Kiss Meets The ‘Mats

Today’s Throwback Thursday is a combo deal just for you! This day in music history matches two bands from different parts of the country who peaked at different decades. It’ll all make sense later – read on…

Today in 1995, the music world lost the lead guitarist from one of my favorite bands, The Replacements. Bob Stinson was only 35 years old when he died of drug and alcohol abuse. Their sound drew from a wide variety of influences from bands like Big Star and fellow Minnesotan Bob Dylan to The Ramones and The Buzzcocks. Stinson’s style was more hard edged and as the band drifted towards commercial success and different styles than their earlier releases, Stinson grew weary. That disagreement along with his heavy use of drugs led him to being kicked out of the band before the recording and release of one of their best albums, Pleased to Meet Me.

Some of his best guitar work can be heard on their best album, Let It Be (the cover of the album is the band sitting on the roof of Stinson’s mom’s house). The frenzy punk sound combined with a few more melodic touches generates peak Replacements sound. They started to drift a bit from the punk sound in later albums. Take a listen to songs like “Favorite Thing” and “Answering Machine” to get a good feel for Stinson’s playing.

Switch decades and bands – It’s now February 18, 1977 and a rock band out of New York City releases their debut album. The band is Kiss. Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter, make-up and all, were on their way to become one of the biggest bands of all time.

While a bit rough around the edges, the debut does contain a few classics including “Strutter”, “Deuce” and “Nothin’ To Lose”. My favorite track, however, is “Black Diamond”. Which is where our Throwback Thursday connection happens…

The Replacements, on their album Let It Be covered Kiss and their song “Black Diamond” off of their debut album Kiss. It’s a pretty straightforward version which shows their admiration for the band and inspiration from them.

So there you go – Bob Stinson, Kiss and a Throwback Thursday connection.