Kids Don’t Follow
is the first track off the Replacement’s first release, the EP Stink.
It’s a bold statement from a band that would go on to make many
statements. The Replacements are a band that took on a far greater prominence
than the drunken shenanigans of Stink
would promise. But, then, this is the
Replacements and their influence, lazy ambition, sneaking brilliance, and pure,
astounding genius and capacity to bring the shock and awe (or one good dose of
thunder) made them one of the greatest bands ever to never really make it.
Starting with Stink, and hopping
along like an exposed electric wire for a total of 6 more albums and a few lifetimes
of madness, what the ‘Mats did for music is almost
immeasurable. Even if they would deny it. Then or now. Which they do.
I like to talk a lot about firsts in music. First tracks,
first times a song was played, first time one heard a band, what must it have
been like to see a legend in the making when they first started out. Kids Don’t Follow is another first, an
opening shot of punk muscle that would start a career that would morph and go in unexpected directions, but never lose that ‘fuck you’ attitude
that in retrospect was so essential.
One of the best parts of Kids
Don’t Follow is the opening recording of a party being broken up by the
Minneapolis Police. Amid the ambient noise comes out a clear, angry, “Hey fuck
you, man!” to the otherwise kindly, Barney Fife-kind of sounding cop politely
asking everyone to please disperse. It’s such a visual moment. Supposedly it
was recorded at First Avenue. Supposedly, the kid who yells the expletive is
Soul Asylum’s Dave Priner. Supposedly the cop was Danny Murphy’s father.
Supposedly, the Replacements put their original demos in the river and set them
adrift, hoping Prince would discover them, ala the infant Moses in the Nile in
a reed basket…There are a lot of what ifs with a band like The ‘Mats. And a lot
of could have been...But what they left behind is like a great promise that
might still come true.
...The Replacements, one of rock’s closest near-miracles...Kids Don’t Follow. A song like this makes sure they never will…
