The Replacements ‘Let It Be’

The title of my blog entries is the music that I’m listening to for most, if not the whole day. I learned about The Replacements while working at Peaches Music & Video. Brad, Ad-Chick, and Jeff ( www.thewvsr.com ) were up in arms with them. And I guess you could say that I got a contact buzz from them.

Brad would always throw a Replacements cut in his mix tapes he gave me. He even included their version of KISS’ “Black Diamond” from the ‘Let It Be’ album. I thought that it was raw and very NOT produced. Hell, during the KISS cover, they left in the mistakes and made the song their own. I dig that very much.

I need more CD’s by The Replacements in my collection, but I haven’t exactly been diligent about the acquisition of them. I can say the same about Alice Cooper or Dwight Yoakam.

While reading The West Virginia Surf Report yesterday, Jeff Kay (Peaches alumni) wrote about watching the ‘Tom Synder Show’ punk series he’s been checking out from Netflix. And perhaps I’m wrong here, but I think Mr. K dissed the Plasmatics and Wendy O. Williams.

I remember seeing them on ‘Solid Gold’ once while growing up in a Southern Baptist home. They took a chainsaw to a beautiful blonde Gibson Les Paul. They were sacrificing what was considered “holy” to rock enthusiasts since the 1950’s. They were loud and obnoxious. They even sacred my sisters as I sat there with an open mouth in disbelief when Wendy O. held both halves of the Les Paul above her head. I knew right then and there, the Plasmatics were going to be a band that I would follow.

I couldn’t purchase their LP’s because my mother would NEVER allow them into her home. Album covers with a rough but sexy looking blonde with a Mohawk wearing nothing but boots, shorts, and electrical tape over her nipples were never going to fly in my home.

So I kept tabs on them through news articles and the ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine. I remember when she was arrested for indecent exposure at a record signing while threatening a fan. I read reports about her masturbating with a sledgehammer on stage. I read about her wearing only shaving cream for a blouse while performing. Oh… She was a piece of work and I wanted more.

The Plasmatics were kind of like a cartoon in many ways. But I don’t want to dismiss their music. Jean Beauvior proved to be a hit songwriter in the 80’s. You remember the black guy with the white Mohawk?

He also did a little songwriting with Bon Jovi and a Cher tune… I think. I don’t know. Google it if you care that much.

Sure, I know now that Wendy O. was a ticking bomb ready to implode on herself, but I thought she was damn cool back then. She seemed like the ultimate rebel at times. She even did her own stunts in the videos because she was crazy.

She released a solo album back around the mid 80’s that was produced by Gene Simmons. For KISS diehard fans, this is a “must have” album for your collection. Eric Carr plays drums on it. Ace Frehley does a solo and “It’s My Life” was an unreleased KISS song ( now available on the box set). And KISS recorded a version of “Thief In The Night” available on the awful ‘Crazy Nights’ CD. And the album cover is hot, that is, if you’re into rough women with a tattoo that proudly proclaims… “I Love Sex & Rock n’ Roll”.

What is this exactly saying about me? And should I be telling you all this?

I think Gretchen Wilson is hot. I hate every song from her so far that I’ve heard, but I’ll gladly watch her sing it.

There’s just something hot about women who kick ass for a hobby. And ladies, I’ll call it the “Chiklis Syndrome” since I don’t understand the sexiness in actor Michael Chiklis from ‘The Shield”.