The Replacements (band)

The Replacements were an American rock band. They began in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979, and are best known for being early pioneers of alternative rock.

The Replacements
The Replacements performing in Toronto, 2013
Background information
Origin	Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Genres	Punk rock, alternative rock, college rock, post-punk
Years active	1979–1991, 2006, 2012–2015
Labels	Twin/Tone, Sire
Past member(s)	Paul Westerberg Tommy Stinson Chris Mars Bob Stinson Slim Dunlap Steve Foley
Website	thereplacementsofficial.com

Live performances

The Replacements became popular locally after playing live for the first time. This was because of Tommy Stinson's young age. He was still 13. He had learned to play bass guitar at 11 . Early shows were good but soon because impossible to control. The band became known for their rowdy, angry, and often drunken live shows. They often came up on stage too intoxicated to play.

They were banned permanently from Saturday Night Live after performing drunk before a national television audience on January 18, 1986. As one critic said, the band could quite often be "mouthing profanities into the camera, stumbling into each other, falling down, dropping their instruments, and generally behaving like the apathetic drunks they were."

The Replacements—when sober—got critical praise for their live shows. Part of the suspense of seeing the Replacements play, was that the audience never knew until the start of a concert if the band would be sober enough to play. It was not unusual for the group to play entire sets of cover versions, ranging anywhere from Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69" to Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog."

Other reading

• Azerrad, Michael (2001). Our Band Could Be Your Life. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-78753-1.
• Walsh, Jim (2007). The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting. Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-760-33062-3.