It's almost impossible to have an interest in the Minneapolis music scene without hearing rumors of the sordid history of the Replacements; mostly filtered through elder hipsters who like to rant about how awesome it was to be here in the 80s. [Editor's Note: The 80's weren't really that great, it was just that the 70's sucked SO BAD that the 80's just seemed better than they were.]

I managed to miss out on the lot of it by leaving Minnesota for a few years. By the time I got back in the early 90's, the Replacements had broken up. "I'll Be You" was still on the radio, but Matthew Sweet and Bob Mould were getting all the airplay. I dived headfirst into the local music scene, working at a recording studio in Minneapolis, and habitually reading the Reader and the City Pages, always on the lookout for new and interesting bands. The Nixon Pupils, Johnny Clueless and Mile One were the bands to see live then, and Grunge was king. I was playing solo-acoustic-folk-rock (like my hero at the time, Stuart Davis) in coffee shops you ain't even heard of, (and couldn't find even if you had) and my circle of friends coulda cared a whole lot less for "The Greatest Band That Never Was". I listened to "The Replacements A to Z" on KQ92, and was unimpressed. Eventually, I ended up with "All for Nothing and Nothing for All" the Replacement's Greatest Hits (kind of), and what I was told was their definitive album, "Tim". Again, color me unimpressed.

It wasn't till recent years that I would hear the whispered bits and pieces. Rumors of a band from Long Ago, who shone so bright they burned a hole in the heart of Minneapolis. Every rumor put a look on my face as if I had just taken a bite of my Mom's Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies and discovered that she had substituted Vanilla Extract with Windex.

"They stole back their own master tapes from the record company, and tossed them in the Mississippi River?"

"They played 'Hello Dolly' until everyone left?"

"They did entire gigs without finishing a single song?"

Honestly, I heard more about the Replacements antics than I ever did their music.

So, I was pleased to hear that a book about the Replacements was being released. "The Replacements - All over but the Shouting" was released by Jim Walsh on 15 Nov 2007. I got a signed copy, and read the entire book over three consecutive evenings.

"The Replacements - All Over But The Shouting" is an Oral History (which is an oxymoron for a book, but there you are.) The book is written in quotes from a large number of people, including the band. It's interesting to read the different perspectives on key moments of the band history.

But remember, this is the current-day perception of the band, a conglomeration of The Replacements as These People Remember Them. There are some assumptions made that you know certain things, and there are undoubtedly people who either cannot or did not participate in the book. So keep that in mind. Those looking for the real documented history of the Replacements might want to look elsewhere, but I don't think that was Jim Walsh's intention in writing the book. I think Jim Walsh wanted to capture the spirit of the band, and he managed to do that pretty effectively, because that's what survives in people's memories; the brightest and darkest moments.

However, the quotes of the 'oral history' did make the book a bit disjointed to read. It wasn't till I was halfway through the book that I stumbled upon a glossary of names in the back, which makes the book easier to trudge through. Better still would have been to give a description of each contributor the first time they were quoted, because many of the quotes required that information to process.

It amazes me how hard the Replacements tried to sabotage their own success, and how everything they did simply made them more and more famous. It makes me think some bands are destined to be famous, and have no choice. The Replacements seemed to be dragged kicking and screaming into popularity, confounded by the personality of Paul Westerberg, which glares through the cracks of the writing.

After reading it, I can say that the Replacements deserve a book like this. Jim Walsh has done a great job, and I'm glad I read it. It should be required reading for anyone who is in a bar band in Minneapolis, because whether you know it or not, you are living under the shadow of a glorious tragedy.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Authors, Book Review