The Alternative Number Ones: The Replacements’ “Merry Go Round”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I'm reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones, and it's for members only. Thank you to everyone who's helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

The Replacements were done. Paul Westerberg's mind was all made up. At that point, Westerberg was miserable. He and his bandmates weren't even talking to each other; they were using their managers as go-betweens instead. When Westerberg and Tommy Stinson, the bassist who was 12 when he first joined the band, did hang out, it was mostly to smoke speedballs together. Westerberg's drinking had gotten so bad that he could barely sing anymore, not that he ever had a beautiful songbird voice in the first place. Westerberg had just become a dad, but he was out cheating and carousing all the time, and his marriage was falling apart. He was turning 30, and he hated his life. He didn't want to lead this shambling mess of a rock band anymore.

Paul Westerberg didn't even want to make rock music. He was listening to folkier stuff, and he was writing songs that fit into that lane. Some prominent musicians had expressed interest in recording his songs, so he thought that maybe he should be a pro songwriter, or maybe a solo artist. He'd taken shot after shot at rock stardom with the Replacements, but it hadn't worked out. Despite tons of critical love, the Replacements had never become a big-selling act. They'd had a cup of coffee with the big-time when "I'll Be You," the lead single from their 1989 album Don't Tell A Soul, broke onto mainstream rock radio. But the album still couldn't even sell gold, and the Replacements continued to sabotage themselves at every opportunity.