Song of the Day 9/30: The Replacements, “Can’t Hardly Wait”

Listening back to the Replacements, which I do fairly frequently, I’m struck by how far out of their way the band had to go to prevent Paul Westerberg’s punchy, melodic songs from becoming hits.

Years of drunken performances and other self-sabotaging behavior — indie cred in those days required not just indifference toward but active dissuasion of mainstream interest — culminated in a disastrous “Saturday Night Live” appearance in 1986 that got them banned from the show. Soon afterwards lead guitarist Bob Stinson, whose drug-and-alcohol self-medication for his mental problems had gotten to be too much even for his unrestrained bandmates, was booted from the band he started.

“Pleased to Meet Me,” recorded in Memphis with Big Star producer Jim Dickinson, was released n 1987, and this catchy number was the first single. With success at their fingertips, the band released this video to “promote” it.

Westerburg liked the horn-enhanced pop arrangement, which caused friction with his remaining bandmates, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars. They had a point. They had already recorded the song for consideration for their previous LP, “Tim.” This is the original, rougher-sounding version, with Bob Stinson on guitar and Tommy Ramone at the boards. This version also features Westerburg’s original lyrics, sung by someone on his way to throw himself off a water tower (shades of “Alone Again, Naturally”!) No fucking horns, either.