With the Mats is timing everything?

[zook]

I just read a quote about the Replacements in this book I am reading and it got me to thinking whether the Mats doomed themselves (substance abuse, anti-videos, anti-social, uneven performances, not playing the corporate game, etc...) or were mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time. Me thinks it is a bit of both but am interested in the collective thoughts of the board.

First the quote - a high ranking Warner exec talking to the manager of the Flaming Lips after they asked for more help getting the Lips out there, " Listen, this reminds me of the Replacements a few years back, when everyone at the label loved them and all the right opportunities were popping up, but it never clicked. We didn't follow through, and the band broke up. I don't want that to happen to this band."

I know that the Mats released Tim only one album with Warner Bros and the subsequent ones were on Sire. I don't whether Sire was part of Warner and when exactly he was referring. I can't help but think that if they discovered this one band earlier the Mats fate could have been different. Perhaps not. If they were around several years later would they have been a better fit. Perhaps. I have no doubt that they behaivor affected their career but could it have been different only if...

[gravy]

6 years later & better production & Tim is Nevermind.

gravy

[bhay42]

Hey, I just read that book too Zook! "Milk It!" by Jim DeRogatis. I really dug it, particular the chapter on Steve Albini. And it was interesting how throughout the book, the 'mats kept being the example of wild, out-of-control live shows. There are far worse things to be remembered for.

[zook]

Yeah, not a bad book although he does really seem like an arse doesn't he? But he does seem to be a Mats fan and a Screeching Weasel fan so I guess he can't be all bad.

Have you read "Our Band Could Be Your Life" by Michael Azerrad? A good read and an even better look at Albini.

[bhay42]

Yup, I loved the Azzerad book. Best written record of the 'mats that I've ever read. And yeah, the Albini stuff was even better there.

As for DeRogatis, I couldn't decide if I agreed with his taste or not. I mean, I love Chilton for most of the reasons he knocks the guy. Overall though, I agreed more often than I didn't, so he didn't bug me.

Unlike say Chuck Klosterman, who's a funny, smart music writer, but has horrendous taste.

[claypigeon]

zook said:

I just read a quote about the Replacements in this book I am reading and it got me to thinking whether the Mats doomed themselves (substance abuse, anti-videos, anti-social, uneven performances, not playing the corporate game, etc...) or were mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time. Me thinks it is a bit of both but am interested in the collective thoughts of the board.

I remember an interview with Paul where the interviewer basically asked this exact same question and Paul said, "You could offer a million different reasons why it didn't happen, but the bottom line is we just didn't go for it hard enough."

[duckfoot]

I remember an interview, I think it was in Musician Magazine (The one that dubbed the Mats the Greatest Rock n Roll Band In America) where Paul or Tommy said that they after Tim came out, all these A&R people and record execs would be at ther shows with their expensive suits and pony tails and that they would just rip them to shred. The quote I remember was , "Talk about biting the hand, we ripped of the whole arm". I think that was part of their problem along with bad timing. Back then, it was harder to get a band to break. Some of you may remember in the early 90's, there seemed to be a glut of bands that were "alternative" being rammed down our throats. I certainly do because I was working at my pathetic college radio station and would get tons of promos and stuff from CMJ touting different bands of the moment. As the program director, I would report our DJ's playlists to CMJ to have our station listed and receive the promos. By then, the Mats were falling apart and all these other bands were on the rise. Sad to see that the Mats had been knocking on the door and then when it opened, they had gotten tired of waiting and walked away. So, all the others behind them went through.

[spyder]

Hey does anyone have a link to where one might buy this book? Anyone have any other 'Mats related books, I have looked but have never found any!!! I bet if my momma looked she could find some and then tell me for the billionth time how blind I am and need to open my eyes...............LOL

spyder

[BigWheel]

Sire is W/b and vice versa. It's all the same people.

[duckfoot]

You can buy "Our band could be your life" at Amazon.com, that was where I got it from. Great book. As far as articles on the band, there is a good one here: www.22designs.com/foshaytower2/index_ie.html

I am pretty sure this page links to it as well.

[spyder]

Hey man thanks..DUCKFOOT!!! Gonna check that out!!! Much appreciated!!!

spyder

[adamapple]

paul puts it best in the DVD, "...it was scripted."....the mats were everything there were supposed to be....just looks at the rep they have among artists...it will live longer than some freakin gold record

[mrwhirly]

I think the originators of bad timing were the Kinks; The first group to do things on their own terms. They were even ballsier than Dylan going electric; they went pastoral; they produced timeless music during the latter half of the hippy druggy free love 60's and guess what? Own the entire output of the beatles, stones, who and kinks from that era, and the ray davies made the songs that are still amazingly relevant today, because they are songs, but you hardly ever hear them mentioned in the same breath anymore. westerberg is very similar. He like a hook and he likes to sing about the smaller things in life; things you don't need a 6 foot bongload to get into. With the Replacements and the Kinks; their legends are intact for history; the songs will do the talking. Do you think you'll even wanna play "Teen Spirit" in 5 years or anything from "yankee hotel foxtrot' in the next week? You'll probably throw pleased to meet me on. You might even wanna hear "mannequin shop" (well maybe not)

[scoOter]

gravy is dead on, by the way.

[landshark]

Right you are, epoole. Kinks had that self-destructive (self-deflating?) thing down too, getting into some sort of scrap with the unions so they couldn't tour in the U.S. from '67-70 -- right when Ray D. was writing one masterpiece after another. Can't say enough about Ray's songwriting ...

[torethatbridgeout]

scooterboy said:

gravy is dead on, by the way.

what if that elevator had crashed?