In “Trouble Boys: The True Story of The Replacements,” the new biography of the highly influential 1980s band, Bob Mehr sums up their legacy by the second page of his introduction: “They had become ‛legends’ without ever really becoming stars.”
Da Capo Press ($27.50).
It seems that their entire career was one slow act of rock and roll suicide. Paul Westerberg, brothers Bob and Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars embodied all of the most extreme qualities of the rock myth. They were talented, with musical and songwriting skills that put them above many of their contemporaries. They were charismatic on stage, creating diehard fans. They had that “something” that screamed stardom. They were self-destructive with extreme alcohol and drug abuse. A persistent fear of success led to a never-ending symphony of self-sabotage. Singer/songwriter Westerberg told many people that they weren’t going to give anyone 100 percent because no one was worth it, including The Replacements themselves, apparently.
Guitarist Bob Stinson formed a band with his 10-year-old little brother Tommy in Minneapolis in the late 1970s. Music was one of the only emotional outlets for Bob, a victim of childhood physical and sexual abuse. When Mr. Westerberg and Mr. Mars joined, the band clicked. Each member was a high school dropout, except for Tommy who was too young to do so until several years later. The Replacements embodied a bleak Midwest working-class sense of defeatism. None of them could see a road ahead that didn’t include a life of gray drudgery. They saw music as their only way out. “It took me a long time to find guys who had no other ... options in life,” Mr. Westerberg said.
The band experienced a slow 10-year rise from obscurity to slightly less obscurity before imploding under the weight of their own lack of expectation. Their live shows were either brilliant or brilliant disasters. Their legend preceded them and many fans went to their shows hoping for chaos. The fans were rewarded more often than not. The musical arc of their albums went from sloppy, hard and fast punk songs to slower, more introspective ballads as Mr. Westerberg’s songwriting talents and interests moved forward. They began the 1980s ahead of their time and helped lay the groundwork for alternative rock to break wide open to public acceptance. But by then, no matter how influential, The Replacements were sadly out of tune.
Bob Stinson was fired and replaced by Slim Dunlap. Mr. Stinson would die in 1995. Mr. Mars would be replaced for most of the tracks on their final album and eventually fired. Tommy Stinson would go on to work in a number of different bands, including Soul Asylum and Guns N’ Roses. Mr. Westerberg would attempt a solo career and struggle with addiction and depression for the next two decades.
“Trouble Boys” is a well-researched and thorough examination of their career, from the earliest days of their lives up through their recent reunion tour in 2015 (they broke up again just a couple of weeks after a canceled Pittsburgh appearance). There is an exhaustive index of sources, including magazine articles and interviews from the time period as well as more recent interviews with the surviving band members, their families, friends, and other players in The Replacements saga. The interplay of the views of the past and the present offers a sense of contrast and perspective, revealing a richer understanding of what took place. It is a sad tale of genius, mental illness, addiction and self-immolation.
Mr. Westerberg knew all this in the ’80s. Although the song title is “I Don’t Know,” the lyrics tell another story: “One foot in the door, the other foot in the gutter. The sweet smell that you adore, yeah I think I’d rather smother.”
Wayne Wise is a freelance writer and novelist living in Lawrenceville (tetroc@gmail.com, www.wayne-wise.com)
First Published: March 20, 2016, 4:00 a.m.