3 out of 5 stars (RS was notorious for hilariously ice cold takes on albums that didn't age well and then they'd have to come back and revise their POV later). Ira Robbins at the time: "Too often, underground bands squander their spunk on records they're not ready to make, then burn out their energy and inspiration with uphill touring." Something as fresh and status quo-bashing as "Nevermind" was bound to piss a few people off. Here's their second attempt in 1994, LOL: "At last, high school portrayed as the pep rally in hell that it is. Millions of pos-deducation-stress-disorder survivors immediately identified. The rest of the album is a relentless run of monster riffs and monstrous imagery, all punched along by arguably the greatest rock rhythm section since Led Zeppelin." (PS: RS also hated Led Zeppelin. I used to write for RS. There were bad takes in every single issue of that mag. I blame co-founder Jann Wenner, known dickhead, bootlicking industry toady and misogynist).
Mar 15, 2024
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I generally donât like greatest hits albums, but this is one Iâve always gravitated to, mainly because it only has songs from my favorite era of the Stones, the 60s to the beginning of the 70s, rather than being a standard big retrospective compilation. Been giving it a lot of play this past week. Now I feel like firing up some Aftermath or Between The Buttons!
Jan 10, 2025
Zoomers may know it from Lorde's cover of "Swinging Party". But, being a GenXer myself, I have no idea when I first heard The Replacements. They're a band that have always seemed to be there in my life, with every song on "Tim", their should-have-been-a-hit album, always sounding familiar.
Broadly speaking, the Minneapolis quartet, known affectionately by fans as 'The Mats', have three phases: the early hardcore and noisy period, the middle period with power pop sensibilities, metallic guitars and big choruses ("Bastards of Young" is perfect), and the final period, without one of the core founding members, trying (and failing) to fit into the mainstream.
It's a cliché to say that The Replacements lost the game against themselves, lost to other bands of the same era who had talent and discipline, and lost precious time building a reputation as unreliable drunks. It's a shame, of course. But The Replacements wouldn't have been The Replacements with any other behavior, and that's part of the tragic beauty of the story told in the book "Trouble Boys: The True History of The Replacements", in which author-fan Bob Mehr traces the family roots of each member, tying together the story of the rise and fall of a band that sabotaged every opportunity they had.
Ken Burns should make a documentary about The Replacements as an essential American band. It's a story with everything that went wrong with the American Dream: families plagued by unemployment, alcoholism and depression, young people with little education and no prospects, childhoods lost to violence and abuse. The story is very sad and "Trouble Boys" challenges even the most hardened fan (especially since it's about three hundred pages longer than it should be).
"Tim", from 1985 (which was reissued and remastered in 2023 and received a rare 10/10 from Pitchfork!) is a seminal album that laid the foundation for what would become "alternative rock" in the 1990s - even if it's not loved by âMats fans from the early days, when the band was closer to, for example, Husker Du. Mixed by Tommy Ramone, the original "Tim" marks the moment when the band got a contract with a major label (they signed wrong names in an attempt to leave the label later, go figure), a music video on MTV (the result is a brilliant piece of sabotage) and an appearance on Saturday Night Live (the band got drunk, trashed the place, got kicked out and didn't appear on TV for over three years, but the recording is great).
Never heard it? Start here: "Can't Hardly Wait", from the album "Tim", already in the less punk and more melodic phase. For me, that's where Paul Westerberg's punchy hooks and catchy melodies shine (guy wanted to be in Big Star so badly).
Feb 20, 2024
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this record is from 1996 and captures that era so perfectly. it definitely exists in the grunge zone but i think itâs kind of its own weird thing. the harmonies and energy instantly evoke the intimacy of the mtv unplugged performances of nirvana and alice in chains. though its less massive sounding than either of those bands studio records, theres a rawness in these recordings that i love
Jan 4, 2024
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Hey tyler hopefully this doesnât violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I canât wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! â€ïž
Mar 27, 2024
âSongs Of a Lost Worldâ coming to a goth listening station near you Nov 1 đ€
The fr FW Me Friday the 13th the world was looking for
Sep 14, 2024
I will fail to explain just how much this band meant to me in the 90s.
So I will borrow from AV Club who did a fine job of distilling it:
âUnwound is the best band of the â90s. Not just because of how prolific, consistent, and uncompromising it was, but because of how perfectly Unwound nested in a unique space between some of the most vital forms of music that decade: punk, post-rock, indie rock, post-hardcore, slow-core, and experimental noise. That jumble of subgenres doesnât say much; in fact, it falls far short of what Unwound truly synthesized and stood for. Unwound stood for Unwound. But in a decade where most bands were either stridently earnest or stridently ironic, Unwound wasnât stridently anything. It was only itself. In one sense Unwound was the quietest band of the â90s, skulking around like a nerdy terror cell. In another sense it was the loudest, sculpting raw noise into contorted visions of inner turmoil and frustration.â
R.I.P. Vern Rumsey.
This is their finest song, from their finest album.
I really canât say enough about the sheer bloody minded genius of this group. đ€
Mar 23, 2024