---

The Replacements
 
 

Let It Be  Almost as seminal to me as London Calling, this one felt all the more important to me because it was made in my backyard by a guy who sang like I would sing about stuff I would sing about if I could articulate it like he did. Teen angst, it turns out, doesn't go away just because you turn 20, but that doesn't mean you can't ignore it for awhile by blasting out a Kiss cover.

Pleased To Meet Me As much as the 'Mats get tagged with the "indie rock" label, and the assumption of little or no commercial ambitions that go with that, they always struck me as (justifiably) eager for mainstream success. This, to my ear, is the closest they came to it, at least without the kind of compromises I hear on All Shook Down and Don't Tell A Soul. "Can't Hardly Wait" is my favorite Westerberg song.