What’s so bad about Soul Asylum? Why does mere mention of them make the likes of Townsman misterioso “shiver?”
- Was their music all that bad, from their indie, poor man’s Replacements stuff to their giant hit song, “Runaway Train”?
- Is it the fact that they far exceded the popularity of their groundbreaking Twin Cities colleagues?
- Was it the expiration date passing on Dave Pirner‘s rat’s nest hair and severely ripped jeans?
- Was it the other guitarist’s lank mall-rat hair?
- Was it the fact that Pirner dated Winona Ryder while you didn’t?
Is it the fact that their commercial stuff and its “pro” production exposed them and much of that “heartland” ’80s “alternative rock” as little more than wannabe 1970s-era AOR, the kind of stuff Rock Town Hall’s patron saint of mediocrity, Bob Seger, and the likes of REO Speedwagon cranked out? Did Soul Asylum, The Replacements, et al suddenly pale next to a simple, direct artist from the tail end of ’70s AOR like Tom Petty?
While we’re on the subject, what’s going on with Pirner’s hair and jeans these days, and when’s the last time you thought about those big, honking cardboard boxes they used to house CDs in?
