Slate on the 25th anniversary of The Replacements' Let it Be....

Young Bastards

This past October was the 25th anniversary of the best rock album you don't own. Let It Be, the third full-length record by the now long-defunct Minnesota quartet the Replacements, was released at the tail end of 1984, a miraculous year, looking back on it, in music history. That year saw the dawn of the global pop mega-star. Madonna (Like a Virgin), Michael Jackson (John Landis' video for "Thriller" was released in December '83 and played on loop for the following calendar year), and Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.) gave fledgling rock 'n' roll bands a new and coherent sense of what they didn't want to be when they grew up. In a telling shift in nomenclature, something called "punk" or "post-punk" became "alternative," and one hardly had to ask "To what?" The music was aimed at a fan base tuning out MTV, dialing in to college radio, and getting its hands stamped at shows in rec centers and converted lunch halls. The trade-off was breadth of audience for intensity of devotion. In 1984 alone, in quick succession, the hungry cognoscenti got Double Nickels on the Dime by the Minutemen, Meat Puppets II, Husker Du's Zen Arcade, the Smiths' debut album, and R.E.M.'s Reckoning.

Let It Be is arguably the finest of the lot, and also the decade....

Interesting article, but of course I gotta take exception to "the best rock album you don't own."

I just listened to Let it Be and am now listening to Tim.

So, what's the best Replacements album? I'd rank Tim slightly ahead of Let it Be. And then Hootenanny, with Pleased to Meet Me right behind....

Let It Be is their most Replacements-like album, and I think it has their definitive high points -- "Androgynous," "Answering Machine," "I Will Dare." But it's also more uneven and has some dopier songs. Tim is stronger on a track to track basis and I listen to it more often.

But I think Zen Arcade, Reckoning, The Smiths and Meat Pups II are all better albums.

I Love Let it Be.

Also: Hootenanny.

It's an irrational thing.

Peter G. Filene

Not Dr. Kasson? He was the pop culture guy when I was there. Of course, that was mumblety-mumble years ago.

And while he didn't get a Ph.D. out of it, my favorite bit of rock musician-education trivia is that Mick Jagger studied at the London School of Economics.

Mick Jagger studied at the London School of Economics

Which of course led to their famous lyric "but what can a poor boy do?/except analyze the deadweight loss when the supply curve modulates downward following the marginal rate of change in the futures market?"

So, what's the best Replacements album? I'd rank Tim slightly ahead of Let it Be. And then Hootenanny, with Pleased to Meet Me right behind....

I'd go Let It Be > Tim > Pleased To Meet Me > Hootenanny. The dopey songs on Let It Be are just part of the "we don't give a fuck" aesthetic. Plus their cover of "Black Diamond" rules.

The dopey songs on Let It Be are just part of the "we don't give a fuck" aesthetic.

That's true, which is why I think it's their most Replacements-like album. As an expression of who they were, Let it Be wins. On a track by track basis, Tim wins.

Which of course led to their famous lyric "but what can a poor boy do?/except analyze the deadweight loss when the supply curve modulates downward following the marginal rate of change in the futures market?"

Which is why I'm convinced that, when Mick decided to devote his life to the Rolling Stones, he made the right decision for rock 'n' roll and the British economy.

Mick Jagger studied at the London School of Economics.

I learned that from a David Bowie song. Something about a strolling gnome. It escapes me now... I think it was on Hunky Dory.

Ha ha ha. Hee hee... hee?