Mark Your Calendars, Bitches!

November 15, 2007, sees the release of an oral history about one of my all time favorite bands. Man, I love little surprises like this.

From the Inside Flap
“They were a mass of contradictions . . . they were kings of irony before irony was everywhere . . . they were an ongoing critique of absolutely everything, including themselves . . . and they hated rock stars, but loved rock.” —Author Jim Walsh, from his Preface

Formed in a Minneapolis basement in 1979, the Replacements were a notorious rock ’n’ roll circus, renowned for self-sabotage, cartoon shtick, stubborn contrarianism, stage-fright, Dionysian benders, heart-on-sleeve songwriting, and—ultimately—critical and popular acclaim. While rock then and now is lousy with superficial stars and glossy entertainment, the Replacements were as warts-and-all “real” as life itself.

In the first book to take on the jumble of facts, fictions, and contradictions behind the band, veteran Minneapolis music journalist Jim Walsh distills archival interviews with bandmembers and hundreds of hours of new interviews with their friends, families, fellow musicians, fans, and co-conspirators into an absorbing oral history worthy of the scruffy quartet that many have branded the most influential band to emerge from the ’80s. Former manager Peter Jesperson, Paul Stark and Dave Ayers of Twin/Tone Records, Bob Mould and Grant Hart of rivals Hüsker Dü, the legendary Curtiss A, Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy, Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, power-pop hero Alex Chilton, Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, and replacement Replacements Slim Dunlap and Steve Foley—among dozens of others—explain the scene that spawned the band, offer insights into the band’s workings, and explain the Replacements’ lasting influence more than fifteen years after their breakup. The story is illustrated with both rarely seen and classic photos, as well as archival materials.

Long overdue, here finally is the rollicking story behind the turbulent and celebrated band that came on fast and furious and finally flamed out, from one eyewitness who was always at the periphery of the storm, and often at its eye.