The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: an Oral History - Softcover

Walsh, Jim

3.81

1,616 ratings by Goodreads

9780760334942: The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: an Oral History

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0760334943 ISBN 13: 9780760334942

Publisher: Voyageur Press, 2009

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Formed in a Minneapolis basement in 1979, the Replacements were a notorious rock ’n’ roll circus, renowned for self-sabotage, cartoon shtick, stubborn contrarianism, stage-fright, Dionysian benders, heart-on-sleeve songwriting, and—ultimately—critical and popular acclaim. While rock then and now is lousy with superficial stars and glossy entertainment, the Replacements were as warts-and-all “real” as it got.

In the first book to take on the jumble of facts, fictions, and contradictions behind the Replacements, veteran Minneapolis music journalist Jim Walsh distills hundreds of hours of interviews with band members, their friends, families, fellow musicians, and fans into an absorbing oral history worthy of the scruffy quartet that many have branded the most influential band to emerge from the ’80s. Former manager Peter Jesperson, Paul Stark and Dave Ayers of Twin/Tone Records, Bob Mould and Grant Hart of rivals H�sker D�, the legendary Curtiss A, Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy, Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, power-pop hero Alex Chilton, Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, and replacement Replacements Slim Dunlap and Steve Foley: all have something to say about the scene that spawned the band. These and dozens of others offer insights into the Replacement’s workings--and the band’s continuing influence more than fifteen years after their breakup. Illustrated with both rarely seen and classic photos, this, finally, is the rollicking story behind the turbulent and celebrated band that came on fast and furious and finally flamed out, chronicled by one eyewitness who was always at the periphery of the storm, and often at its eye.

“[T]his consistently engaging and poignant work . . . . [is a] loving, appropriately ramshackle tribute to one of the most beloved rock-and-roll bands of the 1980s. . . . The band's story is an archetype of the joys and pitfalls of underground success.”--Publishers Weekly

“The Replacements were superheroes: They rescued a whole planet from ’80s music. Jim Walsh’s loving, engrossing oral history is the book they deserve.”—Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity

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Review:

Alt. legends gets the oral treatment. In the tradition of Legs McNeil and Gillian Mccain's Please Kill Me, Jim Walshutilises direct quotes to trace The Replacments frenetic journey from the suburbs to the brink of fame before falling into spectacular dissaray. The enduring infulence of the four=piece proto-po-punks - perhaps equally renowned for their boozy boorishness - is reflected in the diverse cast of interviewees ( Billie Joe Armstrong, Peter Buck, Rosanne Cash). The only dissenting voices here belong to the band themselves, who rail fiercly against their rich legacy - perhas unsurprisingly considering their self -destructive history. Minneapolis journalist Jim walsh offers an insider's view that will delight fans and intrigue the casual listener. Eight out of Ten Stars! --Classic Rock Magazine

It s a sad situation when the benchmark for all things eighties American independent rock is Michael Azerrad s Our Band Could Be Your Life. The Replacements were blessed with a chapter in Our Band, but thankfully Minneapolis journalist Jim Walsh a guy who was actually there to experience the Mats heyday and subsequent downfall has culled together arguably the definitive Replacements collection, a biography he calls All Over But the Shouting. Designed to follow the oral history blueprint established in Please Kill Me and Form the Velvets to the Voivods, Shouting pieces together reminisces from all the Mats, as well as from major players including Peter Jesperson, Lori Barbero, members of H�sker D� and Soul Asylum, and Craig Finn. Walsh traces the awkward beginnings of the band coming together, offering up rad memories from the Mats parents and siblings, the recounting of their legendary live shows and drunken escapades, memories of Bob Stinson s incredible guitar work, his antics and the drug abuse that ultimately, tragically brought him down, and the supreme dick, flannel-clad loser, and all around great songwriter Paul Westerberg during their intoxicated, substance-abused reign, where he seemingly was speaking for all of us losers-in-love in worn Chuck Taylors. The book is not without its shortcomings, however, although they are few and far between. Westerberg refused to be interviewed, so his quotes are extracted from previously published articles over the years, giving a somewhat disjointed makeup. No Matter. It s still fantastic to read about the much underreported Tim, Pleased to Meet Me, and Don t Tell a Soul years, and the mostly rare photos are a blast. What a f***ing great band, and a great book to boot. --Skyscraper magazine

This is the rollicking story of the notorious and celebrated band, the Replacements, as told by veteran music journalist Jim Walsh, and eye witness who was always at the periphery of the storm and often in its eye. A band in three acts: from its founding through its ascension from the club scene to the national indie circuit and a major label deal in 1985 to its slow and painfull implosion....journalist Jim Walsh tells the story of the band that began in a basement and was eventually celebrated by the Village Voice and Rolling Stone. Walsh follows The Replacements remarkable rise ( seven LP's, a spot on Saturday Night Live, a Grammy nomination) touring with REM and Tom Petty through to their equally thunderous downfall --Uncut

From the Back Cover:

In the first book to take on the maelstrom of fact and fiction that was the Replacements, veteran Minneapolis music journalist Jim Walsh distills archival interviews with bandmembers and hundreds of hours of new interviews with their friends, families, fellow musicians, fans, and co-conspirators into an absorbing oral history worthy of the scruffy quartet that many have branded the most influential rock ’n’ roll band to emerge from the ’80s.

“The Replacements weren’t a punk band but they made a great punk show of always biting the hand that fed them. Jim Walsh’s fantastic oral history . . . makes that perverse quality intimately clear.”

—Dan Wilson, singer, songwriter, and Grammy Award™ winner

“Immeasurably more transporting than an ordinary memoir, here is a poetic toast to a band so effusively careless that everyone who saw them instantly cared. At turns wounded and joyful, the communion of voices brought together here chimes like a Strat and builds like a heartbeat.”

—Diablo Cody, author and Juno screenwriter

“. . . a lovable and absorbing work, a swan song for an irrepressible, irreplaceable era in American popular music.”

—Elizabeth Hand, The Village Voice

“. . . it’s hard to imagine anyone approaching this unholy mess of a subject and doing a better job.”

—Patrick Beach, Austin American-Statesman

“. . . Walsh expertly navigates the divide between the truth and otherwise. It’s a compulsively readable, passionately compiled oral history of the infamous Minneapolis foursome who spent the ’80s writing a new rock ’n’ roll fairy tale while simultaneously ripping out its pages.”

—Ross Raihala, St. Paul Pioneer Press

“. . . uniquely, proudly the story of the Minneapolis band from the vantage point of the Minneapolis scene. . . . Funny, intense, sad and joyful.”

—Chris Riemenschneider, Minneapolis Star Tribune

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