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The Replacements: Stink Bombs, Broken Guitars, and Self-Sabotage · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a
0:27
Speaker 1: story about the Replacements, one of the greatest rock and
0:31
Speaker 1: roll bands of all time. It's also about a teenage
0:35
Speaker 1: bass playing fuck up Prodigy and his big brother in
0:39
Speaker 1: an ill fitting bodysuit on national television. It's about a
0:43
Speaker 1: drummer playing chicken on his motorcycle with the cops, and
0:47
Speaker 1: about one of the greatest singer songwriters to ever pick
0:50
Speaker 1: up a guitar and stumble toward a microphone. The Replacements
0:55
Speaker 1: were chaotic, shambalic, devoid of any fucks to give, and
0:59
Speaker 1: they were most definitely a band that made great music.
1:04
Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top
1:06
Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a
1:11
Speaker 1: preset loop for my melotron called color Me Possessed MK two.
1:17
Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
1:19
Speaker 1: rights too. That's what friends are for. By Dion Warwick
1:23
Speaker 1: featuring Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. And why
1:28
Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of I can't
1:31
Speaker 1: believe your mom loves this crap cheese? Could I afford it?
1:36
Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on
1:39
Speaker 1: January eighteenth, nineteen eighty six, and that was the day
1:44
Speaker 1: the Replacements delivered a legendary performance on Saturday Night Live,
1:48
Speaker 1: a performance that came with a major consequence, one which
1:52
Speaker 1: ensured their short term demise while cementing their long term legacy.
1:58
Speaker 1: On this episode, age Bass playing fuck up Prodigy, an
2:02
Speaker 1: ill fitting body seat playing Chicken with the cops, pissing
2:06
Speaker 1: off Lorne Michaels and the Replacements. I'm Jake Brennan and
2:12
Speaker 1: this is Disgraceland Lorne Michaels, creator and executive producer of
2:43
Speaker 1: NBC Saturday Night Live. Listen to the voice on the
2:47
Speaker 1: other end of the phone drone on and on, one
2:50
Speaker 1: excuse after another, and it pissed Lauren off. And the
2:55
Speaker 1: longer the call went on, the more it wasted his time.
2:59
Speaker 1: So Lorne responded diplomatically with just two words, I see.
3:05
Speaker 1: He said it calmly, but with a touch of menace.
3:09
Speaker 1: He hoped his tone delivered his real message, and that
3:13
Speaker 1: message was, what the fuck do you mean? The Pointer
3:17
Speaker 1: Sisters are pulling out a next week's show. In early
3:21
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, after ten years of groundbreaking sketch comedy,
3:26
Speaker 1: Saturday Night Live was in trouble. Ratings were in the toilet.
3:30
Speaker 1: NBC executives were openly talking about canceling the show. Lord
3:36
Speaker 1: Michaels had just returned after a few years hiatus. He
3:40
Speaker 1: had to write the ship, which meant he couldn't afford
3:44
Speaker 1: any screw ups, like, for instance, having a musical guest
3:48
Speaker 1: canceled at the last minute, which is exactly what was
3:52
Speaker 1: happening now with the Pointer sisters. Laurene panicked he had
3:57
Speaker 1: one week to find a new musical guest. Lauren knew comedy,
4:01
Speaker 1: but he did not know music. Luckily, he surrounded himself
4:05
Speaker 1: with people he could trust, like g. E. Smith, SNL's
4:09
Speaker 1: musical director and Moe Austin, head of Warner Brothers Records.
4:14
Speaker 1: Moe had hooked Lauren up with Madonna as a musical
4:17
Speaker 1: guest for this year's season opener, and ratings went through
4:20
Speaker 1: the roof. Lauren remembered that Ge had been raving about
4:24
Speaker 1: some up and coming indie band. They had recently graduated
4:28
Speaker 1: to a major label for their fourth album, just out
4:31
Speaker 1: of Warner's Sire Records in print, and just like they
4:35
Speaker 1: were graduating from writing juvenile songs like Gary's Got a
4:38
Speaker 1: boner to more sophisticated tunes. So Lauren figured an up
4:43
Speaker 1: and coming band with a new record plug would be
4:46
Speaker 1: hungry for this kind of opportunity. So Lauren called up
4:50
Speaker 1: Moe Austin once again. He needed a favor for SNL.
4:54
Speaker 1: Next week, Laurene needed a replacement, Actually, he needed the
5:01
Speaker 1: replacements halfway across the country. The replacements. Lead singer Paul
5:09
Speaker 1: Westerberg woke up on a couch in Chicago. His head
5:13
Speaker 1: was killing him yesterday when the band left their hometown Minneapolis,
5:18
Speaker 1: he told himself he wouldn't drink too much. The gig
5:21
Speaker 1: was supposed to be just to tune up for the
5:23
Speaker 1: huge East Coast run and supported the band's new album,
5:26
Speaker 1: their major label debut, called Tim, So Paul thought it
5:30
Speaker 1: might be a good idea for Once to lay off
5:33
Speaker 1: the booze and focus on nailing the new songs. But
5:37
Speaker 1: lead guitarist Bob Stinson was drunk before he even got
5:40
Speaker 1: in the van. Bob's little half brother, bassist Tommy Stinson,
5:45
Speaker 1: may have only been nineteen, but he wasn't far behind Bob.
5:49
Speaker 1: With the brothers already shit faced, Paul figured they should
5:52
Speaker 1: all go down in flames together. One for all and
5:55
Speaker 1: all for one and all of that. So halfway to Chicago,
5:59
Speaker 1: Paul talked to Can of Old Style, the drummer Chris Mars,
6:02
Speaker 1: and they started playing ketchup, and by the time they
6:05
Speaker 1: made it to the club, Paul was wasted. His memory
6:09
Speaker 1: of what came next was spotty, like a series of
6:12
Speaker 1: blurry pictures. Paul forgetting words, Paul smashing his guitar to pieces,
6:18
Speaker 1: people booing and throwing full cans of beer at them.
6:22
Speaker 1: Replacements gigs weren't always good, but at least they were
6:25
Speaker 1: never boring, just like the lives of the Replacements members
6:30
Speaker 1: were never boring. On one particular night, Paul and Chris
6:35
Speaker 1: were knocking back beers at Bob's house. Not Bob Stinson,
6:39
Speaker 1: but Bob Moold, guitarist of Whoskerdoo, the Replacement's friends and
6:44
Speaker 1: one of their fellow bands in the early eighties Minneapolis
6:47
Speaker 1: hardcore scene. Chris, who was feeling real good after this
6:51
Speaker 1: drunken hang session, hopped on his motorcycle and Paul rode
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Speaker 1: on the back. Chris was fucked up so much so
6:59
Speaker 1: that he decided to play chicken with him oncoming car.
7:02
Speaker 1: It was late dark the approaching car's headlights were bright.
7:07
Speaker 1: The driver laid on the horn. Chris state the course.
7:11
Speaker 1: Paul dug his nails into Chris's side and hung on
7:13
Speaker 1: to your life. At the last minute, Chris swerved narrowly
7:18
Speaker 1: missing the vehicle, and as the car went screaming past them,
7:22
Speaker 1: the driver slammed on the brakes and spun around. A
7:26
Speaker 1: hand came out of the driver's side window and stuck
7:28
Speaker 1: a flashing red light on top of the hood. Fuck.
7:31
Speaker 1: Chris had played chicken with an unmarked police car. He
7:36
Speaker 1: gunned it and the cops gave chase. Chris took a
7:38
Speaker 1: sharp ride at high speed and cut across Joe Q
7:41
Speaker 1: Public's front lawn. The bike clipped the hedge and Paul
7:45
Speaker 1: went flying. As soon as his body hit the ground,
7:48
Speaker 1: Paul tried to outrun the cops on foot. They caught
7:51
Speaker 1: him easily. Then they continued to pursue Chris. Chris gunned
7:56
Speaker 1: the throttle. The cops were right on his ass. He
7:58
Speaker 1: was going too fast and he was too drunk, and
8:01
Speaker 1: the bike wobber. He was thrown and then the next
8:09
Speaker 1: thing he knew, Chris was in the hospital with a
8:11
Speaker 1: fractured skull, spinal fluid leaking from his nose. These things
8:18
Speaker 1: really happened. Chris Mars did play a chicken on his
8:21
Speaker 1: bike with the cops, and he did fracture his skull
8:23
Speaker 1: in an accident, or was it his spine depends on
8:27
Speaker 1: which account you're reading and from when. The band member's
8:30
Speaker 1: memories are not one hundred percent reliable when it comes
8:33
Speaker 1: to time and place. Because the life of a replacement
8:38
Speaker 1: took a toll on the body and the mind, the
8:41
Speaker 1: same went for a replacement's gig. So when Paul woke
8:44
Speaker 1: up on Saturday, January eleventh, nineteen eighty six, on a
8:48
Speaker 1: couch in Chicago with a splitting headache, he did what
8:51
Speaker 1: he always did on tour. He dulled the pain with
8:55
Speaker 1: a line of cocaine and immediately began drinking again. Hours later,
9:01
Speaker 1: Paul was lying on a mattress on the floor of
9:03
Speaker 1: the tour van on route back home to Minneapolis, and
9:07
Speaker 1: Paul noticed Bob Stinson slumped over in his seat, and
9:10
Speaker 1: he elbowed Tommy and nodded his head toward Tommy's big brother,
9:15
Speaker 1: an evil grin spread over his face. Paul suddenly launched
9:19
Speaker 1: himself on the Bob with a flying elbow drop, Bob
9:22
Speaker 1: sprang up, howling in pain like a feral animal. Bob
9:26
Speaker 1: quickly knocked Paul back onto the mattress and pinned him there.
9:29
Speaker 1: Rage flooded his eyes as he lifted his fist in
9:31
Speaker 1: the air, and Paul wondered if he was about to
9:34
Speaker 1: get his face smashed in. Instead, Bob relaxed his hand
9:39
Speaker 1: and then he started cracking up. Tommy joined in, and
9:42
Speaker 1: soon Paul was chuckling too. Lately, though they weren't laughing
9:47
Speaker 1: as much as they used to, but right now the
9:50
Speaker 1: tension was pushed aside and everyone was smiling. Even hours later,
9:55
Speaker 1: when the van pulled up to the CC Club in Minneapolis,
9:58
Speaker 1: the local watering hole doubled as the band's on official headquarters.
10:02
Speaker 1: Everyone headed into the bar for a couple more rounds
10:05
Speaker 1: before going home. Their manager, Peter Jesperson, helped prop Bob
10:10
Speaker 1: up on a barstool and prayed that he would sober
10:12
Speaker 1: up enough to head home, not so much that he
10:15
Speaker 1: would start drinking again. It was always a delicate balancing
10:21
Speaker 1: act with the replacements. Peter had spent years trying to
10:24
Speaker 1: manage that balance. He'd almost quit a dozen times, but
10:29
Speaker 1: every time they got themselves back on track. He would
10:31
Speaker 1: become a believer in the band all over again. Not
10:35
Speaker 1: just in the band, though, but in the power of
10:38
Speaker 1: the band, in the power of rock and roll. It
10:41
Speaker 1: was like seeing the Beatles play Ed Sullivan for the
10:43
Speaker 1: first time when they were on The Replacements were a revelation.
10:50
Speaker 1: That's why Peter pushed the band to sign with a
10:53
Speaker 1: major label instead of sticking with Twin Tone Records, the
10:55
Speaker 1: local indie label that Peter co owned and had released
10:59
Speaker 1: all the Replacements records to date from the punky sorry
11:03
Speaker 1: ma forgot to take out the trash up through the
11:05
Speaker 1: more eclectic let it be. And also he willingly brought
11:09
Speaker 1: on a new team to manage the band's business affairs.
11:12
Speaker 1: If he was going to take these guys to the top,
11:14
Speaker 1: he knew he couldn't do it alone. The phone rang
11:18
Speaker 1: at the bar. The bartender handed it to Peter and
11:21
Speaker 1: on the other line was Russ Rieger, one of the
11:24
Speaker 1: band's new business managers. Peter listened intently for a moment. Yes,
11:29
Speaker 1: we made it back, he said, the gig was memorable.
11:35
Speaker 1: What Russ said next almost made Peter drop the phone.
11:39
Speaker 1: Next Saturday, Peter yelled, my god, They're all right here.
11:43
Speaker 1: I'll tell them now. Peter hung up the phone to
11:46
Speaker 1: let the tension build for a moment. He'd been waiting
11:48
Speaker 1: years to deliver a line like this, and now he
11:52
Speaker 1: was going to savor it. All eyes were on him.
11:55
Speaker 1: He raised his glass in the air. Gentlemen, pack your
11:59
Speaker 1: bags were headed to New York. The Replacements were about
12:04
Speaker 1: to blow up.
12:05
Speaker 2: Peter had never been so sure of anything in his life.
12:31
Speaker 1: January eighteenth, nineteen eighty six, one week after the Replacements
12:37
Speaker 1: manager Peter Jasperson received that faithful phone call, the one
12:41
Speaker 1: that sent the band to New York City to well
12:44
Speaker 1: replace the Pointer Sisters. On Saturday Night Live, Tommy Stinson
12:49
Speaker 1: was sitting in a cramp dressing room on the eighteenth
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Speaker 1: floor of a thirty Rockefeller Plaza. He picked out some
12:55
Speaker 1: notes on his bass while listening to veteran actor Harry
12:59
Speaker 1: Dean Stanton, host of Tonight's show, talk about road tripping
13:02
Speaker 1: with Bob Dylan from Mexico to Leon Russell's house in
13:06
Speaker 1: Oklahoma while they're filming the excellent movie Pack Garrett and
13:11
Speaker 1: Billy the Kid. Tommy didn't really know who the hell
13:14
Speaker 1: Harry Dean Stanton was, and he didn't even know who
13:17
Speaker 1: the hell Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid were either.
13:20
Speaker 1: Dan Tommy had to admit this old fart told some
13:23
Speaker 1: pretty great stories, especially after he'd had a few drinks
13:27
Speaker 1: to loosen them up. Tommy, of course, was having a
13:30
Speaker 1: few as well, even though he shouldn't have been drinking,
13:34
Speaker 1: not just because he was underage. Technically, none of them
13:37
Speaker 1: should have been drinking. That's because by nineteen eighty six,
13:41
Speaker 1: the wild and crazy snl of the nineteen seventies was
13:45
Speaker 1: long gone. The cocaine so prevalent in the days of
13:48
Speaker 1: John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd have been replaced with trays
13:52
Speaker 1: of fruit and muffins. Drugs and alcohol were strictly forbidden
13:57
Speaker 1: on set, which, okay, fine, there are rules. But after
14:02
Speaker 1: their early afternoon soundcheck, the Replacements found out they couldn't
14:05
Speaker 1: leave the building until the show was over. That meant
14:09
Speaker 1: for the next ten hours, this cramped dressing room was
14:12
Speaker 1: going to be their home, with no drugs, no booze,
14:17
Speaker 1: no way. Tommy knew how his big brother Bob felt
14:22
Speaker 1: about tight spasis. This is going to be a problem,
14:25
Speaker 1: and sure enough, Bob was freaking out, pacing back and
14:30
Speaker 1: forth wearing out a path in the dressing room's carpet. Mercifully,
14:34
Speaker 1: one of the band's sound engineers loaded up a road
14:37
Speaker 1: case with bottles of booze and stuck the contraband backstage.
14:41
Speaker 1: After a few drinks, Bob finally quit pacing and settled down,
14:45
Speaker 1: And by the time Harry Dean Stanton popped by for
14:48
Speaker 1: a visit, there was a swinging party underway inside the
14:51
Speaker 1: replacement's dressing room. Tommy was glad he invited Harry in
14:55
Speaker 1: for a drink. He was glad to spread a little mayhem.
14:58
Speaker 1: And this was Saturday Night Live, right, wasn't it supposed
15:02
Speaker 1: to be a little while Bob plopped down on the
15:05
Speaker 1: sofa next to Tommy, and Tommy kept noodling away on
15:08
Speaker 1: the base, Bob listened for a second, and then he
15:12
Speaker 1: looked up at Harry Dean Stanton. Plays pretty good, doesn't he?
15:15
Speaker 1: He said, with a proud grind. Taught him everything he knows.
15:22
Speaker 1: Nineteen seventy eight, nineteen year old Bob Stinton lay on
15:26
Speaker 1: his bed and closed his eyes. The song Roundabout by
15:29
Speaker 1: Yes blaired from the speakers. Bob was indulging in one
15:34
Speaker 1: of the most basic of American teenage privileges, kicking back
15:38
Speaker 1: and listening to a record. He savored this moment because
15:42
Speaker 1: he knew what it was like to have this kind
15:43
Speaker 1: of thing taken away. Bob had spent the last four
15:47
Speaker 1: years in one boy's home after another, including two long
15:51
Speaker 1: years at Red Wing, a place in Minnesotan's called the
15:54
Speaker 1: sam Quentin of Juvie, a place where he couldn't eat
15:58
Speaker 1: what he wanted, he couldn't do what he wanted. Worst
16:01
Speaker 1: of all, he couldn't listen to music when he wanted.
16:05
Speaker 1: And it was all because of his stepdad. Bob was
16:09
Speaker 1: only six when the guy hooked up with Bob's mom.
16:11
Speaker 1: He beat Bob with a belt, with his fists, he
16:14
Speaker 1: yelled at Bob and told him that he was no good,
16:17
Speaker 1: and he did these things out in the open, But
16:19
Speaker 1: when they were alone, he did things that were even worse,
16:23
Speaker 1: things that still gave Bob nightmares. Sometimes it felt like
16:28
Speaker 1: those nightmares would drown him, and in a way they did.
16:32
Speaker 1: Bob found himself getting into fights and breaking windows, and
16:36
Speaker 1: by the time he was fifteen, his mom was desperate
16:39
Speaker 1: and his stepdad was fed up. And that's when they
16:42
Speaker 1: sent Bob to a boy's home and then to Red Wing.
16:47
Speaker 1: He told the counselors at Red Wing that he wanted
16:49
Speaker 1: to be a musician. They said music was a distraction,
16:53
Speaker 1: and they didn't understand. Music was the only thing that
16:56
Speaker 1: got Bob out of bed, besides drinking and drugs. It
16:59
Speaker 1: was only he was any good at. It was the
17:01
Speaker 1: only thing that made him feel any good. Like the
17:05
Speaker 1: galloping rift of the song round About, which right now
17:08
Speaker 1: back home with his mom and her new boyfriend, was
17:11
Speaker 1: blowing his impressionable nineteen year old mind. His fingers moved
17:15
Speaker 1: in time with Steve Howe's guitar licks. He was soaring
17:18
Speaker 1: through space, completely surrounded by the music. Suddenly, a rustling
17:23
Speaker 1: sound brought him hurtling back to earth. His eyes snapped open,
17:27
Speaker 1: and he looked down. His eleven year old half brother, Tommy,
17:31
Speaker 1: was pulling something out from under the bed, a little
17:33
Speaker 1: fucker with the music blaring. Bob never even heard him
17:36
Speaker 1: come in. Bob was worried about Tommy, not even a
17:41
Speaker 1: teenager yet and already a little hoodlum stealing bikes, going
17:45
Speaker 1: to juvenile court. Bob knew it lay down that path,
17:48
Speaker 1: and he wasn't going to let Tommy go there, even
17:51
Speaker 1: if he had to drag him in a different direction.
17:53
Speaker 1: So Bob was excited to see his brother dragging you
17:56
Speaker 1: on an instrument case from under his bed. Tommy's eyes
17:59
Speaker 1: got wild when he flipped open the latches on the
18:01
Speaker 1: case to reveal an old silver tone electric bass inside.
18:05
Speaker 1: Tommy reached down and plucked one of the strings. Hey,
18:09
Speaker 1: Bob asked, wanting to show you a few things on that.
18:13
Speaker 1: Tommy shrugged halfway interested. Bob pulled up the bass and
18:17
Speaker 1: gave him a rundown of a basic blues and he
18:21
Speaker 1: and he pushed the bass into Tommy's hands, and Tommy
18:23
Speaker 1: tried to mimic the pattern that Bob just showed him.
18:26
Speaker 1: He was clumsy, awkward, but the little fucker had a
18:29
Speaker 1: good sense of rhythm, that's for sure. Bob could already
18:31
Speaker 1: tell that. Tommy put the bass down, and Bob told
18:35
Speaker 1: him to play it again. Tommy looked at the instrument
18:38
Speaker 1: for a long second. Nah, this sucks, Tommy said, My
18:42
Speaker 1: finger's hurt, and then Tommy ran outside to play in
18:45
Speaker 1: the backyard. The next day, when Bob came home from work,
18:51
Speaker 1: he had a candy bar in his pocket. When he
18:53
Speaker 1: saw Tommy, Bob waved it in front of his face.
18:57
Speaker 1: Tommy reached out for the candy bar, but Bob pulled
18:59
Speaker 1: it back. You get to play a little bit first,
19:01
Speaker 1: Bob said. Tommy didn't look happy, so Bob held up
19:05
Speaker 1: a fist like he was going to punch Tommy on
19:06
Speaker 1: his shoulder. Tommy flinch didn't get out the bass. An
19:10
Speaker 1: hour later, Bob watched him meet the candy bar. Same
19:14
Speaker 1: deal tomorrow, he asked. Tommy looked up at him with
19:18
Speaker 1: a smirk. Tomorrow, I want a candy bar and a coke.
19:25
Speaker 1: Harry Dean Stanton shook his head in amazement. As Bob
19:28
Speaker 1: Stinson finished his story about using candy bars and the
19:30
Speaker 1: threat of violence to get his little brother to learn
19:33
Speaker 1: the bass guitar. Tommy told the actor he was a
19:35
Speaker 1: veteran performer too. He'd been doing this playing in a
19:39
Speaker 1: professional band for half his young life. All three of
19:42
Speaker 1: them were laughing. When the door flew open. A distressed
19:46
Speaker 1: looking production assistant made a bee line for Harry, pulled
19:49
Speaker 1: the drink out of his hand, and led him out
19:50
Speaker 1: of the room. Tommy couldn't quite figure out what was
19:53
Speaker 1: going on, but he could hear someone say, Lauren is
19:56
Speaker 1: going to be furious when they left the room. Oh well,
20:00
Speaker 1: let him be furious. What was he gonna do? A
20:03
Speaker 1: few minutes later, sufficiently sauced, the band went out and
20:07
Speaker 1: nailed their dress rehearsal performance. The only hiccup was Bob
20:11
Speaker 1: coming in late on the guitar solo. Tommy and Paul
20:14
Speaker 1: locked eyes when they heard it. They were on the
20:17
Speaker 1: same wavelength. There was no way they werena let Bob
20:20
Speaker 1: make the same mistake tonight. We'll be right back after this.
20:28
Speaker 1: We're we're where.
20:35
Speaker 2: All.
20:36
Speaker 1: Westerberg counted off, and the band thrashed into the opening
20:39
Speaker 1: chord right away. Something was off. They sounded like a
20:43
Speaker 1: semi truck grinding its gears for a few beats before
20:46
Speaker 1: finally everyone stopped. For a second. The room was dead
20:50
Speaker 1: silent except for the buzzing coming from the amplifiers. Paul
20:54
Speaker 1: stared out into the sea of angry and confused faces
20:57
Speaker 1: and yelled into the microphone, this is our last fucking
21:00
Speaker 1: performance ever, ever. Ever. Then he cackled with laughter, and
21:05
Speaker 1: the band kicked into a ramshackle cover of the Elvis
21:07
Speaker 1: Presley's Do the Clam. After a few minutes, they stumbled
21:12
Speaker 1: to a stop. Paul stared at the floor and tuned
21:15
Speaker 1: his guitar for or felt like an hour before switching
21:17
Speaker 1: gears again and trying to make it through Led Zeppelin's
21:20
Speaker 1: Misty Mountain hot It was January nineteen eighty five and
21:24
Speaker 1: The Replacements were on stage at CBGB in New York City,
21:28
Speaker 1: playing an unannounced performance that was supposed to be their
21:30
Speaker 1: East Coast major label showcase. The hype around the Replacements
21:35
Speaker 1: was growing fast in the industry, especially after The Village
21:38
Speaker 1: Voice were in a cover story they called them the
21:40
Speaker 1: most exciting band in America. At the band's West Coast showcase,
21:45
Speaker 1: Bob and Chris found a way to undercut that hype
21:48
Speaker 1: by letting off a pocket full of stink bombs just
21:51
Speaker 1: as the band hit the stage. Then that cleared the
21:54
Speaker 1: room pretty quickly. Tonight, they didn't have literal stink bombs,
21:58
Speaker 1: but they found another way of cleared the room. They
22:01
Speaker 1: kicked off the set with You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch,
22:05
Speaker 1: and things even got weirder from there. Paul started maybe
22:09
Speaker 1: fifty songs that night, but the band made it through
22:12
Speaker 1: less than five. They tried their hand at Dolly Parton
22:15
Speaker 1: and then the theme from The Andy Griffiths show. What
22:18
Speaker 1: they didn't play were songs by the Replacements. As the
22:23
Speaker 1: crowd streamed out of the club, Paul started playing a
22:25
Speaker 1: U two song. These label stiffs couldn't take a joke,
22:29
Speaker 1: then fuck. One year later, memories of shows like that
22:35
Speaker 1: one at CBGB kept Replacements manager Peter Jasperson on the
22:39
Speaker 1: edge of his seat. The SNL cast was in the
22:42
Speaker 1: middle of some lame skid about a Wild West gunfighter.
22:45
Speaker 1: When Peter checked his watch, it was eleven to fifty pm.
22:49
Speaker 1: The band was supposed to hit the stage in fifteen minutes.
22:52
Speaker 1: He looked around at the huge crowd of people there
22:55
Speaker 1: from the label, the band's new management team, and more
22:58
Speaker 1: than a dozen friends in family. Everyone was excited. They
23:02
Speaker 1: knew this could be momentous, but Peter was worried. He
23:06
Speaker 1: knew it could also be another Cebee Chievi and Peter
23:09
Speaker 1: kept replaying a scene in his mind from earlier that day.
23:13
Speaker 1: After the band finished their sound check, he watched new
23:15
Speaker 1: business manager Russ Rieger strad up to Paul, wearing leather
23:18
Speaker 1: pants and snakeskin boots. Peter cringed when he heard Russ's
23:23
Speaker 1: matter of factly tell Paul that for camera blocking the
23:26
Speaker 1: band had to stay exactly where they were told to stand.
23:30
Speaker 1: The sneer on Paul's face said it all. It was
23:33
Speaker 1: a bad idea to tell the replacements what they should
23:35
Speaker 1: and shouldn't do. Back inside the dressing room, Paul was
23:40
Speaker 1: sprawled on a couch. An empty whiskey bottle dangled from
23:43
Speaker 1: his hand. His chest was tight, his heart was hammering.
23:47
Speaker 1: All he could think of was bombing in front of
23:49
Speaker 1: eight million people. There was a knock at the door.
23:53
Speaker 1: A small army of production assistants swarmed inside. It was
23:57
Speaker 1: time Paul pulled himself up from the couch that he
24:01
Speaker 1: slapped hands with Tommy, who was practically bouncing up and
24:04
Speaker 1: down with excitement. Chris Mars was coolly twirling his drumsticks,
24:09
Speaker 1: and the bathroom door flew open and outstepped Bob, decked
24:13
Speaker 1: out in a purple and black, skin tight women's body suit.
24:17
Speaker 1: He looked high as hell, but at least he was
24:20
Speaker 1: awake and in the building, which was good enough for Paul.
24:24
Speaker 1: The wave of activity carried them out of the dressing room.
24:27
Speaker 1: The hallway was a blur of motion, with dozens of
24:29
Speaker 1: staffers rushing in all directions. Someone called out three minutes
24:33
Speaker 1: to air. Just behind the steps leading up to the stage,
24:38
Speaker 1: Paul and his bandmates huddled for a brief moment while
24:40
Speaker 1: crew members rechecked the microphones. Paul told Bob that he'd
24:44
Speaker 1: better not be laid on the solo. Bob understood. They
24:48
Speaker 1: all understood. They're going to go out there live on
24:51
Speaker 1: national television in front of the biggest audience of their career,
24:55
Speaker 1: millions of Americans watching at home, and they were going
24:58
Speaker 1: to crush it. They were of why they were one
25:01
Speaker 1: of the most beloved independent bands in the country and
25:03
Speaker 1: why they were one of the few indie rock bands
25:05
Speaker 1: who did not compromise their sound when they made the
25:08
Speaker 1: leap to a major label. Paul, Bob, Tommy, and Chris
25:12
Speaker 1: made a collective b line for the Saturday Night Live stage.
25:17
Speaker 1: Then Bob in the lead, surged forward and missed the
25:21
Speaker 1: whole first wrong. He fell face forward onto the stage
25:25
Speaker 1: with his guitar still strapped to his chest. The guitar's
25:29
Speaker 1: neck snapped like a toothpick. At first, the band was
25:32
Speaker 1: shocked into silence. Then they all began to laugh. Fucking
25:37
Speaker 1: up blowing it. That kind of shit was funny to
25:40
Speaker 1: the replacements. SNL's production assistant seemed less amused by the
25:44
Speaker 1: idea of finding Bob a new guitar in the next
25:46
Speaker 1: ninety seconds, but Gene Smith hustled and came through, handing
25:51
Speaker 1: Bob a substitute with just seconds to spare. Paul looked
25:55
Speaker 1: straight ahead into the camera. Somewhere a voice was counting
25:58
Speaker 1: down from commercial break three two. The red light on
26:02
Speaker 1: the camera blinked. They were live. Harry Dean Stanton introduced
26:08
Speaker 1: the band and they launched into the opening notes of
26:11
Speaker 1: Bastards of Young, one of the hardest rocking songs from
26:14
Speaker 1: their new album Tim The song lurched sideways, and for
26:18
Speaker 1: a second it sounded like everything might collapse. Paul wondered
26:22
Speaker 1: if he might collapse, but Chris Marris kept pounding the
26:25
Speaker 1: backbeat and Tommy's bassline locked in, even playing a strange guitar.
26:30
Speaker 1: Bob was holding a song, and by the time they
26:32
Speaker 1: hit the first verse, Paul could feel it. They're gonna
26:35
Speaker 1: pull this thing off. He was surrounded by the music
26:39
Speaker 1: soaring through space. There was no studio audience. There were
26:42
Speaker 1: no label reps, no management team, no people watching it home,
26:47
Speaker 1: just the four of them and the song. A great song,
26:51
Speaker 1: and they blasted through the chorus, and Paul knew they
26:53
Speaker 1: were going to make it. He pulled back from the
26:56
Speaker 1: mic and leaned towards Bob. Come on, fucker, he yelled,
26:59
Speaker 1: just off Mike, not a dis but urging Bob into
27:03
Speaker 1: the solo at the right time. Bob came in right
27:06
Speaker 1: on time, as Tommy and Paul bashed their instruments along
27:09
Speaker 1: beside him, destroying any hopes for cleaning camera blocking. But
27:13
Speaker 1: when the song came to its cathartic clothes, the crowd
27:16
Speaker 1: of friends, family and supporters roared in approval. Paul collapsed
27:20
Speaker 1: to the ground in a sarcastic bow. The performance was
27:24
Speaker 1: ragged but right. It had almost flown off the rails
27:28
Speaker 1: more than once. But somehow, in that shambalic, chaotic don't
27:32
Speaker 1: give a fuck way of theirs, the Replacements pulled it off.
27:36
Speaker 1: They had delivered a performance for the ages. Paul of
27:39
Speaker 1: the Boys figured that from here there was nowhere to
27:42
Speaker 1: go but up. In reality, they were about to hit
27:45
Speaker 1: the skids and go all the way down to the bottom.
28:14
Speaker 1: Russ Reeger pushed his way through the crowded hallway at
28:16
Speaker 1: thirty Rockefeller Plaza and into the dressing room backstage he
28:20
Speaker 1: was walking on air. He knew that the performance the
28:24
Speaker 1: Replacements had just given would push their album Tim onto
28:26
Speaker 1: the charts. Russ had been a Replacements fan ever since
28:30
Speaker 1: a publicist slipped in in an advance copy of Here
28:32
Speaker 1: Comes a Regular, the acoustic ballad that would eventually be
28:36
Speaker 1: Tim's closing song. It made him realize that the Replacements
28:41
Speaker 1: were more than just a dysfunctional punk band, unsatisfied answering machine.
28:47
Speaker 1: These songs were so simple, yet so deceptively deep Midwestern
28:52
Speaker 1: angst and alienation, written like a William Carlos Williams poem.
28:57
Speaker 1: Even when Paul flubbed the line like he may have
28:59
Speaker 1: done when he's saying pretty girl, keep growing up playing
29:02
Speaker 1: makeup wearing guitar on the song left to the dial.
29:05
Speaker 1: Somehow that fuck up made the words more poetic. Paul
29:10
Speaker 1: Westerberg was a hell of a songwriter. Russ could already
29:14
Speaker 1: see it, the glowing reviews, the chart traction. Soon the
29:18
Speaker 1: Replacements would be as big as the Rolling Stones, or
29:21
Speaker 1: at the very least am so. When someone tapped him
29:25
Speaker 1: on the shoulder and said, Lauren Michaels wanted to see
29:27
Speaker 1: him right away, Russ thought, ah, Lauren wants to commend
29:31
Speaker 1: me and the band on a job well done. Thank
29:34
Speaker 1: us for saving SNL's ass. After the Pointers sisters backed
29:37
Speaker 1: out at last minute, Russ stepped away from the party
29:41
Speaker 1: happening in the dressing room and out into the hallway.
29:45
Speaker 1: Across from him stood Lauren Michaels. His arms were crossed
29:49
Speaker 1: and his face was frozen in a skowl. Do you
29:52
Speaker 1: realize what you've just done? Laurence screamed, fuck her. Your
29:56
Speaker 1: band said fucker on live television. Russ thought back to
30:01
Speaker 1: the performance, specifically to the moment before Bob's guitar soul,
30:05
Speaker 1: when Paul looked over and yelled, come on, fucker, just
30:09
Speaker 1: off Mike. Apparently, though not off Mike enough fer a
30:14
Speaker 1: show that was already on thin ice. Apparently this was
30:17
Speaker 1: a bridge too far. Lauren ended the conversation with a promise.
30:22
Speaker 1: This band will never, ever, I repeat, never play Saturday
30:27
Speaker 1: Night Live again. Russ returned to the dressing room, where
30:31
Speaker 1: we took a deep breath and shared the news with
30:34
Speaker 1: the boys. The Replacements were banned not just from Saturday
30:40
Speaker 1: Night Live, but from the entire NBC network for life.
30:51
Speaker 1: It was almost ten years later when Bob Stinson laid
30:54
Speaker 1: back on his bed and dropped the needle on the
30:56
Speaker 1: turntable one last time. The familiar opening riff to Roundabout
31:01
Speaker 1: rang out. Bob closed his eyes and let the music
31:05
Speaker 1: surround him. Music still provided him solace, but it had
31:10
Speaker 1: been a hard decade. Months after the SNL debacle, he
31:14
Speaker 1: was kicked out of the band that he founded. Even worse,
31:17
Speaker 1: he was kicked out by his own brother, his little brother.
31:21
Speaker 1: That's stung. Bob kept playing in bands around Minneapolis, and
31:26
Speaker 1: he watched his former bandmate Soljern with a new guitarist.
31:30
Speaker 1: They put out three more albums, including nineteen eighty seven's
31:33
Speaker 1: Pleased to Meet Me, whose second single, Alex Chilton, was
31:37
Speaker 1: an homage to the front man a Big Star, one
31:40
Speaker 1: of the replacements major inspirations, both in terms of music
31:44
Speaker 1: and glorious self sabotage. But despite the strength of that song,
31:49
Speaker 1: the album Pleased to Meet Me and the records that
31:51
Speaker 1: followed all failed to find the elusive hit that would
31:54
Speaker 1: catapult the Replacements into the mainstream. And that failure was
31:58
Speaker 1: not the result of integrity the face of commercialism, by
32:01
Speaker 1: the way. That failure was because the Replacements couldn't help
32:06
Speaker 1: be fuck ups. Just look the music video they made
32:09
Speaker 1: for Bastards of Young. It's just a single shot of
32:13
Speaker 1: a stereo speaker that slowly zooms out to reveal a
32:16
Speaker 1: faceless dude listening and smoking a cigarette on the couch.
32:20
Speaker 1: He kicks in the speaker when the song's over. It
32:23
Speaker 1: was like a metaphor for the band's entire career. By
32:26
Speaker 1: the time they hung it up in nineteen ninety one,
32:28
Speaker 1: they still hadn't scored a single Top forty song. Their
32:31
Speaker 1: Drunken Saturday Night live set might have doomed the band's
32:34
Speaker 1: short term prospects, but a decade on, many were starting
32:37
Speaker 1: to call it one of the most legendary performances in
32:40
Speaker 1: the show's history, right up there with Elvis Costello changing
32:44
Speaker 1: songs at the last minute, which also got Hymn banned
32:46
Speaker 1: from the show. But I'm digressing. As alternative rock surged
32:50
Speaker 1: in popularity through the nineteen nineties, new bands were constantly
32:54
Speaker 1: name checking the Replacements as an inspiration. They were loose limbed, shambling,
33:00
Speaker 1: always teetering on the edge of destruction. In short, they
33:04
Speaker 1: were rock and roll at its best. But all that
33:07
Speaker 1: came too late for Bob Stinson. He was mired deep
33:11
Speaker 1: in the throes of a heroin addiction and diagnosed with
33:14
Speaker 1: bipolar disorder, likely stemming from the childhood abuse that he suffered.
33:20
Speaker 1: Bob tried to get on medication, tried to clean up
33:22
Speaker 1: his act, but he was tired, and the only thing
33:25
Speaker 1: that kept him going was music. As Roundabout kicked into
33:29
Speaker 1: the familiar galloping rift that Bob had heard so many
33:32
Speaker 1: times before, he let the music send him soaring into space,
33:37
Speaker 1: and this time there would be nothing to bring him
33:39
Speaker 1: back to Earth, just the music calling him on higher
33:43
Speaker 1: and higher as he drifted the skyward. And then Bob
33:48
Speaker 1: Stinson was gone, organ failure from all those years of
33:53
Speaker 1: drug abuse, dead at thirty five years old, just four
33:59
Speaker 1: years after the band he founded and kicked him out
34:01
Speaker 1: called it quits. So much promise unfulfilled. Such a bummer,
34:07
Speaker 1: such a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan.
34:13
Speaker 3: This is Disgraceland, all right, hope you doug this episode.
34:30
Speaker 1: Apple podcast listeners, get those auto downloads turned on so
34:33
Speaker 1: you never missed an episode.
34:34
Speaker 3: This week's question of the week is which band or
34:38
Speaker 3: artists never made it.
34:39
Speaker 1: Big but should have but should have? Was it the Replacements? Well, yeah,
34:44
Speaker 1: there's certainly one of them, but who else? Who else
34:47
Speaker 1: do you know of that could have been huge but
34:49
Speaker 1: never was. There's an endless number of great artists who
34:52
Speaker 1: never dominated the charts but probably should have. Let me
34:55
Speaker 1: know who your picks are. Six one, seven, nine oh
34:57
Speaker 1: six six, six three eight, Leave me a voicemail or
34:59
Speaker 1: send me a ten and be part of the show.
35:01
Speaker 1: We play and read some of your answers on the
35:03
Speaker 1: afterparty bonus episode coming up right after this. You your feed,
35:06
Speaker 1: and I can also be reached on Instagram, Facebook, x
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Speaker 1: TikTok at disgracelampod in order at disgracelampod at gmail dot com.
35:13
Speaker 1: Leave a review for the show on Apple podcast or
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Speaker 1: Spotify and you might win some free merch. All right,
35:18
Speaker 1: here comes some credits. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly
35:22
Speaker 1: and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for
35:25
Speaker 1: this episode can be found on the show notes page
35:28
Speaker 1: at disgracelandpod dot com. Subscribe, follow, like, rate, and review
35:32
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35:57
Speaker 1: rock a Roll. He's a bad, bad man.