iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Chris Steller @chrissteller.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

42 years ago this month, September 1984, fans of a nascent musical subgenre called "college rock" were hearing a new Replacements song—"I Will Dare"—off a Twin/Tone Records 12" single that was fast becoming the Mats' first truly breakthrough release, weeks before the full "Let It Be" album came out.

Record cover says: The Replacements. I will dare. 12 inch 45. And a black and white photo is an alternate image of the band members sitting on a porch roof that was later on the cover of the album Let It Be

The back cover lists two b-side songs: 20th Century Boy by T. Rex, and Hey Good Lookin' by Hank Williams (Live). Along with the a side: I will dare

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batski @babski.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

20th Century Boy has to be one of the most covered rock songs there is

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Black Cheesebürder #MDANT Band Naming Expert @blackcheeseburger.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Do you have Wikipedia edit permissions? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_....

en.wikipedia.org

I Will Dare - Wikipedia

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Walter Mondale’s Ghost 🇺🇸🇩🇪🇺🇦🇨🇦☦️ @ghostofmondale.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing back in the day when I first heard it. It was anthemic, plaintive, gentle, daring, and spoke my language.

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Freealonzo @freealonzo.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I had the 12” single and it disappeared after a Como Avenue house party in 1985. If the absconder is reading this and still possesses, not too late to return.

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Shawn Lloyd @juliandouzaine.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I remember I had a vinyl record of a hip hop song from that record label in Minneapolis and that was prior to 1990 for sure! Twin Tone. I remember it.

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Jimmy Lonetti @djgloverepair.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This promo postcard I have is postmarked August 27 1984

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Heather Vitale @calivitale.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Thank you for the reminder of how great they are. My algorithm will be improved.

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Chris Steller @chrissteller.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

A review of the 12-inch single in the Sept. 12, 1984 Ann Arbor News was typical of the adulation "I Will Dare" was getting in college towns ahead of the LP's release—even if the paper gets the song title wrong as "I Will Stand" and the writer hears the lyric "Bacon & Seagrams, that's a lousy dinner"

THE REPLACEMENTS "I Will
Stand" (Twin Tone)
This is not merely a great record, but you also get all three sides of Minneapolis' death-defying Replacements conveniently carved into three very different tracks on one of the worthiest 12-inch releases of any track configuration this year.
The first side is taken up with a brilliant original song,
"I Will
Dare." As it tells the sad tale of love turned into leftovers (Bacon and Seagrams, that's a lousy dinner"), it also has you marveling by the end at how you can hear touches of the Beatles, Hermits, Monkees and the Lovin Spoonful.
Then you flip it over and you find that you really are hearing another side of the band, as the Replacements do a cover version of the late Marc Bolan's "20th Century Boy." This is probably the only cover ver-
sion of a Bolan tune that doesn't either sound like it was mixed through a tin can (like the Bongos'
"Mambo Sun"') or lose everything in the attempt to make it into disco.

Bolan tunes are guitar rockers, and the Re-boys' "20th Century" is grinding, intense - almost self-propelled.
k

Finally,
there's the Replace-
ments that Ann Arbor knows and loves, the sloppy, boozy live act that makes every show a cliff-e hanger - will they finish the set
- first, or fall off the stage. Out of
The Replacements worth a listen.
that unpredictability. however, they are capable of some powerful playing. The version of Hank Williams' classic "Hey Good Lookin' " here catches them somewhere in the middle of the spectrum,
loosely gallumphing
along, sloshing notes and beer all over the place.
The right producer could harness the Replacements compositional skills, the power they burn into the Bolan tribute and the earnest
looseness of the live shows. The result might take over the radios of the nation, or pulverize to dust in the fist of the recording engineer who handles it, but until then, you can't go wrong if you pick up on the three volative substances dished up here.
- HARMEN MITCHELL
Ann Arbor News

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