In the ten years it’s taken Bob Mehr to research and write his biography of The Replacements, the indie-rock heavies went from oft-cited influence to festival-headlining touring concern before heading back into retirement this summer. Which bodes well for Trouble Boys: The True Story of The Replacements. The Minneapolis group’s story has been told before—both as an entry in Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life and in the oral history All Over but the Shouting—but Mehr’s account is the first full-length narrative to try to tackle the band’s legacy. You can see the book’s cover below.
As a press release notes, Mehr was given full access to The Mats’ Twin/Tone and Warner archives (we imagine he lost two years of research time just trying to scrape his jaw from the floor), and the book was written with the full cooperation of the band—including the family of Bob Stinson, the original bassist, who passed away in 1995 at the age of thirty-five.
In fact, Trouble Boys seems to take on the band’s full legacy in the depth it deserves, from the obvious highs of the band’s recorded output to the infamous SNL appearance to their tours with Elvis Costello and Tom Petty. Whether it’s bold enough to touch on “Poke Me in My Cage” remains to be seen.
Trouble Boys is out March 1 on Da Capo.
