The Replacements & altcountry

Barnum
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2004 4:20 pm

Post by Barnum »

Cannot agree more.

But the 'Mats were more than that... they took the "pop hook" and punked it up (just a teeny bit - they were by no means a "stereotypical punk" band), drowned it in booze and cigarette smoke, and started singing about "pay you back last calls" and bitchy stewardesses.


In the earlier post about the pitchfork review, I mentioned that there were similarities between Jay and Paul. This may be the start of a good thread!

Windfall
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 12:11 pm
Location: Birmingham, AL

The Replacements & altcountry

Post by Windfall »

I posted this on another board I frequent, thought I'd throw it out here and see what y'all think. Hope we got some Mats fans here:

Jeff Tweedy once famously said 'everything we do is based on the Replacements' before tearing into a rip-roaring version of 'Color Me Impressed'. Ryan Adams said he listened to nothing but 'Let It Be' while recording Whiskeytown's 'Strangers Almanac'. Uncle Tupelo toured with the band on the 'All Shook Down' tour. Lucero regularly covers 'If Only You Were Lonely' during their live shows. Grand Champeen also does a spot on take of 'Favorite Thing'. Slobberbone openly worships the Mats, emulating their sound and paying tribute in 'Placemat Blues', and Brent Best chose Don Smith to record 'Slippage' because he loved his work on Bash N Pop's 'Friday Night Is Killing Me' (http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2002 ... ture2.html). Just about every altcountry or Americana band cites the Replacements as a major influence, and you can hear their sound in bands as diverse as Centro-matic, Drag The River, and the Drive-By-Truckers. And take it a step further, Nirvana would have sounded a lot different if Paul Westerberg hadn't been there to pave the way. I don't think it was a conicidence that the band's biggest album was titled 'Nevermind' and there is a classic Mats song by the same name. Nirvana happened to break big a few months after the Replacements packed it in. So, what would the music world be like without the Mats? I have no doubts that altcountry, the way we know it, would not exist without Westerberg and Co. The Replacements were the first punk rock band to successfully blend the Stones/Parsons rootsy twang with punk ('If Only You Were Lonely', 'Achin' To Be', 'Here Comes A Regular')--sure Jason & The Scorchers, the Long Ryders, and Rank & File were doing cowpunk before them, but the Mats were the first band to make it sound good.

Post Reply