Album Side Of The Day 10/16/2013: The Replacements - "The Shit Hits The Fans," Side 2

It was announced on Tuesday that The Replacements were among the nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2014. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened, except for their eventual induction if it ever really happens. Not because of all the acclaim they deserve as great songwriters and album-makers, but because it would be the most giddily ironic resolution to the career of any band ever. Anyone who remembers their live performances in the early '80s -- a group of people that almost certainly excludes the Replacements themselves -- knows this was a band who attacked the pomposity of rock with deliberately sloppy live shows fueled by disaffection, indifference, and enough alcohol to fell an entire lagoon of emaciated pirates. Fame and acclaim were subjects they openly mocked and went out of their way to deflate. Hey! Maybe they were martyrs! Rock and roll loves martyrs! Well-played, 'Mats. Well-played.

As I discussed in the last Song Of The Day by the Replacements, they released a limited-edition live album called The Shit Hits The Fans in 1985. Accounts differ as to whether the band approved of this recording, but two things not in dispute are it (a) was recorded straight to Maxell cassette tape, and (b) is almost unlistenable for anything but laughs. And reader, nothing makes me happier than hearing you laugh. Or, I guess, imagining your laughter.

So here you go: Side 2 of The Shit Hits The Fans in its entirety, where the boozers gamely attempt to play no less than 16 songs in the span of 26 minutes, everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Black Sabbath to Led Zeppelin to Tom Petty to R.E.M. When and if the museum in Cleveland lets them into their little club, which they should, the bar better not be hosted.

(You can hear Side 1 here.)