From the September 1986 issue of Creem: Drinking (And Drinking Lots More!) with the Replacements.
CREEM: Does it matter to you personally? Do you really care what the critics think?
PW: I’ll be honest. It does. I’d like to lie and say it means nothing. Not that we think we’re great or anything. We know exactly what we are. We get a giggle out of it, but it makes you feel good.
TS: When it’s someone big and they say we’re good, it makes you feel good—but I never really read any of that stuff about us. Unless someone’s got something bad to say and it’s funny or clever. I get a kick out of someone saying we suck because we’re arrogant little pricks.
PW: You do until they single it out and say you look like a fucking fake rock star. You can take the general bullshit but…
TS: I can take it all.
PW: Yeah, until they say something… you know what I’m saying.
TS: I know what you’re saying.
Tommy Stinson was 19 at the time of this interview. Paul Westerberg was 26.
Via lhb.
Thanks for posting that. I haven’t seen it in years. The Mats were one of the greatest bands ever. Just a genuinely talented bunch of loveable screwups.
…forever on the brink.
i remember reading that issue of creem when i was a kid! that was right around the time i was falling in love with the replacements. they will forever be the most under appreciated band of all time.
Y’know, discovering the ‘Mats when I was in college (between Paul’s first and second solo albums) was a blast. Their music still means a hell of a lot to me, and the fact that even still today they’re not overexposed keeps them fresh and special to me.
Thanks for posting that, Jake!