.

Former Replacements Drummer Chris Mars' Dark "Tolerance"

September 29, 2008 5:32 PM ET

Chris Mars made a name for himself as the spastic timekeeper in the Replacements, the booze-soaked Minneapolis post-punk band he helped co-found. But with rock stardom in his rearview, Mars has made a second splash in the art world. Tolerance, his first book, collects 159 paintings created between 2000 and 2007. Mars' work is surreal and gothic, equal parts Tim Burton film, Tool video and demented children's cartoon, with titles like "Fuck If I'll Hold My Tongue" and "Miserably Obedient." Tolerance also includes essays and notes by Mars, which helps to illustrate the evolution of his work from the deeply personal (his early work was inspired by his brother's schizophrenia) to the intensely political (as the intro to a piece called "The Plea," Mars writes, "Mother (Cindy) Sheehan at top is represented in all-out anger as her voice and her every breath relases the spirit of her fallen son Casey...Bush, yellow dunce, is at the center of the mess.").

Tolerance is available through Billy Shire Fine Arts Press.

Related Stories:
The Replacements Considered Reuniting
The Replacements Announce Reissues
Album Review: The Replacements, Let It Be (Deluxe Version)

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »