5 Awesome Rock Bands You've Wrongly Slept On

The Replacements were one of the many bands dominating the college rock circuit in the mid-80's. Along with bands like R.E.M. and the Pixies, the Replacements were mining what would become alternative rock less than a decade later. While bands like R.E.M. did end up scoring massive success in the 90's, the Replacements were one of the many bands that fell by the wayside.

The band's hooks on records like Let It Be and Pleased to Meet Me are some of the greatest alt-rock songs that never got big. Hell, the music this band crafted is so left of the dial that they even have a song in their catalog entitled "Left of the Dial."

Songwriter Paul Westerberg also showed that you could be earnest in your songwriting. Songs like "Bastards of Young" and "Here Comes a Regular" can sneak up on you with how hard they can tug at your heartstrings. Some of the greatest rock songwriters of later years from Dave Grohl to Billie Joe Armstrong have cited the influence that the Replacements have had on their writing. While never incredibly popular, the Replacements have always seemed like a band for the everyman, whose simple songcrafting yields extraordinary poignancy.