hrmph! “Let it Be” by the replacements only ranks as the 75th best rock-n-roll album of all time by a VH-1 panel. of course i think they are wrong, dead wrong. But here is what Jim Walsh (mmm, i love him) has to say about a certain song on that album:
“The material had clearly stepped up a notch. Or 12,” says Twin/Tone Records co-founder and then-Replacements manager Peter Jesperson. “Paul (Westerberg) called me in February or March of ’83, and said, `I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written, and we’ve got to record it right now.’ I was like, `Paul, we can’t do that, we don’t have any money. We just did `Hootenanny.’ ”

The song was “I Will Dare,” which, when finally recorded with Westerberg playing mandolin and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck doing the guitar solo, became the lead track to “Let It Be.” In July 1984, Twin/Tone uncorked the 12-inch single of “I Will Dare,” backed with covers of Hank Williams’ “Hey Good Lookin’ ” and T. Rex’s “20th Century Boy.”

go read this story. it’s awesome and i so love, love, love, love the replacements.