CoronaVinyl Day 26 (Punk): Let It Be by The Replacements

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Admittedly, I don't have a lot of punk on vinyl, so this decision was relatively easy.  For whatever reason, I didn't know much about or get into The Replacements until a decade after they had disbanded.  I had heard of them, but had never actually heard a single song by them. 

Like Prince's career and me, The Replacements were born in Minneapolis in the late '70s. They started off as punk, often bordering on hardcore.  But even with their second full-length album, Hootenanny, the band was experimenting with various genres, and experimenting well.  

The band was a major influence on alternative bands and indie rock bands from the late '80s until today, including Goo Goo Dolls, Soul Asylum, Nirvana, The Hold Steady, and The Gaslight Anthem, among many others, and listening to 1984's Let It Be, the band's third studio album, you can hear the influence. 

Let It Be was the first Replacements album I bought, and it's still probably my favorite.  I don't remember what prompted me to buy Let It Be, but I'm glad I did.  I had a notion as to how I thought The Replacements might sound, and when I heard the jangly guitar intro to "I Will Dare," I felt like that was exactly what I expected them to sound like.  It was catchy, edgy, and alternative all at the same time.  

By this point, The Replacements had moved from the harder-edged punk sound of their earlier albums to a nice combination of punk energy and more listener-friendly tunes. The songs are generally catchy, but that doesn't mean that they lost their edge.  As this album shows, they also had punk chops ("We're Coming Out", "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out"), but they could write tongue-in-cheek songs ("Gary's Got a Boner"), ballads ("Androgynous," "Sixteen Blue," "Unsatisfied"), and heartfelt, guitar-heavy rockers ("Seen Your Video," "Answering Machine"), and they could cover KISS, quite well at that ("Black Diamond").  It was a schizophrenic album, but it all worked together.  Their latter four albums were what would probably be considered "college rock" back in the day -- songs that were really good, but didn't fit the mold of what Top 40 stations were looking to play in the late '80s.  Let It Be was the album that kind of straddled the band's metamorphosis from punk to "college radio" alternative.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Favorite Thing"
I really like "I Will Dare," but my favorite song on Side 1 is "Favorite Thing."  It's punkish and edgy, but catchy and has a sing-along chorus -- and it has the fantastic line "rock don't give a single shit."

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Answering Machine"
The riff of this song grabbed me the first time I heard it.  It's loud and distorted, and then the lyrics kick in, and it's quite heartfelt.  Those of us who grew up before voicemail and text messages can relate to the sentiment of the song:  "how do you say 'good night' to an answering machine?"