The Replacements - the band that never was, yet inspired thousands.
The Replacements In Concert – 1991 – Past Daily Backstage Weekend
The Replacements – live in Chicago – July 4, 1991 – WXRT-FM – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
The Replacements in concert this weekend. Recorded in Chicago on July 4, 1991 via the band’s soundboard. The Replacements, the band that Sire Records President once said: “when they’re good, they’re very, very good – but when they’re bad, they’re awful”.
Ironically, a band that had four albums to its credit – no singles, no hits – a trail of destroyed equipment, hotel rooms and the distinction of being banned for life from Saturday Night Live.
Still, The Replacements have been hailed as one of the pioneering bands in the Alternative Rock genre – they are cited by everyone from Kurt Cobain to Billie Joe Armstrong as being guiding lights and influences, and if it wasn’t for them, Rock would be very dull.
They did have a destructive streak – I can vouch for that. During my tenure as sound man on music videos, we did probably the shortest video shoot of any band during the ten years I was working in that side of the business. It was a shoot planned to take place on a soundstage in Hollywood – the set had been built and we were preparing for what we thought was our usual 18-hour day; endless shots, endless setups, endless takes. The band arrived late – no big deal. Bands have been known for that. But they were already drunk – we had a 6 am call and the band arrived around 8 – tripping and falling over themselves. Someone with the band produced a few pints of Gordon’s Gin and the party just kept roaring along.
By the time we rolled cameras, the band were so drunk they were crashing into the sets, knocking over props – literally destroying the place while the cameras were rolling. When it was over, there was almost nothing left of the set and a quick consult with the Director concluded that we had enough coverage and the band could go home.
The entire shoot lasted maybe a half hour. From what I understand, that was pretty much par for the course, working with The Replacements. Our stories weren’t all that unusual.
But this concert, one of the better sounding ones currently making the rounds, is of their final gig before breaking up the first time. I ran another version of this a few years ago, but this one is in much-much better shape.
It’s suggested you crank this one up and enjoy the weekend.
