After finding some initial success with the Replacements, Bob’s value as the wild card in the band and his penchant for zany rock and roll shenanigans is gradually overwhelmed by crippling substance abuse that takes precedent over his role in the band. A predictable period of bad behavior from Bob defines his life up until he starts a band (Dogbreath) with some friends and his little brother Tommy. Anita is able to escape back to Minnesota after leaving Nick in the middle of the night in Florida. Unfortunately, half-brother Tommy’s father Nick Stinson would be responsible for damaging abuse that would scar both Bob and sister Lonnie. Ignored and cast off by his biological father, young Bob deals with mother Anita’s cavalcade of men throughout his life. The elder Stinson’s life story is so tragic it borders on complete absurdity. Bob Stinson Bob Stinson is the beating heart of the band, and they end up losing their way following his not unjustified dismissal from the group.
Westerberg recounts that the scene is exceedingly overwhelmingly depressing, and Mehr uses the moment to highlight the extreme misfortune sometimes a result of their own self-destructive impulses that plagued the group.
Bob’s ex-wife Carleen is accompanied by her and Bob’s son Joey who is confined to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy from a childhood fever. The profile opens in 1995 at Bob Stinson’s funeral where the band members have reunited after a protracted acrimonious dissolution of the band following 1990’s All Shook Down. It’s an essential read that digs deep into the psyche of this singular band. The book oscillates between hilarious rock and roll hijinks and depressingly hungover reality checks.
The biography tracks the members’ childhoods up until the most recent Replacements reunions within the last few years. Constructed over a 10-year period, Mehr draws upon band archives and interviews with surviving members and associates to synthesize an insanely detailed dissection into each individual member of the band. Bob Mehr’s exhaustive biography Trouble Boys is an engrossing, meticulously researched portrayal of a band that simultaneously strived for and self-destructed against attaining legendary status.
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