Today we sat down with Marion to talk about her experience working in the library field and how she’s seen technology evolve over the past 29 years.
Track name, Dreams by Benjamin Tissot, Bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Today we sat down with Cam, someone who’s spent the past few years moving around the USA. He talks about his favorite states, least favorite states and what it’s like to pack up and leave at the drop of a hat.
Track name, Dreams by Benjamin Tissot, Bensound.com/royalty-free-music
This week on My Favorite Interview, we talk to Callum, who shares his experience on moving out at 17 and some of the things he went through.
Music used, Track name, Dreams by Benjamin Tissot, Bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Check out a new episode of My Favorite Interview – Squish Designs
In this episode, Finn interviews Australian graphic designer, Squish Designs!
You can find them and their portfolio at https://squishdesign.myportfolio.com/about
Check out a new episode of My Favorite Interview!
In this episode of My Favorite Interview, Finn interviews Jasmine, a local model and someone who’s decided to take her career international! Learn about what modeling is like in this episode.
You can find her at @jasmineouden on instagram
www.instagram.com/jasmineouden/?hl=en
I love music and I have consumed a lot of it during my time on earth. But today, I want to talk about my favorite “no-skip” albums. Now by definition, a no skip album is exactly what it sounds like. An album that from start to finish, has no songs that fall short, feel like filler or, songs that you would… Skip. While this list is numbered, these albums are in no particular order. I love these albums all mostly equally (Except for number one, that album stands on its own). There’s no distinct theme to all of these albums except for the fact that I think they’re perfect from start to finish. Now enough rambling, onto the list.
Jackson C. Frank by Jackson C. Frank.
I’m putting this album first for a reason. This was the only studio album by Jackson C. Frank and it was produced by Paul Simon. This album is perfect. It’s the perfect soundtrack for small, farm town living. With an opening track like Blues Runs the Game, Frank cements himself as a strong singer and lyricist. He uses his lyrics to masterfully paint scenes and create vivid pictures of his environments. He has a unique voice and one that is insanely underappreciated. Songs off this album have managed to make their way into modern media like My Name Is Carnival, Marcy’s Song and as mentioned, Blues Run The Game. I have never heard a man that can make a guitar sing like Frank does. I’ve managed to have him as my top listened to artist two years in a row because no matter what, no matter my mood or the weather, this album has followed me. I own this album on vinyl and I often sit through the entire album. The remastered version of the album (which includes 5 extra tracks) clocks in at 55 minutes and it’s worth the entire runtime. My favorite tracks off this album are Marcy’s Song, Kimbie and Milk and Honey.
Let It Be by The Replacements
I love this album. This album, much like above, is perfect. The Replacements manage to capture everything I want in an album. Rock music, a piano piece, a lament about being a teenager and even a track about difficulties with communication. It’s literally me in an album. I found this album through the opening track, I Will Dare, an upbeat, toe-tappingly good song that has a bit of a country feel to it and I’m not complaining. This album starts strong and doesn’t lose momentum. It’s got that signature punk feeling of The Replacements but much more polished and complete. Androgynous is a soulful piano piece beyond it’s time talking about societal norms and gender roles that honestly still holds up today, lead singer Paul Westerberg’s songwriting shines here. Sixteen Blue, the teenhood lament that reminds me of when I was a teenager, moping in my room and the guitar solo from Bob Stinson feels confused, much like the hypothetical teenager in the song which makes the solo work even more. The closing track, Answering Machine is about difficulties connecting to people and communicating and it’s done in a way that highlights isolation and feeling like an outsider. This album is perfect. It hits in all the right places and is one of the best punk rock albums in existence. My favorite tracks off this album are I Will Dare, Andrognyous and Sixteen Blue.
Speaking In Tongues by Talking Heads.
Talking Heads is a band that was always on my radar. I knew about them, I heard the jokes but I had never actually sat down and listened to them. Until I heard This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody). Everyone has the song that made them the fan of a band and This Must Be The Place was that song. It’s upbeat, fun, catchy, the lyrics are simple and memorable and it led me to Speaking In Tongues. Speaking In Tongues is a quintessential New Wave album and with good reason. From Burning Down The House starting off the album with a bang to tracks like the slimey feeling Swamp and the more funk inspired Girlfriend Is Better, it’s an insanely well rounded album. Girlfriend Is Better had a lyric that went on to title Talking Heads’ concert film Stop Making Sense. And really, ending off the album with This Must Be The Place, an uplifting and hopeful feeling song feels perfect. My favorite tracks off this album are This Must Be The Place, Girlfriend Is Better and Slippery People.
What Do You Think About the Car? by Declan McKenna.
I found this album literally as I started writing this. I’m a huge fan of the track Brazil by Declan McKenna and as a result, I decided to check out the album. What Do You Think About the Car? is McKenna’s first album and for a young artist, it’s impactful. He shows promise with this album. It’s indie rock at it’s finest. Declan McKenna is an amazing songwriter and he takes heavy subjects and makes them sound deceptively happy. With tracks like Brazil being about poverty and corruption in the titular country but complemented by guitar and McKenna’s powerful voice. Or Paracetemol, a song about the media’s treatment of transgender suicide with a soft electronic backtrack and simple drums, devolving as the song goes on. McKenna’s songwriting shines on this album. This album is filled with powerful imagery, promise and it makes me excited for what Declan McKenna will come up with next. It’s definitely one of my top favorites. My favorite tracks off this album are Brazil, Paracetamol and Isombard.
Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
This album destroyed me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Sufjan Stevens is an accomplished and highly revered artist and with good reason. His music carries weight and depth and tells stories. Carrie & Lowell is no different. Written about his mother who passed away in 2012, this album was a way for Stevens to grieve his mother’s death and make something absolutely beautiful from it. The songs on this album hurt. They have left me sobbing and reaching for the tissues but that just shows how much impact they have. The journey of grief and mourning that this album goes through hits hard and I love it.With songs like Fourth of July, he sings about a conversation with his mother in the hospital as each stanza alternates between him and his mother, the imagery and references to birds all meld together for an emotional roller coaster that ultimately, despite being about grief, end up aiding in the healing process. My favorite tracks off this album are John My Beloved, Fourth of July and Drawn to the Blood.
The Wall by Pink Floyd.
I love this album. This was my first classic rock album that I ever heard. I spent my entire childhood with my parents referencing “If you don’t eat yer meat, how can you have any pudding” and I didn’t learn about it until years later. This was my favorite album and the only thing I listened to for two months straight. This album is a perfect example of a no skip. The entire album flows from track to track and tells a STORY. This album is, in my opinion, Pink Floyd’s best work. The movie that later came out is an amazing accompaniment but the album stands amazingly on its own. Each track stands amazingly on its own but once you’ve heard this album in one sitting, you can’t go back. My Favorite tracks off this album are The Trial, Hey You and One Of My Turns.
Exmilitary by Death Grips.
We have another debut album, this time from rap group Death Grips. I love Death Grips. They’re insane. The music is awful and they’re one of my favorite artists. Exmilitary is probably their most accessible and listenable album though. They use a lot of samples throughout this album and the flow is amazing. This album has some of their best hits and in my opinion, some of their best work. MC Ride’s lyrics are questionable in theme but the delivery and rhythm just scratches a spot in my brain. This album isn’t for everyone. It’s loud, it’s rough and a lot of it is just screaming. But I love this album. It’s a strong debut and each song is in its rightful place. My favorite tracks off this album are Spread Eagle Across The Block, Lord Of The Game and Takyon (Death Yon).
In The Court Of The Crimson King by King Crimson.
This album is a prog-rock legend and rightfully so. King Crimson’s debut album knocks it out of the park and is arguably one of the strongest debut albums from a band. Are you going to find radio hits? Light hearted sing along tracks? Absolutely not. This album has 10 minute long tracks. It’s insane and some of it? Isn’t even “real” music. There are chunks that are filled with ambient noise and triangle sounds. This album feels like it would be right at home in a fantasy film. It’s haunting at points with tracks like Moonchild and In The Court Of The Crimson King but then turns around and presents the rock/jazz masterpiece 21st Century Schizoid Man. It’s an impactful album and definitely not to be skipped. My favorite tracks off this album are 21st Century Schizoid Man, Moonchild and In The Court Of The Crimson King.
Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino by Arctic Monkeys.
Now, I’ll admit. I hated this album when it first came out. I was a fan of AM era Arctic Monkeys so when they came out with this weird lounge pop album, I hated it. But, I gave it a second chance. Four Out of Five, a hotel review in a song is smooth and jazzy and the lyrics while as described, a review, are enjoyable and it has a comfortable rhythm. There’s less singing and more spoken word to it but it’s a different feeling from their other albums. It’s definitely not mainstream and it’s a completely different genre but I think that it works. The lyrical themes on this album center around a fictional hotel on the moon and it makes no sense. But who cares! Alex Turner is a great singer and I enjoy this album. My favorite tracks off this album are The World’s First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip, Four Out of Five and Golden Trunks.
So I just got my drivers license on Tuesday and I’ve been driving like crazy. I’ve gone to Tsawwassen, Richmond, everywhere and back again and while I do I’ve got music just blasting from my speakers. It got me thinking though, what makes a good driving playlist? Is it the genre? The song choice? The era of music? I’m here today to discover what makes a driving playlist, a driving playlist. I love making playlists. I have a playlist for every season, every genre, every possible mood I may be in. I have a couple of joke playlists , I even have different driving playlists depending on who I’m in the car with! The playlist I have for today though is my standard, favorite playlist to play whenever I hop in the car for whatever reason, driving to the store, getting gas, whatever. Now this deep dive is of course catered to my taste in music and what I enjoy when I’m driving down the highway at whatever hours of the day and I don’t expect everyone to feel the same about what music to drive to but I am going to share my discoveries and research and ultimately, what I think makes a good driving playlist.
When I’m building a playlist I like to start with when I’m going to listen to it. Is it a rainy evening? A sunny day? A rainy day or a sunny evening? Whatever the weather, my playlist is going to change. I have an entire playlist dedicated to jazz music for a rainy day and another playlist dedicated solely to disco! But when I was starting my driving playlist, I wanted to feel like I was in a movie. Sunset in the distance, wind in my hair, music blasting and preferably while driving in a top down convertible but that bit is flexible. I want to feel the freedom that having a driver’s license gives you. So I decided on rock and post punk music. I wanted loud anthemic, sing along tracks that you could belt at the top of your lungs. I want heavy guitars and drums that make the entire car shake. A good playlist is one that everyone likes. Songs that everyone knows and won’t hesitate to sing. Ultimately the goal is to recreate the Bohemian Rhapsody scene from Wayne’s World. There are some genres that just don’t work. Not everyone enjoys opera or country and you can’t really sing along to classical music. But rock music is a great neutral genre for most people. There are great modern rock artists and there’s some great rock classics for everyone. With post-punk too there’s some really great songs to come out of that era of music that get everyone in the car joining in to sing along to. So that’s the vibe. Driving around, singing with your friends with your favorite songs playing as loud as possible.
So what are my favorite songs to drive to? Well you’re in luck because I have just the thing for you! A super amazing, definitely definitive list of songs that I think should be on a driving playlist. First off, like I said, you should be able to sing along to them. In that category, I’m starting off with Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure and Bastards of Young by The Replacements. They’ve got simple lyrics, you can learn them in an instant and you can most definitely shout them at the top of your lungs. The second is upbeat songs that are perfect while on the highway and for that, the top two contenders are Grinding Halt by The Cure and Neal And Jack And Me by King Crimson. They’re upbeat, they’ve got catchy guitar and steady drums. You feel like you could be an award winning race driver and that adds to the overall movie soundtrack ambiance I’m looking for. Next up is the lament. Not necessarily a ballad but a lament or something to reminisce to. Portland by The Replacements and Back To The Old House by The Smiths. It’s nighttime, it’s a warm summer night and you’re driving home, thinking about how the night went and these songs are the perfect thing to compliment those thoughts. Last but not least, just some plain fun songs. You can listen to them, sing along, dance, whatever you see fit but they’re just good songs to round out this list and for that, Brazil by Declan McKenna and Walking On A Dream by Empire of the Sun. These songs honestly work for any playlist and they most definitely have earned their spot on this list.
Now I don’t expect everyone to feel the same about these songs, or enjoy them, or even want to listen to them in the first place. These songs fit my tastes of wanting to feel like a movie character and also my music taste being stuck in the eighties to nineties and I know not everyone else likes to feel that way when they’re driving. But after driving down the highway with Grinding Halt by The Cure blaring, I was inspired. Music can elicit such strong feelings and such a strong sense of community. Have you ever been in a club when Riptide by Vance Joy plays? There is not a single person in the room that doesn’t join in. When I’m driving in a car with my friends, I want to feel the same way. I want to have my Almost Famous, Tiny Dancer moment. Have I seen Almost Famous? No. Do I want to have a car full of people, all united by one song? Absolutely. Music can transport you to a different time and place and can make you feel such a variety of different things. My driving playlist makes me feel free and I hope that after reading this, you make your own perfect driving playlist.
Leningrad Cowboys Go America and Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses are road trip movies from Finland released in 1989 and 1994 respectively and directed by Aki Kaurismaki. These movies are weird to put it simply. They both feature a band who originate from Finland but in their backstory they’re a band from Russia. This movie, to put it simply, is weird. Unlike Spinal Tap, this band is real. They’ve been together since 1986 and are still active today. They have a massive discography of 10 full sized albums and have gone on tours. It’s the result of a joke between director Aki Kaurismaki and Sakke Järvenpää and Mato Valtonen as a joke on the waning power of the Soviet Union. When the first movie was released, Kaurismaki had only released the first two movies of his Proletariat trilogy which were already quite well received and upon release of the sequel, the final Proletariat film was released and La Vie De La Bohemme came out which was an award winning piece. These movies in my opinion are some of the best of Kaurismaki’s work. One of the benefits of Kaurismaki’s films is that there’s a carousel of actors that commonly appear in his films which creates a strong sense of familiarity. While I may not be a fan of road trip movies, I’m going to tell you why these movies are the best road trip movies you’ve probably never seen. Now from here on out, there will be spoilers! If you choose to continue, I hold no fault for any spoilers you may read.
Leningrad Cowboys Go America follows the titular band, the Leningrad Cowboys as they try to make their way across America and to a wedding in Mexico to perform. The band wears long pompadour hairstyles and suits with winklepicker shoes to match their hairstyles, giving them a signature look that you could spot from a mile away. The first movie is, as the title states, the Leningrad Cowboys taking a trip to America to hopefully find success. After an audition with a talent agent who initially suggests they may be able to play Madison Square Garden or Yankee Stadium, soon changes his mind upon hearing their music and offers them a job to play at a wedding in Mexico. The movie follows the band’s travels playing at various venues across America and eventually ending up in Mexico. It’s simple, the music is fun and it’s a great introductory movie. The sequel, Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, follows the band after making it big in Mexico. The band has fallen into alcoholism and have become unpracticed. After an anonymous telegram invites them back to New York, they’re met with their former manager who has been reborn and has dubbed himself Moses. The movie once again follows the general plot of following the band as they travel, perform shows and get into hijinks along the way. With the hijinks including the theft of the nose of the Statue Of Liberty. Both of these movies have and incredibly simple plot which makes for an easy watch and there’s minimal dialogue throughout which means these movies are incredibly accessible for the majority of people. The music included is also incredibly iconic and familiar to a variety of age groups which makes it quite enjoyable.
I caught these movies by chance. It was late at night, I was scrolling through the criterion channel and I was looking for a short movie. Now because of the overall criterion catalog, the majority of the movies are three hours long, slow and incredibly boring. But I saw Leningrad Cowboys Go America with a beautiful hour and nineteen minute run time and I was sold. It’s just a fun movie. I’m not a fan of road trip movies, I usually shrug them off and don’t bother watching them but Leningrad Cowboys defied my expectations. This movie is great for when you want to absolutely shut off your brain and slap something on TV. After watching the first film, I had to watch the sequel and generally speaking, sequels are nowhere near as good as the first movie but once again, my expectations were defied. The sequel was great and it once again has a short runtime, clocking in at only an hour and a half long. The movies are filled with performances by the band at various different venues. There’s a very loose plot to these movies and it honestly just melds together for a really fun experience. The comedy is mostly deadpan humor with some sight gags here and there (in the sequel, Moses is shown to walk across water while the village idiot who follows him just falls right in). These movies are a great way to showcase a comedy band and do a road trip movie.
These movies are weird, they’re obscure, they’re foreign and the majority of the people reading this have probably never heard of them. But I’m a weird film watcher, weird movies are my bread and butter and these movies are the best bread and butter I’ve had the pleasure of discovering. Kaurismaki’s filmmaking style blends everyday life with absurdist events. The music blends popular rock songs like ‘Born to Be Wild’ but then turns around and has songs like ‘Cossack Song’. Some of the songs even have a polka twist to them. The humor is dry and simple but it has my sides splitting with laughter. While you can just throw it on and completely zone out, there’s a benefit to really sitting down and giving those movies your full attention. Especially with the amount of visual jokes throughout each movie. While the band initially started out as a joke, they later went on to have an incredibly successful career including a concert movie, Total Balalaika Show, also directed by Kaurismaki. I had a fun time watching these movies and have even rewatched them more than a handful of times. Leningrad Cowboys Go America is on my top five films of all time and if you decide to watch it, you can definitely see why. So go forth and watch some of the best road trip movies you’ve probably never seen.
Concert movies have always been a niche topic. You’re choosing a topic that mainly appeals to fans of whichever band you choose to cover. It’s unlikely that people who weren’t already fans of the bands will see that movie. But I would argue that concert movies are the perfect way to introduce someone to a band. A concert movie can be a simple but effective way to show off your favorite bands in a way that isn’t just saying “Can I play you a song?”. With a concert movie, it’s all the best things wrapped up into a concise bundle with a two hour run time. You have the music, the movie, the experience of seeing a concert in all its glory and all from the comfort of your home (or a theater). But as of late, the “classic” concert movie has been lost to time and here I am, reminiscing about an era I never got to experience so as a result, here’s my plea to bring back the concert film. I want to be able to sit back with a bowl of popcorn and watch and listen to all of my favorite tracks on a widescreen! It’s also a great way for new fans of these old bands to see concerts that they may not have even been alive for. The concert movie has some strong contenders as to why it’s one of the best genres and I hope that showcasing them will make you see why the concert film should be brought back to its original glory.
The Last Waltz is a combined documentary and concert film, directed by Martin Scorcese and released in 1978. This movie follows the Canadian-American band, The Band. It also features artists like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, and Neil Young, just to name a few. The movie contains interviews with members of The Band as well as concert performances. This movie covers The Band’s farewell concert which was held Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. This is hailed as one of the greatest concert documentaries and directed by one of the greatest directors, Martin Scorcese. Scorcese already had Mean Streets and Taxi Driver under his belt and was seen as the perfect person to direct this movie. This movie did face some production delays due to Scorcese’s commitments to New York New York and American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince and ultimately released in 1978. This movie received high acclaim. Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Wilmington calls it “the greatest rock concert movie ever made – and maybe the best rock movie, period” and Terry Lawson from Detroit Free Press comments that “This is one of the great movie experiences.” While this film isn’t strictly a documentary or strictly a concert movie, it works as a creative way of melding the two genres together. In 2019, this movie was preserved in the Library of Congress national film registry as it was found to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Stop Making Sense, directed by Johnathan Demme and released in 1984 is a movie centered on Talking Heads and the concert they performed to promote their newest album at the time, Speaking In Tongues. The concert features music from their entire catalog of music until that point including Genius Of Love by Tom Tom Club, a side project for two members of the band. The movie holds cult status, revered as an example of quality filmmaking, film critic Leonard Maltin called it “one of the greatest rock movies ever made” and New Yorker critic Pauline Kael dubbing it “close to perfection”. The title is taken from a lyric off the track ‘Girlfriend Is Better’ which appears at the film’s climax. The entire film was shot over a three day period at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. The film is composed with majority shots of the band performing and the only shots of the audience being shown at the very end. As a result, there was a lack of audience energy and lead to insecurity from the band which led to what was regarded as “the worst Talking Heads performance in the history of the band’s career.” The movie itself is simple, it’s an entire talking heads concert, start to finish. David Byrne has great stage presence and doesn’t rely on Bright costumes or light shows. What he does use is the big suit which is exactly what you’d expect. A big suit which is worn during the performance of Girlfriend Is Better. It’s weird, it’s fun, surprisingly effective and shows off that Talking Heads weirdness that the band is known for. Just like The Last Waltz, in 2021, this movie was preserved in the Library of Congress national film registry as it was found to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. After watching Stop Making Sense, I’m inclined to agree.
Concert movies are a bit of a lost art form. There have been a few major attempts at modern concert film but the thing is, they’re not that easy to make and they’ve just fallen out of fashion. The concert has to be filmed and refilmed over the course of a few days, there are stylistic choices that can make or break the band’s performance and the movie’s final cut. As mentioned, due to a lack of audience energy, Talking Heads struggled to perform. On top of that, the cost to produce a concert movie can be quite high with the possibility of low returns. A risk that many studios don’t want to take. I however am in favor of a return to form. I would love to be able to go into a movie theater and get the next best thing to a concert. A movie. With bands doing reunion tours or final tours, capture those tours on film! Archive them, make them into an experience that everyone can have. A concert film is the perfect way to encapsulate and archive a band’s legacy in a way that can be seen for years to come. I vote that people take the risk and bring back concert films.
The Replacements was a band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979. Formed by brothers Bob and Tommy Stinson and high school dropout, Chris Mars, the band started out as Dogbreath. They started out primarily covering songs by Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Yes while still lacking a lead singer. Soon to be lead singer Paul Westerberg, was working as a janitor for Senator David Durenberger when he heard the band rehearsing at Stinson’s house and after positive first impressions, soon became a regular attendee at Dogbreath’s rehearsals. The band auditioned multiple vocalists and managed to find a singer until Westerberg, who wanted to be the singer, took him aside one day to say, “The band doesn’t like you.”. After that, Paul Westerberg took up the helm as the leader of the band. Westerberg was the glue that Dogbreath needed. Before Westerberg’s arrival, the band often drank and took various drugs during rehearsals with practicing their songs being an afterthought. Upon Westerberg joining the band, he would show up to practice, well-dressed and would insist on practicing until he was satisfied with the songs. They then went by The Impediments until they performed a particularly drunken show at a church hall gig in June 1980 and were banned for disorderly behavior and changed their name to The Replacements, a name that stuck. Mars later explained the band’s choice of name: “Like maybe the main act doesn’t show, and instead the crowd has to settle for an earful of us dirtbags….It seemed to sit just right with us, accurately describing our collective ‘secondary’ social esteem”. Their demo tapes were immediately well received and it started a long and storied career of the Replacements.
Their first album, Sorry Ma Forgot to Take Out The Trash was a primarily punk styled album. Released in 1981 it was well received by local fanzines but it didn’t have huge commercial success, a trend that became prevalent throughout The Replacements career. It’s got whiny, teen angst filled vocals, heavy guitars and ear shattering drums, complimented by strong songwriting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a clean or technically good album. It sounds amateurish, like that one band from your small town that performed at your yearly high school talent show and really, that’s what The Replacements were. A ragtag band that formed mostly by chance. The only single off the album, ‘I’m in Trouble’ had that distinct Replacements style, speedy guitars, and a riff that gets remixed in later albums. Sorry Ma is 80’s punk wrapped up in a cozy blanket and it’s a great debut. Jumping ahead to the band’s third album, Let It Be (not to be confused with Let It Be by The Beatles) is in my eyes, a perfect album. This album has everything from anthemic ballads to mourning piano and even a Kiss cover thrown in for good measure. It steers away from punk and parks itself in post-punk. If Sorry Ma is angsty teenage years, Let It Be focused in on coming-of-age. The opening track ‘I Will Dare’ starts things strong with a twangy guitar riff and immediately jumps into bouncy, toe-tapping drums. The album still has it’s whiny teen moments with tracks like Tommy Gets His Tonsils out but balances it with a degree of sincerity shown in Androgynous, a piano ballad about gender and youth, complimenting the band’s choice to perform in dresses. Ending out the album with the haunting Answering Machine, a song about struggling to communicate and feeling stuck in a small town that uses the original automated voice recordings for Bell Systems to close the album and stick a bow on it.
With the release of their fourth album, Tim, The Replacements once again only received moderate mainstream commercial success despite critical acclaim. Tim deviates a bit more into rock and found itself a placement on the Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums of all time with a comfortable spot at 137. Tim has smoother, more polished feel and shows Westerberg taking inspiration from the likes of Alex Chilton (On the track ‘Hold My Life’) and Roy Orbison and Duane Eddy (For ‘Swingin’ Party’) Left Of The Dial being a reference and homage to collage radio and how they were usually on the left of the dial. Bastards Of Young is a sprawling, hard hitting track with remnants of that coming of age twinge, a song that would feel at home being played while speeding down the highway. After the moderate success of Tim, they landed themselves a gig on the one and only, Saturday Night Live, a performance that has gone down in history as one of the messiest performances in SNL history. The Replacements were never a particularly clean band while performing but this skyrocketed their reputation to a national level. The band was rowdy and antagonistic towards the audience, often showing up drunken to their live shows, even more frequently showing up too intoxicated to perform. They would show up in trash bags, dresses, they would swap clothes backstage and gradually strip them off throughout the show, Bob Stinson would usually wear anything he could piece together backstage which usually left little to the imagination. The Replacements always held an amateurish air to their performances that became a staple. . During their SNL performances, they pulled out all the stops. They showed up drunk, they stumbled around onstage, Stinson wore a unitard, and they occasionally mouthed swears into the camera resulting in a lifetime ban from SNL.
The Replacements on SNL, “Bastards Of Young” pt 1 pic.twitter.com/l56ku3SFe8
— Noel Murray (@NoelMu) February 15, 2020
The band had their final tour which ended in the summer of 1991 with a show performing with Material Issue at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park. A show that fans have since dubbed “It Ain’t Over ‘Til the Fat Roadie Plays”, due to each member disappearing during the set, with their respective roadies taking their places. The band would never have a full reunion due to founding member Bob Stinson’s passing in 1995. Although they haven’t reunited yet, the band performed at Coachella in April 2014 and made an appearance on the Tonight Show in September 2014 to perform ‘Alex Chilton’. Now like the title states, The Replacements wasn’t a good band. They were a great band that never saw massive commercial success like other bands of the era. They encapsulate everything you could want out of an 80’s punk band. Teen angst, coming of age themes and complemented by legendary guitar riffs. The Replacements are timeless, their lyrics are accessible to a variety of audiences and their songs could be played on the radio like they were released yesterday. From power rock songs like ‘Takin’ a Ride’ to the more country ‘I Will Dare’ and melancholic piano tune ‘Androgynous’ to a ballad about alienation ‘Bastards Of Young’, The Replacements has you covered. The band only ever achieved moderate commercial success but with placements on the Rolling Stone 500 greatest albums of all time (Let It Be placing at 241 on the 2012 edition and Tim placing at 137). The Replacements has been a staple in my life for only a few years now but their music has made an impact to last a lifetime.