Remember "Outshined", the roaring track by Soundgarden from the "Badmotorfinger" era? Chris Cornell smartly tuned in to the rising wave of Nirvana, finding a metaphor fit for a social communicator like Barack Obama: "I'm looking California and feeling Minnesota". That's the perception people have of the state of Minneapolis in the USA. How can one be surprised, after all? A cold, anodyne city, isolated from the rest of America except for the Mississippi, and sprawling into a vast, ghostly suburbia characterized by anonymous serial houses. Like "American Beauty", just to give an idea.
It tugs at the heartstrings to imagine the teenage Paul Westerberg by the gate of one of these houses, from whose porches hateful, hopeless sunsets are contemplated. Sneaking away quickly to avoid taking out the trash and to meet up with those three outcasts with whom he'll make Minneapolis vibrate with scorching punk and roll: the Stinson brothers and Chris Mars. They're called Impediments, but after being thrown out of a venue for taking the stage completely drunk before a concert, they changed their name to Replacements. Thus begins what has all the hallmarks of a fairy tale.
"Sorry Ma, forgot to take out the trash" is the long-awaited debut of the Mats: one of the peaks of American hardcore. We're in 1981, at the dawn of the Reagan era, a decade many kids will navigate clinging to Paul's songs. Despite displaying some understandable naivety typical of debuts, it hosts eighteen generational anthems of unrestrained vitality, compressed by a full-speed delivery and Westerberg's vibrant voice. His writing is already adept at detailing the myriad subterfuges and moods of "teenage angst," rendered with freshness and a happy abundance of imagery and circumstances in genuine slivers like "I'm in trouble", "Raised in the city", "More cigarettes", "Hangin' downtown" or "Don't ask why".
But it is a more nuanced work than it appears on first listen, and it's clear why the group will not remain long trapped in the flourishing city hardcore scene. A misunderstanding always surrounded the early Mats: that they were a hardcore band, or worse, mere followers of fellow Minneapolis band Hüsker Dü. Sure, the "Land Speed Record" band is a declared influence: the acid, supersonic punk of "Something to du" among these grooves is a clear tribute to Mould and Hart. But Ramones and New York Dolls were equally pivotal, as was the hard seventies of Kiss and Black Sabbath that grips Bob Stinson's robust solos. And above all else, Westerberg's ability to blend electric-saturated edges with nascent melodic inclinations in the vein of reclaiming the American singer-songwriter tradition, as in "Love you till Friday", "Shiftless when Idle", and "Johnny's gonna die", is already emerging.
It is precisely these last two tracks that reveal the immense potential of the four vagabonds, whose leader was then 20 years old, with the youngest even just 15. "Shiftless when Idle" erupts with a vehement Byrds-like innocence that renders it a classic power pop, with that tasty na-na-na bridge and a sharp Stinson solo that impresses the searing disdain of the Eighties. And what about the lyrics, which capture the plain philosophy of a youth abandoned to itself: "I ain't got no idols/ I ain't got much taste/ I'm shiftless when I'm idle/ And I got time to waste".
"Johnny's gonna die" is instead a poignant and fierce chronicle of a death foretold for Johnny Thunders, rendered with a soulful blues touch. Westerberg captures with shocking clarity the most tragic of the vicissitudes of show business, alternating vitriolic judgments ("He's got friends without no guts, friends that never ache") with sublime images matured beneath the leaden sky of Minneapolis ("And New York City, I guess it's cool when it's dark/ There's only one way Johnny you can leave your mark, and Johnny's gonna die").
A track that, in hindsight, will sound like a curse for its author. The needle will swallow not only the old Johnny but also Bob Stinson. He, the soul of the band, the good hooligan who had taught his stepbrother Tommy the basics of bass to get him off the streets. Unable to say goodbye to his wild lifestyle with the group now on the doorstep of the glory always dreamed of by Westerberg, and therefore removed. Until in 1995, he will be found lifeless, with a syringe by his side, in a shabby Minneapolis apartment, Minnesota. Rock fables rarely have a happy ending. And if there is one, beware folks: it's almost always fake.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Careless (01:08)
Yeah
Irresponsibility's my closest friend
Forget my duty I couldn't give a shit
Tell my about the city ordinance
Tell me that we're insubordinate
Plan tomorrow, money to borrow
I couldn't care less, care less
Couldn't care less, care less
I'm careless, careless
And that's the way I stay
I never pay attention, watch my step
Never pay my bills, way in debt
Tell my about the fuckin' ordinance
Tell me that we're insubordinate
Plan tomorrow, money to borrow
I couldn't care less, care less
Couldn't care less, care less
So careless, careless
Yeah that's the way I stay
Stay
Careless, careless
Yeah careless is the way I'll stay
03 Customer (01:29)
Tape's rolling......O.K.
(I'm in love with the girl who works at the store
where I'm nothing but a ...)
Customer
I'm a customer
I'm a customer
I'm a customer
How about cigarettes?
I'll take sugarless
You sell waterbeds?
I'm a customer
I'm a customer
I'm a customer
Yeah, can I get change?
Where're the twinkies?
What's on sale?
I'm a customer
I'm a customer
I'm a customer
I love you
BACKWARDS: I don't give a fuck, that's it.
06 Otto (02:09)
Everybody gotta go Otto, Otto
Everybody gotta go Otto-to
Everybody wants to know Otto, Otto
Everybody wants to know Otto-to
Tried to come over here
Thought I might give her, give her a call
Tried to phone my baby, give her a call
But Otto, he went crazy
He ripped the phone right off the wall
08 Rattlesnake (01:48)
Cruisin' on my belly all night long
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You got a rattlesnake
I'm a rattlesnake
09 I Hate Music (01:50)
Oh, no...okay...tape's rolling...so what?
I hate music
Sometimes I don't
I hate music
It's got too many notes
I hate my high school
Sometimes I went
I hate music, man
Never heaven sent
Tommy says so
Tommy says so
Tommy says so
Tommy says so so so so what
I hate my father
One day I won't
I hate my father
Just get off my back
I hate music
It's got too many notes
Are you listening?
So
Tommy says so
Tommy says so
Tommy says so
I hate music
Sometimes I don't
I hate my father
One day I won't
I hate music
Turnin' me on
I hate music
11 Shiftless When Idle (02:18)
Everybody that's on my block
They're tired of me, that ain't no shock
And I ain't got no idols
I ain't got much taste
I'm shiftless when I'm idle
I got time to waste
They tried to tell me that I should learn
They told me it's best I wait my turn
I can't wait forever
I can't wait that long
I'm shiftless when I'm idle
I want to play this ...
I'm shiftless when I'm idle
I'm shiftless when I'm idle
I'm shiftless
I'm shiftless
12 More Cigarettes (01:20)
I don't watch the TV, I watch the clock
Party goin' up there on the block
The neighbors complain that they can hear
I smoke my cigarettes, drink my cola
I need more cigarettes
More cigarettes, I need
Everybody's waiting, sitting on a stool
Black leather jacket and she's oh so cool
Everybody's waiting, they better show
Chased out back all the way home
At six o'clock batten the hatches
We got cigarettes but ain't got no matches
I put some holes in my filter, holes in my head
I better ??? , I'm reading in bed
I need more cigarettes
Give me more cigarettes, I need
Gotta get more cigarettes
16 Love You Till Friday (01:53)
Some girls are a pain in my life
When they try to be my wife
So some may come and some may go
Round each night
Just don't try to be my wife
Oh no, I'll call you on Friday
I'll call you on Saturday
I'll love you till Friday
Come on
Some girls are a pain in my life
When they try to be my wife
So some may come and some may stay
Out each night
If they try to be my wife
Oh no, I'll call you on Friday
I'll call you on Saturday
I'll love you till Friday
Come on, come on
Oh no I'll love you till Friday
I'll call you on Friday
I'll love you on Saturday
On Friday
On Friday
On Friday
On and on and on
(I'll call you later)
18 Raised in the City (01:59)
Raised in the city
Ready to run
Cruise to the lake
Fun fun fun
Disinclined to groove around
Raised in the city
Raised on beers
She gets rubber
In all four gears
Disinclined to lay down
Get outta my way
I can't see it
Outta my way
Can't see no band
Raised in the city
Ready to drop
Cruise to the lake
Call my pop
Tell him that I'm doin' just fine
Raised in the city
Ready to listen
Keep tellin' me
What I been missin'
Why don't you just sit down
Get outta my way
I can't see it
Outta my way
Can't see no band
Raised in the city
Ready to run
Cruise to the lake
Fun fun fun
Disinclined to groove around
Raised in the city
Till I'm old
Buy a car maybe
When I'm old
This my goddamn band
Outta my way
I can't see it
Outta my way
Can't see no band
Outta my way
I can't see it
Outta my way
Can't see no band
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