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.

                                      
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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.