The Replacements

In the '80s the Replacements' blend of punk guitar and pop melodies garnered critical acclaim but little commercial success. Hailing from the Minneapolis home base of acts as diverse as Hüsker Dü and Prince, the quartet was seen by its fans as generational spokesmen; Paul Westerberg's angst-ridden confessional songs cast him as a postpunk Bob Dylan and would influence such '90s stars as the Goo Goo Dolls.

The son of a Cadillac salesman, Westerberg was refused his high-school diploma for failing to show up at graduation. After taking odd jobs as a steel-mill worker and a janitor, he formed the Impediments with drummer Chris Mars, guitarist Bob Stinson, and Stinson’s 12-year-old bass-playing brother, Tommy. Inspired by Westerberg’s love for the Sex Pistols, the band - renaming itself the Replacements after being banned from a club for rowdy behavior - developed a raucous, drunken stage act: Bob Stinson sometimes performed in underwear or a dress, and the set list ranged from covers of Kiss and Cher to Westerberg’s originals. Discovered by Peter Jesperson, cofounder of Twin/Tone Records, they signed with the indie label in 1980 and, gaining a following that nicknamed them the ’Mats (for “placemats”), they put out albums that progressed from the punk assault of their first two releases to the country-tinged Hootenanny to Let It Be, a collection that placed them at the forefront of alternative-rock bands.

Notorious for their alcoholic self-destructiveness and wildly uneven concerts but celebrated for Westerberg’s hook-laden and painfully honest songs, the Replacements hovered on the verge of mainstream acceptance. But even their major-label signing to Sire in 1987 didn’t alter their underdog status. While Tim reflected the band’s increasingly skillful musicianship and Westerberg’s stylistic range, exhaustion began setting in. Bob Stinson was fired for excessive drinking in 1987, and Pleased to Meet Me was recorded as a trio. Guitarist Slim Dunlap joined in time for Don’t Tell a Soul, which again delighted reviewers and even produced a single that cracked the Top 100 (“I’ll Be You,” #51, 1989) but sold only around 300,000 copies. The band’s swan song, All Shook Down, was a Replacements record in name only; fighting what he perceived as Westerberg’s dictatorial control, Mars eventually departed (Steve Foley of the Minneapolis band Things Fall Down replaced him for a subsequent tour), and the album was basically a Westerberg solo project with the other Replacements employed as occasional sidemen. Again failing to break into the mainstream, the Replacements broke up in 1991, just short of the ’90s alternative explosion they helped inspire. A 1997 retrospective, the two-disc All for Nothing - Nothing for All (#143), gathered albums tracks, B sides, and rarities from the Sire years.

Contributing to the popular soundtrack to Singles, director Cameron Crowe’s 1992 movie about the nascent Seattle music scene, Westerberg finally enjoyed a measure of success; in 1993 he released a solo debut, 14 Songs (#44, 1993), to mixed reviews. Eventually (#50) followed in 1996, with the introspective track “Good Day” inspired by the drug-overdose death of Bob Stinson in early 1995. After returning from a tour in ’96, Westerberg was treated for depression. He left Reprise in 1997 and recorded a single and EP under the name Grandpaboy that briefly returned the singer/songwriter to an edgier, rocking sound. Westerberg then signed to Capitol for 1999’s Suicaine Gratification (#104), earning his best reviews since the Replacements for more songs of intense introspection, but unspectacular sales.

The other Replacements also put out albums whose sound didn’t depart greatly from their former band’s. Both Dunlap and Mars released critically lauded discs. Tommy Stinson formed Bash & Pop, which released Friday Night Is Killing Me on Sire in 1993. That band eventually evolved into Perfect and recorded an EP, When Squirrels Play Chicken, in 1996 for Restless Records. A followup album was recorded, but Restless chose not to release it. Within a year, Stinson astonished ’Mats followers by joining the new lineup of Guns n’ Roses [see entry]. He worked alongside Axl Rose on that band’s long-delayed Chinese Democracy album and first appeared onstage with GNR after midnight at a 2001 New Year’s Eve show in Las Vegas.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)