The Sons of No One

"'They laughed in the face of stardom,' says their A and R guy at Sire, 'yet got really pissed off if you didn't treat them like a star.' As the divine nobody tasked with holding it all together, Westerberg appeared to be splitting at the seams. He was a fuck-up; he was a striver. He was the sensitive one; he was the asshole who drove the lighting guy to tears. Jim Walsh, the compiler of All Over but the Shouting, describes a bootleg video of the 'Mats playing 'Bastards of Young,' their own blank generation anthem, at a speedway arena. At the end of the song, Westerberg says either 'I love you' or 'Fuck you,' you can't tell which. Exactly."

Stephen Metcalf in Slate praises the Replacements.