Unlike many of their underground contemporaries, the Replacements played "heart-on-the-sleeve"[12] rock songs which combined Westerberg's "raw-throated adolescent howl"[13] with self-deprecating lyrics.

With Mars playing guitar and then switching to drums, the trio called themselves "Dogbreath" and began covering songs by Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Yes[14] without a singer.

[8] In contrast to the rest of the band, the relatively disciplined Westerberg appeared at rehearsals in neat clothes and insisted on practicing songs until he was happy with them.

[22] In an unpublished memoir, Mars later explained the band's choice of name: "Like maybe the main act doesn't show, and instead the crowd has to settle for an earful of us dirtbags...

Westerberg originally handed in the tape to see if the band could perform at Jay's Longhorn Bar, a local venue where Jesperson worked as a disc jockey.

Their "balls-to-the-wall hardcore punk attempt",[36] their first EP Stink, containing "Kids Don't Follow" and seven other songs, was released in June 1982, six months after a show in Chicago.

The Replacements toured venues on the East Coast, including a tense gig at City Gardens, in Trenton, New Jersey where numerous punks lined the edge of the stage as the band played.

Bob Stinson was thrown out as soon as he walked in the door, and the Replacements were the last of five bands, which meant they played in the early morning on a Monday night.

[44] By that time, the Replacements had grown tired of playing loud and fast exclusively; Westerberg said, "Now we're softening a little where we can do something that's a little more sincere without being afraid that someone's not going to like it or the punks aren't going to be able to dance to it.

[48] Robert Christgau gave the album an A+,[49] and the Seattle Rocket critic Bruce Pavitt called Let It Be "mature diverse rock that could well shoot these regional boys into the national mainstream".

After playing an out-of-tune "Bastards of Young" (during which Westerberg audibly called out "Come on fucker" just off-mic) the band returned to stage wearing mismatched iterations of each other's clothing and performed "Kiss Me on the Bus" while completely intoxicated.

"[60] Stinson preferred the louder, faster style of the band's early music, while Westerberg was exploring new territory in ballads like "Here Comes a Regular" and "Swingin' Party".

While the move cost the Replacements the appreciation of some hardcore fans, the album had some notable songs, such as "Achin' to Be" and "I'll Be You", the latter of which topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart.

The band then made a second appearance on network television, on the short-lived ABC program International Rock Awards, for which they performed a typically energetic version of "Talent Show" and caused a minor controversy when Westerberg responded to the network's censoring of the "feeling good from the pills we took" line by inserting an uncensored "It's too late to take pills, here we go" at the end of the song.

All Shook Down won critical praise and more mainstream attention and its debut single "Merry Go Round" again topped the Modern Rock charts.

Steve Foley was recruited as Mars's replacement in 1990, and the band toured with Elvis Costello in June 1991, the final show being at Madison Square Garden.

Dunlap kept a low national profile but remained active in the Twin Cities music scene until suffering a massive stroke in 2012, which left him without the ability to move or eat.

[66] In 2004, active members of the band performed as the fictional Christian Rock group, Godflight, in Brian Dannelly's cult classic satirical black comedy, Saved!, starring Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Eva Amurri, and Macaulay Culkin.

Session musician Josh Freese (the Vandals, ex-A Perfect Circle, and ex-Guns N' Roses) played drums on the two tracks; Mars contributed backing vocals.

[67] On October 3, 2012, it was announced that the Replacements had re-formed and that Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were in the studio recording an EP containing song cover versions.

Titled Songs for Slim, the EP was sold in a 250-copy edition of 10" vinyl and auctioned online to benefit former bandmate Dunlap, who had suffered a stroke.

[9] In November 2012, the documentary filmmaker Gorman Bechard released Color Me Obsessed, a film which tells the band's story through the eyes of their most ardent fans.

[74] Monsoon rains cancelled the Summer Ends Music Festival in Tempe, Arizona, on September 27, 2014, resulting in their only indoor show of the tour when it was moved to the Marquee Theatre.

T-shirts Westerberg had worn to previous shows had hinted at this outcome: each shirt had two letters on it (one each on front and back) spelling out, "I have always loved you.

"[81] In a September 2015 interview, Stinson discussed the band working on new studio material, stating, "it was one of those things: We dipped our toe in the water, and it didn't feel so good."

As a reviewer succinctly observed, the band could quite often be "mouthing profanities into the camera, stumbling into each other, falling down, dropping their instruments, and generally behaving like the apathetic drunks they were.

It was not uncommon for the group to play entire sets of cover versions, ranging anywhere from Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69" to Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog".

The band has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue,[84] recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue.

Lou and Nick contemplate their lives and the possibility of changing the past in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine while "I Will Dare" plays in the background.

In what could be considered the only case of the Replacements somewhat receiving any official recording industry accolades, the band's biographer Bob Mehr received the Best Album Notes trophy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021 for his liner notes on the 2019 box set Dead Man's Pop, which is itself an anniversary reissue of their 1989 album Don't Tell a Soul.