I was in high school when i discovered the replacements. funny story. i actually picked up "Pleased To Meet Me" because i saw an interview with bobcat who described the cover (two hands shaking, one arm wearing a suit, the other a torn shirt) and was intrigued. i was a big bobcat fan. still am.
anyway, i bought the album. i remember it didn't make that big of an impression on me. so it lay with hundereds of other of albums.
then one day i was getting a ride home from victor and keith, two mooks i knew who drove. they liked shit dance music, but were also into rap, which at the time was ok. but mostly lisa lisa type shit. they used to bring me vodka and i would sit in the back and get loaded and have my ears blown out by rattling speakers.
so, one day, they were playing something, a tape, possibly rob base, over and over. victor went to flip the tape and the radio went on. it must have been WLIR or something. and i heard the opening riff of "can't hardly wait". victor went to slide the tape in. "hold it, hold it!" i slurred. i hardly ever made music requests (oddly enough) so i guess they decided to humor me.
it was glorious.
do you know the song? have you heard it? it's perfect! "write you a letter tomorrow/tonight i can't hold a pen". it was what i needed. "hurry up! hurry up! ain't you had enough of this stuff!". you've heard this story before, i know. but he WAS speaking to me. that voice! so strained, struggling to get out every word. "i'll be home when i'm sleeping/i can hardly wait". jesus, i almost cried. i felt so comforted. like i'd made a friend. a new best friend.
so, i went home, listened, REALLY listened to the album and fell in love with it. went out and bought their whole back catalogue. i remember after getting "stink" i played "garys got a boner" for victor and keith. they were none too amused. and that's when i learned to love torturing people with my music choices.
so, i guess i owe a lot to victor and keith. if they had chosen the jellybean benitez remix of "it takes two" that day i may have missed my moment. and the replacements would just be another band. and i wouldn't have paul westerberg as a best friend.
2 comments:
A musical moment as important as Pollard picking up his first Wire album! I like the mooks -- the always give us a different perspective on life.
That's a great story. Funny how the time you describe seems so recent, but looked at from another angle, so distant. Lisa Lisa. Rob Base.
From Mean Streets: "Mook? What's a mook?"
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