Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash

Rolling Stone (9/19/02, p.108) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...From hilarity to heartbreak, the Replacements' emotional realness made other hardcore bands sound like sitcoms..." Q (10/95, p.146) - 3 Stars - Good - "...the perfect 1981 antidote for Brit synthpop bands and contains the first unmistakable flash of Paul Westerberg's poignant songwriting genius..." Q (Magazine) (p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "SORRY MA...is the boredom-busting sound of delinquent passion, clearly influenced by punk but disinclined to apply its philosophical rigour." NME (Magazine) (4/23/93, p.30) - 7 (out of 10) - "...SORRY MA is the high-velocity rattle of wired young spunkers who hate authority..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.88) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Bob Stinson fires off quicksilver solos, Paul Westerberg's singing is already wonderfully expressive and full of ad-libs, the rhythm section punchy and loose."

In 1981, punk rock had come to mean hardcore, and in Minneapolis, bands like Husker Du and Loud Fast Rules (soon to become Soul Asylum) were flying the flag for the faster, louder, and shorter aesthetic. When the Replacements made their way into the Twin Citys underground rock scene, they were initially lumped in with the local hardcore crowd, but their debut album, 1981s Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, was obviously made of different things. The Replacements were punk in the tradition of earlier bands like Eddie and the Hot Rods, the Damned, and Minneapolis own Suicide Commandos -- they played fast and loud with plenty of attitude, but their melodic style was clearly beholden to stripped-down rock & roll traditionalism (as were Bob Stinsons guitar leads), and while they liked to play dumb, they were clearly too smart to be boxed in by hardcores narrow stylistic boundaries. Sorry Ma is the work of a band thats rough yet inspired -- Paul Westerbergs sloppy, full-bodied rhythm guitar gave Bob Stinson plenty of room for his repurposed Steve Howe licks, Tommy Stinsons basslines were lively and carried their share of the melody, and drummer Chris Mars had the stamina and the muscle to keep up with it all. Though the Replacements sounded scrappy and exciting here, what truly set them apart was Westerbergs songs -- they were clever, funny, and self-depreciating, the work of a young man with a fully functioning bullshit detector whose arrogance about his talent was balanced by his obvious insecurities about life, work, women, and himself. Westerberg was more than willing to rage (Careless, Takin a Ride, Dont Ask Why) and occasionally wear his heart on his sleeve (Customer, Johnnys Gonna Die), though he knew folks would only stick around if he was funny, and Sorry Ma is very funny indeed, and genuinely inspiring in its sloppy but heartfelt wallop. Though the Replacements would get a lot better very quickly, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash drew the roadmap to everything that was best about them right out of the box, and it remains a dirty, roaring rock & roll delight. ~ Mark Deming

Part of the Replacements appeal always was that they didnt quite fit into any tidy category and nowhere was that truer than on their 1981 debut, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. Falling over themselves to fit into the Minneapolis hardcore scene, the Mats played fast and loose, which was part of the problem -- they were too loose, lacking the discipline to fit within hardcore, which even in 81 was adhering to the loud-fast rules that would later morph into straight-edge. Then again, that was a common problem in the Twin Cities, as Husker Du also were too big and blustery to be a standard hardcore band, but where the Huskers traded in violence and fury at this early stage, the Replacements wallowed in cheap thrills. Danger still pulsated in their music, but the group didnt inflict emotional damage: they were a party spinning out of control, getting sloppier with every beer swilled. The messiness on Sorry Ma is hardly confined to the cheap, thin recording or the bands playing -- they sound as if theyre stumbling upon each other as they fumble for the next chord -- but how the songs pile up one after another, most not managing to get close to the two-minute mark. Such brevity could be dubbed as hardcore, but apart from the volume and speed, this doesnt feel like hardcore: theres too much beer and boogie for that. Then, theres also the fact that the Replacements reveled in mid-American junk culture, with Paul Westerberg boasting that hed bought himself a headache the very year that Black Flag sneered that they had nothing better to do then having a bottle of brew as they watched the TV. Neither did the Replacements, but they sang about this with no disdain, as they enjoyed being Shiftless When Idle, as one of the best songs here called it. This could be called defiant if it seemed like the Mats were raging against anything besides garden-variety suburban troubles, as theres nothing that attacks other punkers (quite the opposite; there are love letters to Johnny Thunders and Husker Du), and even when Westerberg is chronicling Midwestern ennui, theres a sense of affection to his laments, as if he loves the place and loves acting like an angry young crank. This strain of premature curmudgeonly humor is undercut by the boundless energy of the band, so happy to make noise they dont care if theyre recycling old-time rock & roll riffs that are closer to amped-up Rockpile than the Ramones, as theres more swing to the rhythms than that -- swing that careens wildly and madly, but swings all the same. And thats what made the Replacements seem so different with their debut -- they didnt fit anywhere within American punk, but theres no defiance here; theres a celebration of who and what they are thats genuinely, infectiously guileless. It may not quite sound like any other American punk record but Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is one of the best LPs the entire scene produced in the early 80s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine