The Replacements - Albums 1984-1987

A retrospective on the three biggest albums by punk rock band The Replacements.

By Evan Ferstl

The Replacements, one of Minnesota’s greatest cultural exports, were a significant progenitor of the Twin Cities’ storied alternative scene. Formed in Minneapolis in the late 70s, the band never gained much commercial success. Still, their willingness to combine punk rock with emotionally vulnerable lyrics had a lasting impact on the genre’s landscape, influencing the pop-punk that would become popular in decades to come. Their peak years came in the middle of their career, first with 1984’s “Let it Be,” followed in subsequent years by “Tim” and “Pleased to Meet Me.” Together, these three albums encapsulate the themes that made the band so influential and, more importantly, so enjoyable. 

“Let it Be,” the first and best of the three albums, sees the band alternate between full-throttle punk and the slower, emotional songs that gave the band their depth. “Unsatisfied” is a sad song in its simplest and rawest form. Sometimes all someone needs is to just express that they’re unsatisfied, full stop- and that’s exactly what this song so helpfully does. There’s also “Androgynous,” a piece that has endured in cultural consciousness because of its remarkable social progressivism. The opening and closing tracks, “I Will Dare” and “Answering Machine,” are the other highlights of the album, and the latter is particularly heartbreaking. However, what makes “Let it Be” so good is the uniqueness and raw energy found in every song, not just the best ones. Tracks with titles like “Tommy Got His Tonsils Out” and “Gary’s Got a Boner” can’t be anything other than ridiculously fun, after all.  

There’s a bit of filler on “Tim,” the album released the following year, but the back half is nearly flawless. The quality upturn starts with “Swingin’ Party” before moving into the anthemic “Bastards of Young.” Later on, there’s “Left of the Dial,” which is an obvious tribute to college rock, “Little Mascara,” an achingly catchy song about falling in and out of love, and finally, the melancholy “Here Comes a Regular,” which ends the album with a touch of poetic sadness. 

“Pleased to Meet Me” is the final album in this stage in their career, released in 1987. The band continued their stylistic expansion, incorporating saxophones and horns into their repertoire, as well as forays into slower, more subdued genres on “Nightclub Jitters” and “Skyway.” This is probably the weakest release of the three, but the front half of the album still has fantastic highlights in “Alex Chilton” and “The Ledge.” Additionally, “Can’t Hardly Wait,” the final track, is the band’s finest song. It’s a softer tune, but it perfectly encapsulates the band’s fiery angst and makes it explode in the final chorus. What can’t singer Paul Westerberg hardly wait for? The answer is beautifully vague, and the tiny pause after he hollers out the line is one of the prettiest things in all of music. 

Taken together, these albums lie at the intersection of the punk movement that began in the 70s and the more polished offshoots of the genre still to come. They are well worth listening to, especially for Minnesotans, because while other musicians from the state have a more obvious legacy, the Twin Cities still owe a lot to Paul Westerberg’s wayward punks.