Watch The Replacements play ‘God Damn Job’ in 1981
The Replacements must have seemed like a joke in 1981. Compared to their contemporaries like Hüsker Dü and The Suburbs, The ‘Mats looked like kids and played like toddlers. Rarely taking the stage in any state to play well, the band would instead bust out half-formed songs and alcohol-soaked covers of classic rock and early heavy metal.
Bassist Tommy Stinson was only 11 when he first started playing with his brother Bob and their mutual friend, drummer Chris Mars. Mars himself was barely out of high school when the band began playing regularly. Bob Stinson was an adult who survived by working in restaurants, and the band was rounded out with fellow adult and former janitor Paul Westerberg. They were a motley crew, to say the least.
What The Replacements did have going for them was that Westerberg turned out to be a prolific songwriter. Although he would often change and improvise songs while playing live, Westerberg cranked out dozens of songs by the start of the 1980s. Usually focused on juvenile topics like picking up cigarettes and hating school (‘More Cigarettes’ and ‘Fuck School’, respectively), Westerberg was more interested in getting the band to record their own material rather than fleshing out his writing.
The peak of early-era Westerberg was ‘God Damn Job’, the simplistic and hilarious ode to needing some extra dough. The song first appeared on the EP Stink, featuring a surprisingly complex chord sequence. It wouldn’t be until the band’s follow-up, Hootenany, that Westerberg and the rest of the band became interested in moving beyond basic punk song structures. This was far from the organised chaos of ‘Bastards of Young’ or ‘Alex Chilton’.
But in 1981, a typical Replacements gig saw the band stumble on stage and blast out some abrasive original material before eventually devolving into drunken shenanigans and ridiculous covers. Occasionally, the band could pull themselves together and deliver a respectable performance. That’s what they could do when they were captured on video at Minneapolis’ 7th Street Entry in September of 1981.
7th Street Entry was the smaller space that operated in the same building as First Avenue, the legendary Twin Cities music venue that kickstarted Prince’s career. Any punk band worth their salt played at the Entry when they arrived in Minneapolis, and it became a second home to The Replacements.
On this particular night, The Replacements were the second of three bands on the bill, with Hüsker Dü playing as the headliners. The Replacements could barely stay in tune throughout the gig, but songs like ‘God Damn Job’ showed the rough promise and casual coolness that made The Replacements Minneapolis’ favourite band of lovable losers.
Check out ‘God Damn Job’ down below.
