The Replacements - All Over But The Shouting: An Oral History (Voyageur Press)

by John Davidson
25 November 2007

About four years ago, I started peddling the idea of an oral history of my longtime favorite band, THE REPLACEMENTS. It was slow going at first, but by 2004 I was pestering sources and bothering PAUL WESTERBERG’S manager for a greenlight. I’ve long been a documenter of the band, and if you’ve come across the PDF file known as The Replacements Bible online, that’s my work. Please don’t tell the copyright police.

Anyway, I always figured that the best way to do a ‘Mats book was to go the oral history route. In 2005, I was delighted to see Minneapolis’ alternative weekly, the City Pages, do an oral history of their famous rock club, The First Avenue and 7th Street Entry. Also that year, Magnet magazine did a brief oral history of the THE REPLACEMENTS/HUSKER DU. Clearly, great minds were thinking alike and perhaps even publishers. But I could never get Westerberg to sign off on my project, and I didn’t have the heart to do an oral history without the benefit of his hindsight.

I guess Jim Walsh didn’t harbor my concerns (or was able to deal with them better than I), for imagine my surprise (and delight) when he contacted me last spring for research material for an oral history of the ‘Mats. Yes, there was a tinge of jealousy and regret, but I was excited that a) someone was writing a book about The Replacements and b) JIM WALSH was the guy doing it. I’d read his work for nearly two decades and knew that he was not only a huge fan of the band, but someone who knew the nascent 1980s Minneapolis scene very well. And with All Over But The Shouting, I’m quite happy with how the tome turned out.

The bad news: quotes from Paul Westerberg, TOMMY STINSON, CHRIS MARS, and BOB STINSON are previously published. There is some symmetry to that, given that Bob died in 1995, but it takes away valuable reflection that the living members can offer. After all, Walsh got guitarist SLIM DUNLAP (Bob Stinson’s replacement) and drummer STEVE FOLEY (Chris Mars’ replacement) to talk on record, so it’s just kind of awkward that Westy and Tommy and Mars didn’t chime in (and that apparently was their decision, not Walsh’s.) So even if I would’ve gotten a publisher interested in my pitch for this book, I’d have been stuck with the same quandary.

The good news is that the book does a pretty great job of capturing the Minneapolis scene from 1980-1990. There’s not a lot of steaming dirt to be tossed here—the Replacements were notoriously rowdy and their hijinks no longer surprise. But various scenesters’ accounts do a good job at trying to nail down the appeal of a band that, most of the time, made themselves hard to love. It’s like that line in “Bastards of Young”:

“The ones who love us best are the ones we’ll lay to rest;
the ones who love us least are the ones we’re dying to please”

Walsh, due to his proximity and friendships with the band, keeps the gloves on and much of the time, views this history through the lens of warm nostalgia. It’s at once charming and frustrating—you kind of want Walsh to put a bigger perspective and critical assessment to the material instead of indulging in his own participation. Yet in the end, the book’s chumminess wins out and the sins of the past seem long forgotten. My hat is off to you, Jim.

Filed under books biography