Comments on: Steve Foley, Elvis Presley, and America

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:03:59 +0000

Don't know the band's exact line-up when I saw them (other than Foley and Stinson), but they rocked really well. I remember a barnburning cover of “Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace” (a Terry Reid tune that Cheap Trick absolutely made their own on their first album) and chatting with Tommy afterwards about his love for Cheap Trick, life after the Mats, and whatnot.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:03:59 +0000

By: rwcass

rwcass — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:02:39 +0000

So Bash & Pop were playing gigs before they recorded “Friday Night Is Killing Me”? There's not much written about the history of the band, so I didn't know. Did they sound good live? Was their sound enhanced on the album by Stinson doing everything himself (or with session musicians, which is one rumor)?

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:22:14 +0000

Second things first: Kind of ties in with a theory I've been trying to formulate over the past few years… That Elvis' life is the perfect analogy for Rock and Roll: Started out with vim and vigor and ended up slumped over in the crapper.

First things second: R.I.P. Steve Foley. Your contribution to Rock and Roll history will not be forgotten. I probably saw you 50 times, and always dug it.

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:50:12 +0000

Not lyrics from the tune with all the rapping in it, I hope. ;P

By: DwDunphy

DwDunphy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:35:30 +0000

I was going to respond with a Rush lyric quote, but I forgot it. Probably just as well.

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:33:35 +0000

Yeah, the Bash & Pop record hinted at potential greatness and I was glad to see Foley still on-board by the time they made their record. I had caught them a year prior in a dive bar playing to less than 20 people and thought it would be something Stinson would get tired of doing in another couple months. Of course, I would later see Stinson playing to fewer people than that with Perfect. Foley was a kick-ass drummer, a great guy, by all accounts, and will be missed.

By: rwcass

rwcass — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:16:18 +0000

Nicely done, Darren, and thanks for the news — I didn't know Foley had died. His quotes in the Replacements oral history that came out last year were interesting since he was on top of the world when he got hired for the “All Shook Down” tour, whereas the other three Replacements were just running out the clock.

Foley was also in Bash & Pop, though from what I've read, Tommy Stinson played almost everything on their one album. It's a great album, though, superior to anything his more democratic band, Perfect, put out later in the '90s, and better than some of Westerberg's solo albums. Then again, it sounds like the answer to the question “What if Westerberg had left the Replacements after 'All Shook Down' but Stinson decided to carry on the Replacements' name and sound with a new set of musicians as revenge for being mostly left off of that session-musician-dominated final album?”

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:15:23 +0000

Dude, you lack commitment.

By: DwDunphy

DwDunphy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:11:21 +0000

Thanks, but if those are the rules, I'd rather suck.