FAVORITE THING
Three future stars- Jeff Tweedy, Frank Black and Jakob Dylan - were weaned on Paul Westberg & co.
IN 1983, FUTURE Wilco mainman Jeff Tweedy was, by his own admission, “a standard-issue, not-quite-getting-it Midwestern punk wannabe.” That fall, Tweedy and a group of pals went to see LA punk stalwarts X play in St. Louis, with no prior knowledge of the Minneapolis band opening the show. “Paul Westerberg fell off the stage during the first song and I fell in love,” says Tweedy. “I thought that was about as cool as you could get. That’s taking The Who one step further. That’s way beyond smashing a guitar. It’s not just about the money it takes to buy instruments that don’t matter… it’s like my body doesn’t matter. I think at that time in my life I was looking for anything
to escape my body. That was one indication that it could be done.” As The Replacements tore through the heart of the 1980s, they left in their wake a legion of converts, musicians who would find crucial inspiration in their songs and attitude. “I listened to their records a lot after that,” says Tweedy. “That was definitely a part of my formative years, of figuring out how to write my own songs. I don’t think it could be overestimated.” For Frank Black, aka Charles
Thompson – who would found the Pixies in 1986 – The Replacements were the great emancipators. “An album like Let It Be totally liberated things,” says Black. “You got the impression that they understood punk music, but they weren’t all hung up on it. They’re just fine doing a cover of a Kiss song; they’re just fine doing a ballad. They weren’t all
caught up in, ‘It’s gotta be straight-edge, it’s gotta be punk, it’s gotta be hardcore, it’s gotta be indie rock.’ It’s like, Whatever, man. It’s just gotta be cool. “The Replacements
had a kind of casualness and flippancy that was really attractive, too. It’s like, Dean Martin had swagger; The Rolling Stones had swagger… The Replacements had swagger.” By the latter part of the ’80s, Bob Dylan’s youngest son Jakob was still listening almost exclusively to UK bands – The Clash, The Jam and Stiff Little Fingers – until he heard The Replacements’ Tim. “They were from Minnesota, they sounded like people I knew,” says Dylan. “I recognised the accent in their singing. People who are shot out of cannons don’t usually come from LA or New York. Artists who come from smaller towns or repressed cities – whether it’s Elvis or Buddy Holly or The Replacements – that rooting, it gives them a certain power.” For Dylan – who’d launch The Wallflowers in ’89 – Westerberg’s songs were key. “I loved the whole comical side, it was all entertaining. But that was put aside and totally dusted by hearing Here Comes A Regular or Unsatisfied. This was leagues above. It remains so.”