Man Puts Old Essay About Replacements On Internet

“The Replacements were simply too good for the broad audience they tried so hard to reach. Even a casual listener would have to wonder why their catchy, pop/rock melodies never exploded across the radio and television. Each of their albums contains a handful of songs that seem to be inevitable hits, yet they never had a gold record or a song in the top 40 longer than a sneeze. To those of us who believe in the power of the general audience to occasionally love great material, the Replacements failure to become huge boggles the mind. Some would go back to the shaky argument that the top 40 world subconsciously turned away from the sharp, funny twists of Westerberg’s lyrics. They sensed intelligence and ran away in droves. A more realistic explanation is that just as the Replacements were ready to explode, the rock/pop world had splintered under the influence of disco, punk, MTV, the rise of rap and hair bands both pop and metal. But the only argument true Mats fans will accept, the only one that the will get even passing credibility, is that they had to fail.”