ABSTRACT
The Minneapolis-based band the Replacements is generally considered to be one the greatest bands to never make it in the mainstream. 1984, the year their album Let It Be was released, was the midpoint in the Reagan era, a time when conservative values were being embraced by young people as well as old ones, just as Reagan’s core policy, the deregulation of many companies, including public utilities, the airlines, and the airwaves, was reshaping America’s cultural landscape. This article argues that the Replacements’ song “Unsatisfied” sums up the fear and loathing that many people in the rock underground felt toward those changing times that, even today, still sounds poignant, harrowing, and right.
