Modern Rock Tracks No.1s - The Replacements and "I'll Be You"

Color me impressed with The Replacements, another alt-rock pioneer born in the '70s who let it be for an entire decade before earning kudos on a Billboard chart. I can't hardly wait to talk about it.

The Replacements - “I’ll Be You”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 1 (3/11/89)

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

• Debbie Gibson - "Lost In Your Eyes"

As I review the early years of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, I feel like I’m reviewing a victory lap for longtime alt-rock pioneers. Indeed, with the exception of U2 and R.E.M., most of the acts who hit the top of this new chart in the first year or two were legacy acts, bands who thrived in relative mainstream anonymity and built followings largely outside of the spotlight. By the time Billboard recognized the alternative music movement in the late ‘80s into its mainstream ascendency in the 1990s, many of the chart-topping acts were still producing records, and getting airplay based largely on that notoriety.

Bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Psychedelic Furs, Big Audio Dynamite, and Lou Reed, among others, scored #1 MRT hits due to their increased airplay on modern rock and alternative stations. Following that trend, we have The Replacements, an alt-rock pioneer formed in the 1970s who developed a strong following off the radar of most Billboard charts and, with the release of a new album in 1989, found their way to the top with the first single off their “Don’t Tell A Soul” album: “I’ll Be You.”

“I’ll Be You” is a decent track, to be sure. It checks all the boxes for a late-’80s alt-rock hit: solid lead guitar, driving rock rhythms, early Gen-Xer tropes like being a “rebel without a clue” or “lonely, I guess that’s where I’m from,” and an offbeat sound that didn’t mesh with the zeitgeist of popular music at the time (Debbie Gibson was commanding the Hot 100, and I don’t know if there’s any song further away from “Lost In Your Eyes” than this one).

But when looking back in time and reflecting on the songs that made The Replacements one of the pioneers of alternative music, “I’ll Be You” is not really at the top of the list. Based on streaming data from Spotify, “I’ll Be You” trails far behind earlier Replacements’ hits like “Swingin Party” (7x more streams), “Androgynous” (5x more streams), “Can’t Hardly Wait,” “Alex Chilton,” and “Bastards of Young” (all 4x more streams). It’s not a scientific measurement, but it does speak to the idea that the band’s earlier releases have stood the test of time far more than their first MRT chart topper.

And it’s not just the fans: Music critics lauded the band’s earliest efforts on albums like “Let It Be,” “Tim,” and “Hootenanny,” with magazines like Spin and Rolling Stone placing those albums in the mix with some of the best albums of the decade.

I hate to spend a column lauding chart-topping hits talking about songs from the same band that never charted, much less hit #1, but I need to talk about some of these older songs. As with most of the lesser-known bands I’ve written about, I knew next to nothing about The Replacements coming into this project. I knew about the band’s lead singer, Paul Westerberg, from his #4 MRT hit “Dyslexic Heart,” which peaked there in September 1992. But otherwise, The Replacements were a mystery.

I’ve awakened, however. To listen to the top 20 streamed songs from The Replacements is to listen to the history of alternative music I grew up with. I couldn’t tell you exactly where I heard these influences as I force-fed this band into my brain on a commute home the other day, but I guarantee the following bands owe at least a little bit of their sound to the influence of The Replacements: Goo Goo Dolls, Gin Blossoms, Hootie and the Blowfish, Pearl Jam, Collective Soul, The Nixons, Duncan Sheik, The Killers, Ben Folds Five, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire, and probably dozens more. Even if those acts don’t list The Replacements as an influence, I guarantee they are at least a little bit familiar with that band’s extensive catalog.

I love all the songs the fans love, in particular “Alex Chilton,” which one could argue would have found a comfortable home near the top of the charts in the mid-’90s. But, alas, The Replacements peaked too soon for the mainstream to catch up with them, and they faded before they could achieve that level of notoriety.

With that in mind, we return to “I’ll Be You,” which was the band’s attempt to cross into the mainstream. And it did earn some modest commercial success, not just to the top of the MRT chart, but also hitting a respectable #51 on the flagship Billboard Hot 100. But again, the mainstream music scene wasn’t quite leaning toward alternative rock, so any further progress was hampered by the popularity of acts like Madonna, Paula Abdul, Tone-Loc and Bobby Brown. And it’s a good song, but not quite at the same height as some of the band’s earlier efforts.

As I mentioned, the song straddles the line between angsty Gen X anthem and upbeat R.E.M.-style guitar-led alt-pop. The song’s structure is a little odd, too, lacking a formal refrain and looping into a handful of verses with similar structures. The song’s narrator reflects on the boredom of his existence and suggests to an unknown second party that they consider changing places and living each other’s lives for awhile. It’s a theme repeated over and over as more Gen X kids grew up and projected their angst in myriad musical formats over the coming two decades, but The Replacements beat many of those acts to the punch with this one.

Lou Reed’s “Dirty Blvd.” kept this track from reaching #1, and it was mired at #2 for several weeks before reaching the top. It’s ascendency lasted for just one week, but it was enough for The Replacements to officially score a chart-topping hit. They’ll have one more upcoming before their official breakup in the early ‘90s. But as I reflect on the band, I can’t help but wonder just how many hits they might have had if they’d been around a few years later.

Rating: 5/10

Chart notes: There’s so little to talk about in this week’s chart, since “I’ll Be You” was only #1 for a single week and almost all of the top 10 hits are either former chart toppers or future ones. So I’m digging pretty deep to find something to place here.

• "Stupid Kids" by Christmas: If you’re looking to create a band name that is infinitely difficult to search online in 2023, especially when your main charting track is a song with “kids” in the title, well, the folks in the band Christmas nailed it. There’s nothing particularly unique about this song, but it did fit nicely in the college-alt-rock zeitgeist of the late 1980s and is pretty decent on first listen. This song peaked at a disappointing #26 on the MRT behind “I’ll Be You.” I can’t imagine anyone reading this would have discovered the song without this Substack, so I feel like I’m doing you and Christmas a favor here!

• "Alex Chilton" by The Replacements: Obviously this didn’t chart in 1989; this song was released in 1987 on the band’s “Pleased to Meet Me” album. But it’s so good. I couldn’t resist posting it here, especially given the dearth of options on this week’s MRT. Enjoy!