The Replacements: All Over But The Shouting Jim Walsh

I am in love with The Replacements. Like, “I want to go back in time, give up my life, and be there for every show they ever did” in love. Alas, I grew up in a miniature rural town in upstate New York, nowhere near anywhere they ever played. For more than half my life, I’ve settled for rehashed bits of ‘Mats lore, passed on by friends who were there, who did get to see it all first hand. (I secretly hate you all, by the way.) In a way, this book, which I have been been waiting for since I devoured my heroes’ chapter in Our Band Could Be Your Life years ago, is more of the same sort of “I-was-there-and-you-weren’t” torture. But damned if it isn’t the best of the best stories and impressions of a group of guys who never quite meant to be legendary but couldn’t avoid it.