Best of the 80's: Tim by The Replacements

Sitting at number 64 on the Best of the 80's list is this 1985 release.  This was the major label debut for The Replacements. 

The mid 80's were a very important time in music.  The Replacements were heavily influenced by Big Star a band who lived in obscurity in the 1970's.  By the mid 1980's though a band like The Replacments, who were not being played on mainstream radio in places like Paducah, KY, were finding radio play on alternative stations, especially college stations all across the country.  That's how they could manage a major label deal along with bands like Husker Du.    

With major labels backing these alternative bands the music scene began to change.  It would push bands like The Replacements, R.E.M., and others into the mainstream and expand their influence to be much greater than any band of similar ilk could have done just a decade earlier. 

It's overly simplistic to say, but in many ways The Replacements are a remake of Big Star.  The biggest difference is an emotional edge to their sound that made The Replacements very popular with college students and still can tug at your heart 26 years later. 

The best example of this on Tim is "Left of the Dial," one of the best love songs of the 1980's.  It is such a youthful, angst riddled song, that lives perfectly in the world of 1985. 

I've never been a big Replacements fan, and to be honest I didn't even know they existed in 1985, but this is a solid album of alternative rock/pop.  This album would be perfect for a road trip back to a 25th school reunion.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.