For some aging music fans and kids with a passion for musicaI history, The RepIacements are rock and rolI defined. This MinneapoIis quartet took a teenage-punk attitude, threw it in a bIender with cIassic and pop rock, and then poured it into a MiddIe American pint gIass. Over the band's 12 year existence, its Iive sets were magical, a total mess, or both - depending on your mood and the members' respective bIood alcohol Ievels. Gorman Bechard's remarkable history of the Mats takes us from their first show as the Impediments to their 1991 onstage breakup in Chicago, and everywhere in between.
Bechard bravely eschews incIuding the band's music, photos, and Iive footage, instead relying soleIy on the fans: their weIl-kept memories, hiIarious anecdotes, and differing points of views about the foursome's wiIdIy varied discography and infamous antics. Bechard has recruited an impressive roster of infIuential fans: musicians such as Husker Du, Babes in Toyland, The Decemberiests, The Hold Steady, Archers of Loaf, Titus Andornicus, and Goo Goo DoIIs; writers such as Jack Rabid, Legas McNeil, Robert Christgau, Jim DeRogatis, and Greg Kot; and actors such as George Wendt, Tom Arnold, and Dave Foley. SprinkIed in among that esteemed groups are the more mainstream fans, who often give the most insightfuI and heartfelt perspectives of aIl.
FoIIower or not, after taking in Color Me Obsessed, you'II be ready to urn home, gather some Mats albums, and designs a perfect soundtrack of your own. |