The Replacements were a genuinely innovative band. On a song like this, which doesn’t sound super new 35 years down the line, it can be hard to appreciate how cutting edge they were.
The song has a 2kool4skool apathy about it. ‘Quitting school and going to work and never going fishing’. Apparently the song is about putting on a front of not caring to hide vulnerabilities – in particular the band playing their music live.
The band were notorious for their drunken live performances. But maybe it was just armour!
“Swingin’ Party” was released in 1985 on Tim.