Friday Night Is Killing Me is the first album by the American rock band Bash & Pop, released in 1993.[2][3] It was Tommy Stinson's first project after the dissolution of the Replacements.[4] The band supported the album with a North American tour that included dates opening for the Black Crowes.[5]
Production
The album was produced by Don Smith.[6] Stinson was unable to settle on a permanent band lineup, and ended up playing many of the instruments himself; it had already been his intention to switch from bass to guitar.[2][7] Members of the Heartbreakers also contributed to the recording, although Stinson wasn't in the studio during those sessions.[8] The album's last track, "First Steps", was originally demoed for the Replacements' Don't Tell a Soul.[4] Stinson took voice lessons in order to improve his singing on the album; he also asked Paul Westerberg to contribute some backing vocals.[9][10]
The Chicago Tribune wrote: "Once past the ersatz Faces riffs, Stinson writes the kind of midtempo heart-wrenchers (the title track, 'Tiny Pieces') and acoustic ballads ('Nothing', 'First Steps') that came a dime a dozen to the Replacements' Paul Westerberg."[14]The Washington Post decided that, "unlike Westerberg, Stinson doesn't show much aptitude for the change-of-pace track."[1]Trouser Press considered that "Stinson can do a credible imitation of Rod Stewart’s lurch and rasp might be enough for a journeyman career, but Friday Night is hardly the adult achievement his alma mater primed him for."[20]The Indianapolis Star thought that "it's something like nuclear fission—when a great band breaks apart, astonishing energy is released."[16] The Lincoln Journal Star noted that the album "avoids the retro feel of the Black Crowes and Izzy Stradlin."[17]
AllMusic wrote that "decades after its release, the album feels like a bit of the hangover from the '80s, a celebration of irreverent roots rock performed with an audible grin."[11]Magnet considered it "the best batch of songs by any Replacement since 1987’s Pleased To Meet Me."[21] The Spin Alternative Record Guide opined that it "got over on sheer bar-band enthusiasm."[22]
