Re: THE REPLACEMENTS Song of the Day
Posted: 14 May 2014, 9:35am
For your "Shammerd Walk Home from the Bar" mix tape. . .
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Actually, most of the Tim demos were blasted out in one gear just like that. That was Bob regaining the upper-hand in the neverending see-saw battle over musical directorship. When he put his foot down (usually by busting out the SRP epithets and occasionally refusing to play the slow numbers) everything came out consistently loud/fast. When Paul put his foot down (usually by cutting acoustic demos apart from the others and not letting them rehearse plugged in until he won on locking down the arrangement) the tracks went to tape mixed-tempo. And when the battles were a draw...usually a brilliant mix of both, like Let It Be. Paul was arguably the least-functional alcoholic in the band at the moment they were coming off the boozy Let It Be tour, so Bob had more leverage to dig in. It swung back the other way when they signed to Warner and they did that aborted all-acoustic session with Alex Chilton as producer. '86 and the live + demo introductions of the PTMM tracks...Bob starting to push back again by deafening everyone onstage and passive-aggressively being sober and focused the nights Paul was sauced, and vice versa. Until Paul got the label's backing to sack him.
Yep. That's pretty much how Chris tells it in the very few interviews he's given. Bob was always Exhibit A because his problems always played out in the most public way possible. But Chris said his own coke intake was so out-of-control...with enough close calls...that in reality it was a coin flip who was going to OD first. People just never knew because he always did his self-medicating in private. And said that Paul's binge-drinking was so bad '84-86 that it only took crapshoot odds that he didn't pass out on his back one night and Bon Scott himself. Plus crippling undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which was why he was imperious and not such a nice guy to be bandmates with when he was up, and liable to lead the charge in self-sabotaging their rep with the label by intentionally throwing a show when he was down. And Tommy...somewhat miraculous that he didn't become an addict with teen hormones + sex/drugs/rock n'roll + addictive personality + family history colliding head-on with oversupply of temptation. All 4 of them were damaged youth.TeddyB Not Logged In wrote:Paul always had the new label and management's proxy to sack Bob. When they signed the Warners contract, Paul and Tommy actually considered not including Bob on the deal at that point. Their reasoning was that his mental issues and substance abuse would worsen on the sort of commercial campaign they'd have to wage, and it would be catastrophic... For Bob. There is obviously another, significantly different point of view on that...
I don't add to this thread much or ever because A) I've heard nearly all the music, but more importantly, the same reason I can't be on a 'Mats/Westerberg message board: there's just, literally, too much for me to say, too many stories and anecdotes, too many opinions, too many memories and experiences, a lot of them very sad or emotionally...not right.Rat Patrol wrote:The Rust Belt was a bleak, bleak place to be coming of age in the late-70's. The Class of '77 in England gets all the glory for making a loud racket in the ruins of a post-Empire shithole, and NYC punks have the street cred from what a terrorscape New York City was in that era. But they were comparatively lucky being able to carve a niche in the big city. The latchkey kids in Middle America had jack nothing to look forward to, and nothing around them to do when their absentee parents left them unsupervised. The Mats...and their psychological problems...are a microcosm of what a near-total loss that whole generation was in flyover country. That's why they resonated with the folks lucky enough to have a record store or college radio station that served up anything different from AOR conformity. There were literally millions of "Mats Babies" just like them.
Poor? that'll be kids who couldn't afford guitars or drum kits.muppet hi fi wrote:I don't add to this thread much or ever because A) I've heard nearly all the music, but more importantly, the same reason I can't be on a 'Mats/Westerberg message board: there's just, literally, too much for me to say, too many stories and anecdotes, too many opinions, too many memories and experiences, a lot of them very sad or emotionally...not right.Rat Patrol wrote:The Rust Belt was a bleak, bleak place to be coming of age in the late-70's. The Class of '77 in England gets all the glory for making a loud racket in the ruins of a post-Empire shithole, and NYC punks have the street cred from what a terrorscape New York City was in that era. But they were comparatively lucky being able to carve a niche in the big city. The latchkey kids in Middle America had jack nothing to look forward to, and nothing around them to do when their absentee parents left them unsupervised. The Mats...and their psychological problems...are a microcosm of what a near-total loss that whole generation was in flyover country. That's why they resonated with the folks lucky enough to have a record store or college radio station that served up anything different from AOR conformity. There were literally millions of "Mats Babies" just like them.
But this last paragraph you wrote, Ratty, actually made me almost tear up a bit. It's a very accurate view, not only of the UK and NYC scene visa vis the Minneapolis scene, but just the observations on working/middle class latchkey kids at the time. Your writing there really hit me. It was beautifully stated. Thank you for that, man.
Not sure what you're referring to here mate. I was given a Ludwig snare for Christmas when I was 12 by my dad and a brother. I added on pieces as I could afford them from my paper route and then, by 14, from my dishwashing job at a pizza joint (quite illegal now, age wise). Yeah, we were a middle class family - dad was a lawyer - but I think Rattie's point was about more than economic stature. It was more, I think about having extremely fucked up parents in a climate (post-WWII) that didn't ask for, nor give many or any options to young people outside of schooling (sure wish I hadn't dropped out in 10th grade and moved away), or going to work (what I did at 15). Did I fuck up my own life and privlidged chances with poor decisions? Absolutely. But there's a whole psychic and emotional world behind those decisions and actions. And Westerberg and the 'Mats expressed, and indeed came from, those circumstances. Not in a socio-political way - that's not how they expressed themselves - but more in the psychological manifestations of their lives during that era. This is what gets me emotional: all the waste of semi-priveliged kids. And most of that waste came through their being ignored. And there wasn't shit they could do about it. We weren't cool, didn't have a "cause", didn't have glamorous or even seedy street life to inform us. We were just dumb and boring. And,in an almost nameless way, hurting terribly. And I can scarcely listen to any 'Mats or Westerberg music anymore. Some of my favorite music ever - and it reeks of failure and death to me. Not fun, not funny or ironic. Maybe it's just me, Marky...Marky Dread wrote:Poor? that'll be kids who couldn't afford guitars or drum kits.muppet hi fi wrote:I don't add to this thread much or ever because A) I've heard nearly all the music, but more importantly, the same reason I can't be on a 'Mats/Westerberg message board: there's just, literally, too much for me to say, too many stories and anecdotes, too many opinions, too many memories and experiences, a lot of them very sad or emotionally...not right.Rat Patrol wrote:The Rust Belt was a bleak, bleak place to be coming of age in the late-70's. The Class of '77 in England gets all the glory for making a loud racket in the ruins of a post-Empire shithole, and NYC punks have the street cred from what a terrorscape New York City was in that era. But they were comparatively lucky being able to carve a niche in the big city. The latchkey kids in Middle America had jack nothing to look forward to, and nothing around them to do when their absentee parents left them unsupervised. The Mats...and their psychological problems...are a microcosm of what a near-total loss that whole generation was in flyover country. That's why they resonated with the folks lucky enough to have a record store or college radio station that served up anything different from AOR conformity. There were literally millions of "Mats Babies" just like them.
But this last paragraph you wrote, Ratty, actually made me almost tear up a bit. It's a very accurate view, not only of the UK and NYC scene visa vis the Minneapolis scene, but just the observations on working/middle class latchkey kids at the time. Your writing there really hit me. It was beautifully stated. Thank you for that, man.