The dynamic that made the band great also tore them apart, as this biography superbly documents.
An in-depth biography of a beloved, exasperating band that never quite made it.
Early on in this impressively researched and well-rendered biography, Commercial Appeal music critic Mehr describes how the Replacements became “ ‘legends’ without ever really becoming stars” and then proceeds to show how the qualities that made them legendary prevented them from achieving the success that fans thought they deserved. Frontman Paul Westerberg may well have been the greatest rock songwriter of his generation, the equal of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, and others who would follow his punk-pop lead to far greater glory. And the rest of the band was never simply the rest of the band but musical misfits who contributed to the chemical equation that resulted in brilliant performances one night and absolute disasters the next. Guitarist Bob Stinson, abused and neglected as a child, was the initial leader, recruiting his younger brother, Tommy, not even in his teens when he became the bassist. Drummer Chris Mars was the band’s initial songwriter and creative force, but he was increasingly marginalized as Westerberg joined and asserted himself (Mars, also an artist, now sells his paintings for thousands of dollars). Add lethal doses of alcohol, increasing quantities of drugs, and the rebellious irresponsibility fueled by both, and you’ve got an explosion waiting to happen—which it did, frequently, as the band fought with managers, record labels, and producers and sabotaged promotional efforts with journalists and radio stations. As a straightforward, ramshackle rock ’n’ roll band, they never quite fit with either the punk rock that inspired them or the so-called “alternative rock” that would enjoy such success in their wake. “We were five years ahead of our time, we were ten years behind,” said Westerberg, who never achieved expected success as a solo artist. A recent reunion effort featuring Paul and Tommy brought them their biggest paydays but fell apart because of familiar tensions.
The dynamic that made the band great also tore them apart, as this biography superbly documents.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-306-81879-0
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Da Capo
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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