smoking Moron and White And Lazy. Then came the well-reviewed Hootenanny in 1983, featuring dizzyingly eclectic pop-country-romantic balladeering. The band began to move from three-chord power rock to more ambitiously melodic material, including their early-style-defining Color Me Impressed and Paul's synth-and-drum-machine solo, Within Your Reach, one of the first glimpses of the poet beneath the pose. On Let It Be in 1984, the Mats reached a level of musical maturity without losing their youthful exuberance. They combined the cerebral rocker I Will Dare (with guitar solo by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck) and the tortured cries of Unsatisfied with the playful tunes Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out and Gary's Got A Boner. After the speed rock of their first three efforts, they showed an emotional and stylistic range straddling the line between inspired amateurism and accomplished, deliberate craftsmanship. Paul wasn't the first rocker who wanted satisfaction and couldn't get it, but at a time when much of rock was studied and wimpy, Let It Be felt rugged and fresh. The irreverent album title was their way of saying that nothing was sacred, that The Beatles were just a damn fine rock and roll band (they had every intention of titling their next release Let It Bleed). Live, the Mats were wildly unpredictable. Bob could show up in a dress, his underwear or less. They would take the stage in their tacky, plaid thrift-store tourist-wear, often drunk, but affably so. For all their misperceived danger, there was something very gentle about them. Rowdy, but with hardly a whiff of macho posturing, they were drunks more likely to don a lamp shade than start a riot. Never afraid to acknowledge their roots in mid-70's AM radio (by their admission one of the worst periods in all music), they could launch into a barrage of half-finished covers of songs by KISS, Cher or the Jackson 5, the Green Acres theme or unrehearsed tunes they heard on the radio on the way to the gig. A typically sloppy performance appeared on 1985's live cassette The Shit Hits The Fans, mastered from a bootleg tape confiscated during a show in Oklahoma City. Notorious for their alcoholic self-destruction and celebrated for Pauls hook-laden and painfully honest songs, the Mats hovered on the verge of mainstream success. They signed with major-label Sire (Warner Bros.) and in 1985 released Tim, a compelling example that an underground band could broaden and tighten its sound without compromise. Produced by former-Ramone Tommy Erdelyi, Tim featured anthems of lost and desperate youth (Hold My Life and Bastards Of Young), playful skiffle (Kiss Me On The Bus), a classic evocation of class resentment (Waitress InCAThe Sky) and, in Swingin Party and Here Comes A Regular, mournful ballads of a style standard on future Replacements albums. Though a survey of rock critics rated the album second only to Talking Heads Little Creatures that year, it topped out at #183 on the Billboard charts. To promote Tim, the 80s greatest anti-heroes reluctantly offered up the first great anti-video: a single black- and-white close-up of a stereo speaker playing Bastards Of Young. They hated the idea of concerts filled with kids who only knew them from three minutes of slick TV and expected to see that duplicated live. As they moved away from hardcore, Bob lost interest in the band and, Paul assessed, crossed the line between liking to get wrecked and needing to... he believed the image we played onstage. Bob, whose contributions had dwindled through the Tim sessions, and whose drug and alcohol abuse would claim his life nine years later, was fired in 1986. Tensions in the band were high enough that they tried to break up after Tim's release, saved, they claim, by the realization that they couldn't do anything else. Like most post-punk bands in the early 80's, the Mats had an inherent contempt for mainstream rock directed at the smug, passionless professionalism of many 70's rockers. The press and the fans believed that their lack of fame made them better, and the band bought into this for a long time, embracing amateurism and sneering at popularity. This attitude, however, was at odds with that part of them raised on hit-radio, where no great band went without a hit record. Paul admitted that part of him couldn't stand for others to be famous and not them, but they defiantly refused to overtly pursue fame. They would mindlessly sabotage their own successes, whether belligerently ousting Warners promo people from backstage or landing a January, 1986 appearance on Saturday Night Live featuring Paul screaming to Bob, "Cmon motherfucker!" on live TV. Pleased To Meet Me, released as a trio in 1987, was probably the bands finest moment, reflecting increasingly skillful musicianship and stylistic range. Compared by many critics to the Stones' Exile On Main Street, it may be the dirtiest digital recording ever made. To listeners who thought pop was never meant to be merely affable or polite, this album was the exhilarating sound of stale air being blown away. In addition to flat- out rock, it featured the infectious pop of Can't Hardly Wait and Alex Chilton, the latter a tribute to the 70's most talented misfit by the 80's most talented misfits (that could just as easily be sung to Paul, the invisible man who can sing in a visible voice). I Don't Know poked fun at their not-quite-mainstream, not-quite- underground status (one foot in the door /the other one in the gutter /the sweet smell that you adore /I think Id rather smother). The Ledge presented a powerful study of teen suicide that offered no excuses and made no apologies, but instead described haunting clarity in the face of eternal darkness. Pleased To Meet Me fused Pauls instinctive grasp of adolescent trauma, the Mats basement-rock fury and, for the first time, a producer, Jim Dickinson from Memphis Stax studios, who made them play in tune and on time. With the addition of guitarist Slim Dunlap in time for the tour, the Mats were again a foursome, and concerts included complete songs; set lists rather than inebriated whimsy guided the shows. On 1989's Dont Tell A Soul, originally intended as an acoustic album, the Mats both lamented and embraced their apartness from the world. Paul said the mood of the songs came from having too much time to sit and question; (if the writing had been hurried) between tours, it would have been more rock and roll. Most of the songs described the sobering realization of giving one's all and falling short, and the desperation of accepting an inevitable fate. As he explained, "I always wanted to be in a rock and roll band. I thought it would be a lot of fun; and here I am, and it ain't." In I'll Be You, the bands highest charting single (#44), the rebel without a clue offered to swap lives in the hopes of escaping the bitter disappointment of dreams realized. Warner Bros. goal was a more polished (i.e. marketable) sound, and for better or worse, it was probably the first time the band had taken the care to make an album, instead of a collection of more or less live performances in the studio. They knew the tone of the album threatened to cost them old fans in the pursuit of new. As Tommy reasoned, "People get panicky when youre not their little pocket group that only they know about anymore." Chris, for one, empathized with Paul's desire to move away from the punk image, and thought laid-back songs were fine, but argued in vain against an entire album of them. The experiences of Don't Tell A Soul and the following tour taught Paul to stick to his personal convictions. Layers of production had been added to the album to make it more radio-friendly, and when that didn't work it left a sour taste in his mouth. Warner Bros. then set them up to open for Tom Petty with the idea that they could learn valuable lessons from a highly professional and disciplined band. Already drained from their own tour, what they saw was indifferent crowds of thousands every night for months. Never concerned with winning people over, the Mats returned the crowds disinterest, bottoming out in Toronto where they took to writing songs onstage. Exhausted, Paul wrote the next album as a solo project, claiming, "I didn't want to break up the band as much as I wanted a break from the band. I felt responsible for them... I didn't like that." Warner Bros., however, insisted that 1990's All Shook Down be a Replacements album, though the entire band appeared on only one track, Attitude. Their lack of involvement was illustrated by the liner notes listing the dozen-plus players in alphabetical order. Produced by Scott Litt (R.E.M., Indigo Girls), All Shook Down was mellower than Dont Tell a Soul, but had more edge - the Mats were back where they belonged, in the garage, but this time not waking the neighbors. Paul's most ambitious and accomplished songs yet were powered by accurate and touching lyrics, but with his band, his marriage and his life falling apart, the truths were far from uplifting. Alone, frustrated, and emotionally wrung-out, songs like Bent Out Of Shape, Nobody, Torture, Sadly Beautiful, and the title cut gave new, ironic meaning to the phrase solo album. It may not have been the middle-period collection of non-stop rockers the label wanted, but no one could accuse Paul of backing down creatively. Not since Pete Townsend's Who By Numbers had a songwriter opened his closet with such reckless abandon. Had the band been more involved, or had this been the follow-up to Pleased To Meet Me, the Mats' fate might have changed. As it was, Chris quit/was fired, feeling over-shadowed by Paul's increasingly dictatorial role, and skipped the final tour that saw the Mats hang it up on stage in Chicago's Grant Park on July 4, 1991. For more than a decade, The Replacements gave blood in their music, their fans fervently identified with them, critics and college-radio depended on them, but they were frustratingly reluctant to become big stars. As Bob explained, "We liked the mistakes... the weak sound... and the bad chords, we never made any attempt to change for anybody. They were simply four guys who thought it would be cool to be in a band. In a world saturated by MTV and Top-40 agendas, the Mats defiantly threw away the mold and cast one of their own for others to follow, often at a great cost to themselves." As Slim noted, "Sometimes if you want to be rich, you have to gear your music around that. The great thing about The Replacements (was) they never took it seriously, they never planned on being wealthy... We've got enough Bon Jovis, the daring attitude of, 'I don't care if you like me or not', helped a band like Nirvana be more acceptable." While their peers clung to carbon copy formats, they were stylistic chameleons who could rock you to the wall, stun you with a pure pop chorus or confront your own weariness with anguished ballads. When it all clicked; the volume, rawness, speed, energy, humor and passion, The Replacements were, for many, what rock and roll was supposed to be about. PS: The collection I put together (limited to 22 songs) was an attempt to assemble the best songs The 'Mats released (not my favorites. Example, "Valentine" a personal favorite was somewhat common musically and therefore left off. Also, not an anthology, however much I love the early stuff). Anyway, for your own bemusement I included the playlist here, I'd be interested in your thoughts: 1 Hold My Life 2 Alex Chilton 3 Merry Go Round 4 Achin' To Be 5 Attitude 6 Swingin' Party 7 Can't Hardly Wait 8 I'll Be You 9 Waitress In The Sky 10 Nightclub Jitters 11 I Will Dare 12 Kiss Me On The Bus 13 Unsatisfied 14 Skyway 15 When It Began 16 Talent Show 17 Never Mind 18 Androgynous 19 Bastards Of Young 20 The Ledge 21 Answering Machine 22 Here Comes A Regular From: Unclen8@aol.com Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 13:13:35 -0500 Subject: Mould satirizes Bowie/Bing M@ - In case you haven't seen it, Comedy Central is showing a Christmas promo (even after Xmas) featuring Craig Kilborn (?) from CC's _The Daily Show_ and rockin' Mr. BOB MOULD! The whole thing's a satire of the classic Bing Crosby and David Bowie duet to "Little Drummer Boy" from the 70's that MTV runs ad nauseum throughout the holidays (from back when Bing was trying to be cool and spice up his Xmas specials). Kilborn is dressed in the same sleeply little bright blue sweater that Bing wears. He answers the door to find next-door-neighbor Bob Mould in wide lapels. They make chit chat as they walk towards the piano. "Do you remember Husker Du?" he asks at one point. "Never heard of 'em" replies Mould. Its a beat-for-beat perfect deadpan of the Bowie/Bing thing. Then they actually do sing the same arrangement of "Li'l Drummer ____." God Bless America! [Crazy Uncle Nate's visage at Buck Hill, MN can be seen on the Skyway web page. Nate now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, is married, has some sort of respectable job, and likes to read smartass comic books that have dirty words in them. - M@] _____________________________________________________________________________ V. MAKES ME HAPPY: PERFECT From: "Roth, Brian @EAG" Subject: Perfect information Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 09:50:00 -0600 Perfect played New Years Eve at the Hyatt in Minneapolis. They were the second of four local bands. Most people decided to come later and missed out on a great show. Perfect went on around 8:50 PM and played for about 50 minutes. This was the first time that I was able to see Perfect in concert and I really enjoyed it. They really looked like they enjoyed playing for us and had a good time. The hall wasn't crowded yet, but you could tell who the Perfect fans were. They were the ones out on the dance floor. I'm really terrible about remembering set lists, but it seemed like they played all of their EP plus about three covers and maybe 5 new original songs. The covers included "Crocodile Rock". Tommy and Marc traded lead guitar chores and vocals on the newer songs. Marc sounds good, kinda like Tommy I guess. After the show I was bold enough to approach Tommy and compliment him on a good show. I also asked him when the new album was expected out. He said that it should come out sometime next fall. I am really looking forward to it. For more information about Perfect check out their web page at http://tt.net/mcool/perfect/. Their tour dates seem a little out of date, but maybe that will change soon. Also for all of you Replacements fans out there without any cool collectors stuff (Like myself!) Check out the GEMM web page at http://www.gemm.com. If you search on the Replacements you will find a lot of things for sale at what seem like reasonable prices. Well, that's about all for now. Keep up the good work Matt - Brian From: "Tyler G. Briggs" Subject: Perfect - Minneapolis Date: Tue, 07 Jan 97 08:38:00 CST I got the opportunity to see Perfect at the Hyatt Downtown Minneapolis on New Year's Eve. Great show! When we arrived, they were a few songs into their set already. We tried to get there early, but being with a slew of people tends to make you late. To our surprise there weren't a lot of people hoarding the stage, so we moved right up front. As they played, more people showed up on the dance floor. So we decided to finagle our way up even closer. Needless to say we ended up at the feet of Tommy. Most of the music was from their latest release. But they did play one song with the lead guitarist (Marc Solomon I think) singing. It was a slower mellower song. Must be from their latest new stuff. They didn't play any old Replacement's song which was a bummer. Although they did end up playing 'Crocodile Rock' which got the crowd hoppin'. Overall it was a great show. Peace, Ty Date: Fri, 3 Jan 97 18:50:44 PST From: Anna Gerber and Nick Johnstone I saw Perfect play on December 21st in LA at the Spaceland club in Silverlake, it was part of a rock for choice benefit. I got there late in the day and saw Marc, the guitarist hanging around the bar. I approached him and had a talk. He said they're starting work on the Perfect album soon and that after that Tommy is recording a solo album for Medium Cool which will be "more mellow" than Perfect. He explained that he and Tommy used to rehearse next door to each other pre- Perfect and then they ended up jamming and then he joined the band. Then Tommy appeared wearing a BOMB T-shirt w/ a new image that harked back to Mats days. He had ripped black jeans, dyed red hair and his tshirt over a long sleeve punker t-shirt. He was as charismatic and charming as ever. We talked for a little bit. He said the solo LP will be an opportunity for him to play all instruments and not necessarily quieter. The show was a blast. Tommy borrowed an amp and distortion from That Dog who were on after him. he also played the first two songs sitting down, apparently a bet among the band. He played the awesome unrecorded 'Turning' which gives the chill-bumps with a huge Matsesque gtr hook and a line "I lost my voice" that kills. He played most of Squirrels except 'Miss Self Esteem'and the crocodile thing. Another new song called 'Sylvia'was intense w/ a chorus "I miss you!!" over and over. He was goofing around a lot and generally being the Tommy we know and love. ------------------------------------- "The world is held together by the wind that blows through Gena Rowlands' hair." -- Mark Eitzel. _____________________________________________________________________________ VI. NO BANDS: CHRIS MARS From: cford@vnet.ibm.com (Charles Ford) Newsgroups: alt.music.replacements Subject: Anonymous Botch Date: Fri, 03 Jan 1997 22:17:00 GMT I avoided this record as long as I could, but then somebody gave it to me as a Christmas gift, so I guess I'm obligated to provide a review. The first time I listened to it I was struck by how horrendous the vocals were and how goofy the songs sounded. The lyrics can be barely understood and musically the album sounds like it's inspired by a mix of Sgt. Pepper and the Addams Family. Spooky stuff. The second time around I was able to make a little more sense out of the record. Some of the songs work, in a twisted way. "Black Dans" actually rocks a little bit. "The Weather" is not too bad, if you can forgive Chris for choosing such bland subject matter. "Where and Who" is acceptable. Many of the songs are adorned with nice brass and string arrangements. "I'll Be Gone" even conjurs up that popular horn band, Chicago. (Think "Saturday In the Park.") On all songs the drums are so hot they remind me of Chris's playing on "Pleased To Meet Me." "Two Dreams" is probably the most interesting. This is an acoustic ballad with some very naked lyrics about the late Bob Stinson. ("I remember you before the band, you were very different then.") Other songs are just goofy ("Janet's New Kidney"). I've not listened to it a third time, but I probably will some day. Charles _____________________________________________________________________________ VII. DON'T BUY OR SELL: TAPES AND STUFF LIKE THAT Date: Sun, 19 Jan 97 10:50:41 -0800 From: jmhuff@plix.com (Huff, J Michael,) I am looking for the 8/18/89 show at Orange County Speedway, NY. It was when the Mats opened for Tom Petty. Also, I am searching for Westerberg on Leno, any album outtakes that someone might have, and other rarities. I have a collection of videos to trade. Tell me what you have and maybe we can work out a trade. Nathan Huff jmhuff@plix.com Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 15:36:36 -0800 From: Sheafe Smith Subject: 'Mats Just stumbled across your 'Mats webpage. Pretty cool. I was suprised to see that a pretty good tape appears to be in circulation of a show I was at back in 85. 12/8/85 to be specific, at the I Beam in San Francisco. Do you have this tape, or might know who does? I would love to get a copy. Sheafe shsmith@adobe.com fin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The //Skyway\\: The Replacements Mailing List (digest only) To subscribe, send a letter saying "subscribe skyway" to "majordomo@novia.net" http://www.novia.net/~matt/sky/skyway.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We all wish life were more like Say Anything, but it's really closer to Singles." - Sharon Boo