I feel very fortunate to have landed in college radio just when I did, but I must admit that sometimes I wish I’d gotten there just a couple years earlier. There was a lot to get excited about during my tenure: the emergence of Sonic Youth as a left of the dial powerhouse, the flaring Madchester scene, the seismic impact of Nirvana, and I’ll always remember the spring of 1989 with great fondness as a time when there was an overwhelming avalanche of great records. Still, I never had the pleasure of seeing a brand new album by either Hüsker Dü or The Smiths in our Heavy Rotation stack, nor did I have the opportunity to play a brand new release from Elvis Costello on Columbia or R.E.M. on I.R.S. I’d argue that Camper Van Beethoven peaked right before I got there, and so did The Jesus and Mary Chain. But nothing gives me that pang quite so fiercely as the wish that I’d been there for more of The Replacements’ unsatisfied ramble through the music industry.

While I love both of the Replacments records that came out while I was there–even if the conventional wisdom is to disregard them as too commercial or too wimpy or something–I would have loved to play songs from Let It Be or Tim or (especially) Pleased to Meet Me when the first pressing was liberated from the sleeve for the first time. I would have loved to see them play Madison when they were setting up in the corner of a dingy club rather than standing incongruously on the stage of the Civic Center.

The Replacements loomed large for me, so I was quick to follow the various band members to their new projects once the group splintered. The first solo single from Paul Westerberg naturally demanded attention, but I also personally provided generous airplay to Tommy Stinson’s new band Bash & Pop and latecomer Slim Dunlap’s solo debut. In some ways, though, my greatest affection was reserved for the solo work of drummer Chris Mars. This was in part due to the relative novelty of a drummer strapping on a guitar and stepping up to the mike, but it also had something to do with the devil-may-care quality of his songs which came across as the most genuine extension of the Replacements’ legacy. The songs were loose, catchy, a little goofy. In other words, they were everything that once defined The Mats and had been set aside as Paul Westerberg devoted himself to mastering the perfect pop song.

Retroactively, I also have a great appreciation for Chris Mars because any talk about a tour that cropped up around the time of the momentary reunion to record songs for the band’s “Best Of” album were usually stymied by citing his disinterest to stray from his successful painting career. Being spared the spectacle of one of the band’s I revere most leeching off of their legacy at Houses of Blues from coast to coast is reason enough to elevate Chris Mar to hero status.

Chris Mars, “Popular Creeps”

(Disclaimer: I do believe that the album that is home to the song above is out of print and therefore unavailable through any means that would provide compensation to both the artist and the proprietor of your favorite friendly neighborhood record store. If I’m mistaken, or if any reason whatsoever inspires someone with due authority to make such a request to ask for its removal, I will promptly and gladly comply.)