Color Me Impressed

I am not ashamed to admit that I spent my formative years in the 80’s. It was a magical time for alternative music. It was the heyday of the Violent Femmes, 

Husker Du, 

the Smiths, 

Depeche Mode 

and more. That and more included the Replacements.

 They never received the name check recognition of other bands of that era. 

They were never one hit wonders (thankfully they remained staunchly Left of the Dial). Their one chance at superstardom (on Saturday Night Live) infamously imploded on an epic scale.

http://youtu.be/HsQNS6cZRus

Instead, they earned the title of influential. This, at least, insured that they would not slide into obscurity after they disbanded in the early 90’s.

http://youtu.be/GZkrCH6jub8

A few years ago, they were the subject of an amazing documentary, Color Me Obsessed, [reviewed here: http://mommydomchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/10/left-of-dial.html]

(http://youtu.be/yfSbPLABCyk) which (I hope) introduced them to a new generation of fans. 

I was shocked at the variety of artists claiming influence by the Replacements-everyone from Colin Meloy of the Decembrists (http://youtu.be/cP1X2fNK0rg)to Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem (http://youtu.be/OKJd44zxq4Y) to Johnny Reznik of the Goo Goo Dolls. [disclosure: I was shocked at that last one]. My son loves the song Can’t Hardly Wait.( http://youtu.be/wDCrVy9Tveg) When he was younger, he would get excited when it came on my iPod.

Instead of watching the VMA’s (sorry NSYNC, you were not the reunion I cared about). 

I was scouring You Tube and Slicing Up Eyeballs for video and photos of the Replacements playing at Riot Fest in Toronto.

Photo courtesy of Slicing Up Eyeballs

 This was the first time they played together live since I was in college. [note: I am now a 40 something Midwestern mom] My husband, whose musical taste remains staunchly in the Kiss-Styx-Journey camp, didn’t quite understand why I was squealing with delight over a grainy, poor sound quality Vine video. The delight kept coming. I was excited beyond words. Caryn Rose has a great review (with salty language) at http://www.jukeboxgraduate.com/2013/08/concert-review-the-replacements-riotfest-toronto-august-25-2013/

As much as I would have loved to say that I was there, I am now a 40 something Midwestern mom, 

and its not the point in my life to play groupie and chase my favorite bands from festival to festival.

 Its not the time for me to brag, “yeah dude, I was there for the Mats. It was epic.” I’d rather say “yeah dude, I was there when my kid blew his first notes on his oboe. It was epic.