The Replacements, Minnesota’s most rootin’ tootin’ band of drunks, made big news in 2014 when they returned to 30 Rock for the first time since being banned from SNL by Lorne Michaels. That infamous night, January 18, 1986, has now been immortalized in Bob Mehr’s book Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, out March 1. Rolling Stone has an excerpt, and, well, it’s understandable why Lorne forbid the ‘Mats from returning.
-Before the show, guitarist Bob Stinson paced the dressing room, “out of his mind to leave. Bob was scary,” said Warner Bros. publicist Mary Melia.
-That night’s host Harry Dean Stanton dropped by for a drink.
-The boys secretly turned up their amps to a near-deafening level. “It took a few seconds for the engineers to turn the sound down.”
-Singer Paul Westerberg was caught on mic screaming, “Come on, f*cker.”
-Bob, wearing a unitard, accidentally flashed his bare ass.
-This entire section:
Mid-tirade, Michaels caught a glimpse of the dressing room — the band had “redecorated” it. “He saw that and reamed them a new asshole,” said [co-manager Gary] Hobbib. “It was horrible.”
They also, after changing into each other’s clothes, botched the intro to “Kiss Me on the Bus” and had to start the song over again. It would be another three years before The Replacements appeared on American television again. Thankfully, their SNL set can be seen in its sloppy, inebriated glory online.
(Via Rolling Stone)
