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Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Studio album by The Replacements
Released	August 25, 1981
Recorded	July 1980, March–June 1981
Genre	Punk rock; hardcore punk;
Length	36:47
Label	Twin/Tone
Producer	Paul Westerberg, Peter Jesperson, Steven Fjelstad
The Replacements chronology

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is the first studio album by the American band The Replacements. It was released on August 25, 1981 by Twin/Tone Records. Squarely inspired by punk rock, the album stands in contrast to the power pop and indie rock styles of later albums.

Music and lyrics

The beginning of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" can be heard at the beginning of the track "Rattlesnake".

The track "Somethin' to Dü" is a reference to the band Hüsker Dü, contemporaries of The Replacements and their Saint Paul counterparts.^[1] The track "Johnny's Gonna Die" is a reference to guitarist Johnny Thunders of the Heartbreakers and New York Dolls, specifically his heroin addiction. Thunders died in 1991.^[2]

Release

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash was released on August 25, 1981 by the independent record label Twin/Tone Records.^[3] Before settling on a title for the album, Westerberg considered the names Unsuitable for Airplay and Power Trash.^[4]

The song "I'm In Trouble" was released as a single on August 7, 1981, containing an outtake, "If Only You Were Lonely", as its B-side.^[5] The album was remastered and reissued by Rhino Entertainment on April 22, 2008, with 13 additional tracks and liner notes by Peter Jesperson.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, on October 22, 2021, Rhino Entertainment released a deluxe edition of the newly remastered album. Featuring 100 tracks spread across 4CDs and 1LP, it includes unreleased demos, alternative takes/mixes, and a previously unreleased 27-track live concert recorded on January 23, 1981 at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.^[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
Pitchfork Media	9.4/10^[7]
Punknews.org	^[8]
The Village Voice	B+^[9]

In a 1982 Trouser Press review, Robert Payes described the "I'm in Trouble" single, which was taken from the album, as "(p)ower pop with the emphasis on power, roaring guitars and energy galore."^[10] In The Boston Phoenix, Milo Miles said that "One of the gratifying twists of Sorry, Ma, Forgot To Take Out the Trash is that the Replacements are uninterested in (though not unaware of) adolescence and garage rock as pervasive, self-referential pop mythologies."^[11]

Retrospectively, AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine considered Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash to be "one of the best LPs the entire scene produced in the early '80s."^[3] In a very positive review, Punknews.org praised the album for being different from its counterparts of the hardcore punk scene, stating that the album "never sacrificed its pop appeal for throat-searing screams and whiplash speed."^[8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Paul Westerberg, except where noted

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Takin' a Ride"		2:23
2.	"Careless"		1:08
3.	"Customer"		1:29
4.	"Hangin' Downtown"		2:06
5.	"Kick Your Door Down"		3:11
6.	"Otto"		2:09
7.	"I Bought a Headache"		2:24
8.	"Rattlesnake"	Westerberg, Bob Stinson, Tommy Stinson, Chris Mars	1:48
9.	"I Hate Music"	Westerberg, B. Stinson, T. Stinson, Mars	1:50
10.	"Johnny's Gonna Die"		3:32
11.	"Shiftless When Idle"		2:18
12.	"More Cigarettes"		1:20
13.	"Don't Ask Why"		1:57
14.	"Somethin' to Dü"		1:41
15.	"I'm in Trouble"		2:10
16.	"Love You Till Friday"		1:53
17.	"Shutup"		1:23
18.	"Raised in the City"		1:59

Expanded edition bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
19.	"Raised in the City" (demo)		2:16
20.	"Shutup" (demo)		1:39
21.	"Don't Turn Me Down" (demo)		1:54
22.	"Shape Up" (demo)		2:11
23.	"You Ain't Gotta Dance" (demo)		2:24
24.	"Get on the Stick" (demo)		1:39
25.	"Oh Baby" (demo)		1:18
26.	"Like You"		1:44
27.	"Get Lost"		2:27
28.	"A Toe Needs a Shoe"	Bob Stinson	2:09
29.	"Customer" (alternate take)		2:09
30.	"Basement Jam"	Westerberg, Stinson, Stinson, Mars	3:32
31.	"If Only You Were Lonely" (from "I'm in Trouble", 1981)		2:53