While The Replacements and Dinosaur Jr. likely aren’t artists you’d associate with ’90s hitmaker and former Peter Gabriel backing vocalist Paula Cole, her latest single named after the groundbreaking alt-rockers attests to their monumental influence—if a bit indirect—on her work. “The Replacements and Dinosaur Jr.” arrives today as the first single from her forthcoming LP Lo, her first collection of original recordings in nearly a decade after releasing a slew of balladic covers, which will drop March 1. And while Cole attests to her love for both of the titular artists, the song is instead an homage to her late friend and musical mentor Mark Hutchins who opened her eyes and ears to plenty of new sounds over the years.
“Mark exploded my mind,” Cole recalls. “I literally heard The Beatles first with Mark. Also The Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., A Tribe Called Quest, Pixies, and a lot of gorgeous early-’90s alternative music folks might not associate with me. We connected in our love for Peter Gabriel’s music. I was mourning, honoring, celebrating Mark when I wrote this. I wanted to acknowledge him and his lasting influence in my life. Mark should have had an enormous career. I’m so grateful. The song needed to be fun, like he was.”
Rather than being drenched in grungy riffs or awash in bittersweet punk, Cole’s track is a reverently tame—yet by no means overly serious—recollection of times past. Check it out below.
