Stink [EP]

Something between a Single, an EP and an LP, clocking at a mere 15 minutes even though it has eight songs, Stink is also subtitled “Kids Don’t Follow” Plus Seven, indicating that the opening track pretty much leads the record, and is by far the biggest song here.

It came out after The Replacement’s' 1981 LP Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash and was recorded (in a single day!) in the same studio, with the same producers and line up as that album. The bratty adolescent punk attitude of Sorry Ma… is also pretty much repeated here, but with shorter, more aggressive music.

It was originally released by Twin/Tone in 1982, and 26 years later Rhino Records released a Deluxe edition with four extra tracks, all previously unreleased (although a live version of “Hey Good Lookin'” was released in 1984 as a b-side. Two of them (the Hank Williams cover “Hey Good Lookin'” and “Staples in her Stomach”) are from the same session as the rest of Stink; while Bill Haley & His Comets cover “Rock Around the Clock is from another studio session, and "You’re Getting Married” is a demo recorded by Paul Westerberg in his parents' basement.