ABSTRACT
During a recording career that bridged the period between punk and alternative (1981–1991), the Replacements played class clown. Emphasizing the “stoopid” aspects of youthful indiscretion championed by American punks like the Stooges and the Ramones, they edged ever so gradually toward the sensitivity and torment Kurt Cobain would later enunciate for millions. In song and performance, the Replacements relied on humorous predicaments and the jester’s pratfall: Tommy Stinson’s Prince Valiant and rooster-head haircuts; Bob Stinson’s on-stage dresses; drunken cover versions of the Di Franco Family; “hootenanny” interludes during which band members traded instruments. Paul Westerberg’s lyrics, however, betrayed a self-conscious ache, and even in the Replacements’ most outlandish moments, you sensed the wince and agony beneath the loopy, wasted grins. Like a lot of American humorists, they resisted categorization. “There’s not a high school diploma up on that stage,” Westerberg liked to boast, and yet the band became poster boys of “college rock.” Something more than irony was in play. This chapter traces the line between humor and despair in the Replacements’ career, investigating the “loser” status Westerberg regularly summoned. Identifying as a loser can be an act of defiance, and it can be a source of laughter. But not forever. When does stupidity cease to become a pose and become a burden? The Replacements begged that question. They didn’t merely revel in the crises of youth; they laughed until they cried.
