The Replacements Poll
 

so whaddaya think?

Hootenanny

It has all aged horribly.
I liked them a lot in High School, but when Tim came out I was disappointed and things certainly didn't improve from there.
The only song of theirs I still truly love for non-nostalgic reasons is "Go."
Even then, I'm not sure if it isn't nostalgia for the feeling of hearing it in the early 1980s as a teen.

Somehow you can rock with me to Porcupine and Heaven Up Here without even all of the acid of the day and not even chuckle at the pretentious aburdity, but when it comes to Let It Be, you don't still think it's brilliant? It's like the half way point between Zen Arcade and the Ramones first album with just enough Gary Glitter to make me want to drink cheap beer all over again. But yeah, I suppose I feel the same way when forced to face some of the NW's most famous disgressions (though I listened to "Sex God Missy" by Tad just the other day and loved every second of it, so maybe not...)

Let It Be is pretty tame for the most part. "We're Coming Out" is probably my favorite from the album.

Hell, "Unsatisfied" gives me feelings of mid 80's nostalgia, as well, and I wasn't alive then.

It gave me those feelings in the '80s when I was the post-adolescent they were gunning for. It still does, though I'm smart enough not to listen to it often enough to lose the magic (though back then I'd listen to it multiple times per day!)

Tim does suck though. The original indie rock sell out album.

Pleased to Meet Me. I feel it has Westerberg's best overall songwriting out of any Mats album, the filler is nowhere near as offensive as that godawful KISS cover on Let it Be or Gary's Got a Boner or Dose of Thunder etc., and the closing trio of Red Red Wine, Skyway, and Can't Hardly Wait still gives me chills. One of my favorite albums ever by anyone.

Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be Let It Be

I find all their albums up through Pleased to Meet Me pretty fucking brilliant. My favorite is Let It Be.

I think it's an overexposure thing from living in Minneapolis, plus the fact that so many people seem to overly romanticize that era of local music as some kind of "golden age" that can never be equalled. I was paying attention to local music in the 80s, and yes, there were a lot of good bands, but right now there are more bands I like in our area than there ever have been. I guess I just wish people could get past the Suburbs/Replacements/Husker Du/Soul Asylum/Jayhawks thing sometimes.

Let it be, worthy alone already for I Will Dare

Let It Be.

le tit be.

if only for "unsatisfied." oh lawdy.

all of those are great piece of records but I have to pick let it be

Tim is Westerberg's creative peak, he never wrote songs that well or consistently since.(and cant hardly wait was written way before ptmm) That record just fires on all cylinders its got kick ass rockers, perfect pop, anthems gorgeous ballads, some acoustic and a sense of humor without letting the songwriting suffer (sorry but gary got a boner should have stayed a joke off the record). I think Paul really gave it his all while writing Tim like a pure distillation of the mats and himself, so when that album didnt become a huge hit he backed away from showing his true color and stopped writing songs for his own enjoyment and more for record execs and mtv.

Actually, all things considered, I like their Let It Be Naked LP best.

Yeah, I'm sure there's some Liverpool 40-somethings who feel the same way everytime their forced to hear Crocodiles (but then they probably still prefer it to Yellow Submarine).

Course Seattle doesn't have anything today half as good as the U-men, but nobody even remembers them, so whatever.

Replacements' songwriting haa always been more on the traditional side from what I've heard, particularly when compared to Sonic Youth. I think it would be a disservice if somebody didn't criticize them on this fact. Most of the Replacements' music is shit boring, including some stuff on Let It Be.

half of Let It Be is completely not about "song writing" to the extreme, and the best moments of song writing half are when Westerberg cops somebody else's classic emotional riff. That's pretty much the point.

To compare it to Sonic Youth makes as much sense as comparing the Cramps to PIL.

I think that would make sense on a Cramps or PIL forum.

In the "non-Cramps sounds" or "non-PIL sounds" forum?

My point is that both are amazingly great groups who both get lumped into "punk rock" and yet who explore entirely different realms of aural, intellectual, and emotional possibilities.

Yes, because one can prefer one realm of aural, intellectual, and emotional possibilities over another and doing so shouldn't be that controversial on a site whose premise favors that particular realm.

O.k. fine. I'll have more fun liking both realms for their appropriate moment though.