Watch The Replacements Rock On The Tonight Show [VIDEO]

I realize I'm speaking to a relatively small portion of our audience (otherwise the band would have been far more successful), but to all my fellow Replacements fans: how cool was the performance last night on The Tonight Show?

Miss it? Here you go:

Of course, that's really only half of The Replacement. Bob Stinson passed away in the mid-90s and drummer Chris Mars has no interest in playing once again. But you've got guitarist/vocalist Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson and for many that's enough.

For those unfamiliar, The Replacements should have been one of the biggest bands of the 1980s, but poor timing, poor production, poor choices (getting banned from SNL doesn't help you sell records), and substance abuse of all kinds prevented them from reaching the heights of success. If you want to know more, a great place to start is Jim Walsh's oral history of the band, "All Over But the Shouting".

Paul Westerberg went on to have a moderately successful solo career after the band broke up on stage at the Taste of Chicago in 1991. His songs were featured in the movie "Singles" and more recently he scored the animated film "Open Season". I'm a huge fan of his music and songwriting and put him alongside David Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker as being two of the most underrated songwriters of the past 30 years or so.

Here's a couple of Westerberg tunes through the years. And if you only have change in the couch cushions for one Replacements/Westerberg album, I might recommend "Stereo/Mono". It's actually two albums in one -- Westerberg the singer/songwriter on "Stereo" and Westerberg as alter ego Grandpaboy rocking out on Mono.