12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums

PopMatters' '80s alt-rock primer spotlights the essential alternative rock albums from the broad genre's rich and diverse early years.

                                      
Music
    
        The 20 Best Album Re-Issues of 2019
    
PopMatters Staff

        18 Dec 2019
    
Books
    
        Touring with the Replacements: A Roadie's POV
    
John L. Murphy

        22 Aug 2018
    
Music
    
        The 21 Best Album Re-Issues of 2017
    
PopMatters Staff

        21 Dec 2017

Recent

Music

The Replacements: For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986

Long thought lost to time, this live recording captures the Replacements at their peak. Their ragged, soused live show-once a thing of anecdotal legend-is presented in its fullest form, warts and all.

Reviews

'Complicated Fun' Is a Thorough Study of the Glory Days of the Twin Cities Punk and Indie Scenes

The tales of a record store, a set of like-minded club owners, and a record label all tie together into a beautiful narrative of the burgeoning Minneapolis music scene.

Music

Bash & Pop: Anything Could Happen

Tommy’s question, “How long can we take it before we break it?” is a perfect summary of the Replacements. And if that isn’t what the line is about, well, I'd prefer to think it is.

Books

The Replacements' Blithely Adolescent Spirit

Bob Mehr's biography of the band that regularly pulled defeat from the jaws of victory makes for compelling, heartbreaking reading.

Books

Wrestling With the Replacements' Legacy in 'Trouble Boys'

Based on Mehr's plethora of interviews, it seems that most of what seemed grist for the rumor mill about the Replacements was, if anything, understated.

Music

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 3: 60 - 41

Some songs are too weird to attract mainstream success.

Music

Sun-Drenched '90s Nostalgia at Forecastle Day Three

Forecastle rounded out its 2014 installment with aplomb, proving that it is only going to get bigger and better from here on out.

Music

Various Artists: Songs For Slim, Rockin' Here Tonight: A Benefit Compilation For Slim Dunlap

The narrators of Dunlap's songs most frequently are life's losers and backsliders, underdogs who wouldn't be comfortable anywhere else.

Reviews

The Replacements: 15 September 2013 - Chicago

The Replacements that showed up in Chicago played like they had just taken a short break to do some solo stuff and were fully confident in returning as the great American rock band.

Music

Wrote a Song for Everyone: Slim Dunlap's Art/Roots Marriage

Former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap's roots run deeper than punk rock, but he's got an arty flare you might not expect from a man who loves Hank Williams and Chuck Berry.

Music

The Replacements: Songs For Slim EP

The legendary band returns with a collection of covers that showcases a playful side long forgotten.

Reviews

'Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements' Paints 'Minor Band' with Major Strokes

The first-ever documentary about The Replacements reminds fans that we are not alone in our firm belief that the Minneapolis misfits should have been as big as The Rolling Stones.

Music

Bright Little Field: Treatment Bound: A Ukulele Tribute to the Replacements

The best tracks on this album generally tend to be of covers of songs that felt like jokes in the first place.

Music

Bright Little Field - "We're Coming Out" (Replacements Cover) (video)

Nashville's Bright Little Field has released a ukelele tribute to the legendary Replacements called Treatment Bound: A Ukulele Tribute to the Replacements and they have just created this video for "We're Coming Out". The video itself is a tribute to the Replacements' video for "Bastards of Young".

Film

The Replacements Doc 'Color Me Obsessed' Continues Summer Screening Tour

The new documentary about the Replacements plays Atlanta, New Haven and California.

Music

Sigourney Reverb: Bees in Your Bed

Thank heaven for Sigourney Reverb.

Jedd Beaudoin

Music

The Year in Music: March 2010

Music

The Best Re-Issues of 2008: 10-1

Music

Pleased to Meet 'Em: The Replacements' Sire Years

Rhino reissues the second half of the Replacements' discography, from the mid-'80s masterpiece Tim to their laid-back 1990 swan song, All Shook Down.

Music

Anyone Can Play Guitar: The Replacements on Twin/Tone, 1981-1984

With four albums for the independent Minneapolis label Twin/Tone, the 'Mats rendered the hierarchies and caste system of the rock world irrelevant by remaking rock 'n' roll as an anonymous force.

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

BROWSE ALL ALBUM REVIEWS

Features

Five Women Who Fought the Patriarchy

'Tiger King' and the Post-Truth Culture War

Collapse Expand Features

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

PopMatters' '80s alt-rock primer spotlights the essential alternative rock albums from the broad genre's rich and diverse early years.

Long thought lost to time, this live recording captures the Replacements at their peak. Their ragged, soused live show-once a thing of anecdotal legend-is presented in its fullest form, warts and all.

The tales of a record store, a set of like-minded club owners, and a record label all tie together into a beautiful narrative of the burgeoning Minneapolis music scene.

Tommy’s question, “How long can we take it before we break it?” is a perfect summary of the Replacements. And if that isn’t what the line is about, well, I'd prefer to think it is.

Bob Mehr's biography of the band that regularly pulled defeat from the jaws of victory makes for compelling, heartbreaking reading.

Based on Mehr's plethora of interviews, it seems that most of what seemed grist for the rumor mill about the Replacements was, if anything, understated.

Some songs are too weird to attract mainstream success.

Forecastle rounded out its 2014 installment with aplomb, proving that it is only going to get bigger and better from here on out.

The narrators of Dunlap's songs most frequently are life's losers and backsliders, underdogs who wouldn't be comfortable anywhere else.

The Replacements that showed up in Chicago played like they had just taken a short break to do some solo stuff and were fully confident in returning as the great American rock band.

Former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap's roots run deeper than punk rock, but he's got an arty flare you might not expect from a man who loves Hank Williams and Chuck Berry.

The legendary band returns with a collection of covers that showcases a playful side long forgotten.

The first-ever documentary about The Replacements reminds fans that we are not alone in our firm belief that the Minneapolis misfits should have been as big as The Rolling Stones.

The best tracks on this album generally tend to be of covers of songs that felt like jokes in the first place.

In the wake of a recently-announced limited-edition covers EP, the merest inkling of a full-fledged Replacements reunion is reason enough to re-explore the revered cult band's songbook. Here are 15 of best songs by one of America's finest rock groups with a full playlist at the end.

Nashville's Bright Little Field has released a ukelele tribute to the legendary Replacements called Treatment Bound: A Ukulele Tribute to the Replacements and they have just created this video for "We're Coming Out". The video itself is a tribute to the Replacements' video for "Bastards of Young".

The new documentary about the Replacements plays Atlanta, New Haven and California.

Thank heaven for Sigourney Reverb.

Music geeks are salivating at the prospect of these five upcoming music documentaries.

Rhino reissues the second half of the Replacements' discography, from the mid-'80s masterpiece Tim to their laid-back 1990 swan song, All Shook Down.

With four albums for the independent Minneapolis label Twin/Tone, the 'Mats rendered the hierarchies and caste system of the rock world irrelevant by remaking rock 'n' roll as an anonymous force.