18. The Replacements - Tim

The Replacements are one of those bands I love so much that I could pick any album by them as my favorite and it wouldn’t matter, really. Tim and Let It Be are my (obvious) favorites, but I think Hootenanny is probably the album that best displays what the band was all about personality-wise. But again, what does it matter? I love everything about them, even their less-than-good stuff.

But I’m picking Tim because it’s kind of a perfect cross between their ragged, goofy early material and their more radio-friendly later stuff. It is maybe the first Replacements record I would recommend to a friend. Paul Westerberg’s pop songwriting is at its best here (“Kiss Me On The Bus,” “Swinging Party”), along with some great self-mythologizing anthems (“Bastards Of Young,” “Left Of The Dial”) and even some downtrodden prettiness (“Here Comes A Regular”). I posted “Little Mascara” here ‘cause I don’t think it’s usually singled out as a highlight? But it’s one of my favorites here.

Really, though, I could say more but I will let this SNL performance of “Bastards Of Young” speak for itself. I could not imagine a single video summing up the Replacements better than that one. “AGHH FUCK IT”