The Shit Hits the Fans

The Shit Hits the Fans
Live album by The Replacements
Released	January 25, 1985
Recorded	November 11, 1984
Label	Twin/Tone

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Robert Christgau	B link

The Shit Hits the Fans is a Twin/Tone Records (TTR 8443) cassette-only live album by The Replacements which was released January 25, 1985. It was recorded live at The Bowery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on November 11, 1984. The cassette J-Card cover art is by Chris Mars. According to the Twin/Tone website, 10,000 copies were produced, of which 9,276 sold immediately. The rest were given away as promotional copies.

The source of The Shit Hits the Fans is a Maxell XL II-S audio cassette. Roscoe Shoemaker, manager and DJ at The Bowery asked Paul Westerberg, whom he knew from previous gigs at The Bowery, if he minded if he recorded the show, to which Westerberg replied, "Why? We suck." Shoemaker hung two microphones from the front of the deejay booth and recorded the show, which was performed in front of approximately 30 patrons. After the show, Shoemaker went to a party to see the band off as they left Oklahoma City before returning to Minneapolis. When Shoemaker went back to the club, the cassette tape was missing. According to soundman Terry Katzman, the tape was confiscated by sound man Bil Mack, who claimed to have confiscated it from a fan. The audio dropout heard during "Hear You Been to College" is caused by Paul Westerberg who accidentally pressed the record button on a Walkman while listening back to the master copy. If you listen closely he can be heard saying "Stop, 's' enough".

Of the twenty-four songs on the album only five songs are actually written by the band. The remaining nineteen are cover versions of songs by other artists.

The Bowery was demolished on March 22, 2007.

Track listing

1. "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (LLoyd Price)
2. "Ye Sleeping Knights of Jesus" (Robyn Hitchcock)
3. "Lovelines" (Paul Westerberg/Bob Stinson/Tommy Stinson/Chris Mars)
4. "I'll Be There" (Berry Gordy, Jr./Bob West/Hal Davis/Willie Hutch)
5. "Sixteen Blue" (Westerberg)
6. "Can't Hardly Wait" (Westerberg)
7. "I Will Dare" (Westerberg)
8. "Hear You Been to College" (Westerberg/Stinson/Stinson/Mars)
9. "Saturday Night Special" (Ed King/Ronnie Van Zant)
10. "Iron Man" (Butler/Iommi/Osbourne/Ward)
11. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Page/Plant/Jones)
12. "Heartbreaker" (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant)
13. "Can't Get Enough" (Mick Ralphs)
14. "Jailbreak" (Phil Lynott)
15. "Breakdown" (Tom Petty)
16. "No More the Moon Shines on Lorena" (Alvin Pleasant Carter)
17. "Merry-Go-Round" (Nikki Sixx)
18. "Left in the Dark" (Ken Draznik)
19. "Takin' Care of Business" (Randy Bachman)
20. "I Will Follow" (Hewson/Evans/Clayton/Mullen)
21. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (Jagger/Richards)
22. "Radio Free Europe" (Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)
23. "The New World" (Cervenka/Nommensen Duchac)
24. "Let It Be" (Lennon–McCartney)

• With corrected song titles and songwriter listings.