The Replacements “Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash” released 40 years ago today, August 25th, 1981. Twin/Tone Records.* Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash was the band’s first studio LP and is considered to be one of the vanguards of the Midwest 80′s punk sound, though for the most part I’d call it power pop with a messy punk mentality and some Sex Pistol-ish riffs (the LP’s cover states it should be “filed under power trash” – also accurate). I’ll admit to never having been a big Replacements fan (partly because I’m not crazy about Paul Westerberg’s voice) but I do have a fondness for most things coming out of Minneapolis, a city I visited frequently as a teenager in the 80′s and we continue to go to every year or so for shows and friends (and a few good record stores). Of the handful of Replacements albums we have, this is probably my favorite, with songs that reference fellow-MN’ers Hüsker Dü (“Somethin to Dü”), New York Dolls’ and Heartbreakers’ Johnny Thunders (“Johnny’s Gonna Die”) and a totally 80′s Midwest punk pastime “Hangin Downtown.”

*edited reblog of my post from 2018