We're 40 years down the road (40 years!) and I don't necessarily think it's like this now, but at the time if you talked about Hüsker Dü you talked about the Replacements and vice versa. And for me, there was no comparison. The Replacements were the greatest band I ever heard.

I'm going to expose how much of a Boomer I really am. I'm a punk rock guy, but I have to admit that I liked the idea of punk rock more than the actual music. I would listen to Fast & Loud on WNUR religiously every Saturday night and some of the songs were funny, many had a lot of power, but none of it was anything I would really want to listen to while driving around. I still like Zeppelin and the Stones. It was the ethic and the feel and the possibilities of punk rock that I found appealing. And you could tell right from the start that the Replacements weren't really a punk rock band. They were pretending to be one, but I knew they were something else. Westerberg could write and put across a melody. When Stink came out it seemed like a regression. And it was. But then came Hootenany, the weirdest most wonderful record I had ever heard.

Anyway, with regard to "1979" I assume you mean "What's Going On", one of the better Hüsker Dü songs. "I WAS TALKING WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN LISTENING!" But I think Billy Boy actually cadged the lick for "1979" from his friends The Frogs with their permission:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYRto3kmtQo

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

I think the Replacements divergence from the Punk genre moves beyond aesthetics. Politically, their lyrics often focused on their disappointment in being unable to fulfill their dreams, which generally seemed influenced by--if not explicitly aligned with--conventional notions of individualism and success. Westerberg never sought to revolt against the system; rather, he alternately reveled and wallowed in his/the band's inability to "break through" within the confines of the system. He could thus never be described as an anti-systemic thinker but is instead the poet of working class abjection.

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Wow, TM going all cerebral and shit!


https://youtu.be/eh60xe0ff3E

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DIY is a critical component of the punk rock ethic. The Replacements weren't a DIY operation. Ironically, Westerberg displays far more of a punk ethic today than he ever did when he was ostensibly a punk rock musician. But maybe it's not really ironic. In spite of being careerist in a way that was antithetical to punk, he clearly couldn't escape the influence of the times or the scene.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

Took this from their wiki. It's Weterberg describing the band when they first started out. I had forgotten Tommy was only 12 when they first started jamming.

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Thread made me realize I've probably listened to Camper Van Beethoven's Tusk more than the original and more than any other Camper Van Beethoven album. Not sure which I should be more embarrassed about, but it's a good album even if they were just screwing around!