Original members of
The Replacements (formed in
1979):
According to allmusic.com they were originally called the Impediments. They formed in Minneapolis, where its so cold that you have to play fast, witness their Twin Cities cuzzins Husker Du & Babes in Toyland. Their first album was Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, let's call it "precocious thrash" and count it amongst the best albums that are less than 30 minutes long with great tunes like "Customer" in which 'he's in love with the girl who works the counter at' {the rest is too gargbled} so he stands there and asks dumb questions like Um, how much are twinkees?; More Cigarettes": six o'clock, batten the hatches / we got cigarettes, but we ain't got no matches! and "Otto" Everybody {gargble}'Otto-Otto' / Everybody {gargble}'Ot-to-to!' / Everybody wanna-know'Otto-Otto' / Everybody wantsta-know'Ot-to-to!' (no, not that Otto, this is 1981, 8 years before The Simpsons debuted).
Anyway, I could go through all their albums like that, but I'll summarize: started out notorious, known for being alternately drunk and brilliant on stage (aptly titled bootleg: the shit hits the fans), young unprententious troublemakers, MTV haters ("Bastards of Young" video is a single shot of a stereo speaker with someone tapping their foot along to the song). Westerberg's lyrics captured what it was like to be a teenager "Sixteen Blue", "Unsatisfied", and "Kids Don't Follow":
...in my face
out my ear
kids don't follow
what you're saying--
we can't hear!
Great
scruffy punk rock.
As the band got older and major-labeled itself, they did MTV videos of a sort they swore they'd never do (there's one from All Shook Down with claymation fer chrisakes!). I still recommend their first two albums for Sire Records: Tim and Pleased to Meet Me, but the last two are hollow pleas for airplay. They kicked Bob Stinson out of the band after Tim, which was a nod toward music over alcohol. Slim Dunlap joined the band for Pleased to Meet Me forward.
Lasting accomplishments include a handful of songs that couldn't have been written by anyone else, which will be remembered forever: "Androgynous", "Waitress in the Sky", and "Alex Chilton" (which inspired thousands of scruffy teenagers to special order Big Star records and pay way too much for cassettes of Feudalist Tarts), punk rock for unglamorous and insecure idlers (way before grunge) free of the attitude of the NYC and Los Angeles flavors, and a legacy of memorable live shows that they don't remember which destroyed their livers.