Robert Neil Stinson (December 17, 1959 – February 18, 1995) was an American musician best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the rock band the Replacements.

Early life

Bob Stinson was born on December 17, 1959, in Waconia, Minnesota, to Neil and Anita Stinson. A year later, Anita gave birth to Lonnie. Neil was a disinterested father, and the couple soon divorced when Bob was two years old. Anita moved to California where she met a man who fathered two more children: Tommy and Lisa. He used Yes' "Roundabout" and Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way" to teach Tommy to play the instrument.

The Replacements never outgrew their juvenile garage band origins. Stinson described the unit as "four idiots on stage trying to one-up each other". Stinson won acclaim for his lead guitar on the band's first four albums. Spin raved, "Nobody could fuck up a guitar solo more beatifically than Bob Stinson".

thumb|Stinson (second from right) as part of [[The Replacements (band)|the Replacements in 1983]]

On Tim, the Replacement's first album for Sire Records, Stinson recorded his parts in one day. Producer Tommy Ramone had to figure out how to piece them together. In 1985, the power struggle between Stinson and Westerberg reached a breaking point. Due to Stinson's substance abuse, he was forced out of the band in the summer of 1986.

As their career continued, The Replacements spun Stinson's ouster as the result of a group maturation that he was unable to join. The myth was often parotted by the press. Westerberg claimed, "I ran out of ideas that Bob could shine on...we drank and took drugs a lot. All of that. But Bob thought that was the Replacements. He didn't understand, oh, we gotta play some music, too."

The band often shared stories of Stinson's misbehavior. While promoting 1989's Don't Tell a Soul, Westerberg claimed to a reporter Stinson was so out of it during the recording sessions for Tim that he had to tell Stinson where to put his hands on the guitar. The same article relentlessly depicts the band as a collection of drunks. In a 1993 profile of Stinson, Charles Aaron summed up the contradiction:<blockquote>"...Westerberg was spooked that the band was being pigeonholed as out-of-control boobs. So he contrived a reality for outsiders in which Bob was the out-of-control boob. Which wasn't too difficult, since Bob was drunk, high, or in a dress most of the time...But Westerberg's fatal contradiction was that he made the argument against Bob with a drink in his hand." The band performed live and they recorded an album at Nicollet Studios (Twin Tone) before breaking up in 1988.

That year, Stinson joined Static Taxi. Static Taxi recorded extensively, but their only commercial releases were posthumous compilations. Stinson also played with the local band Dog 994 around this time.

Stinson reteamed with Sonny Vincent in Shotgun Rationale. The band covered "Time Is Mine", by Vincent's earlier band the Testors. The cover featured guitarist Steve Brantseg from Tommy Stinson's post-Replacements band Bash & Pop. Shotgun Rationale's lineup changed constantly. At one point Stinson and Vincent invited Cheetah Chrome (of Dead Boys) to join the band.

His last band was the Bleeding Hearts, a bar band in the vein of The Rolling Stones. While he was in the band, he crashed on the couch of its singer Mike Leonard. Bleeding Hearts began recording an album in March 1993. They signed a record deal and completed the album in November. The album, Riches to Rags, was not released until 2022.

Stinson's last public performance was playing with Minneapolis country swing band Trailer Trash at Lee's Liquor Lounge in late 1994. They performed a version of Lefty Frizzell's "Lil 'Ol Wine Drinker Me".

Personal life

After the Replacements fired him, Stinson was diagnosed with manic depression. His mother recalled that he was diagnosed as psychotic when he was 12 but never received treatment. He was never a full-time musician again. He worked as a cook in various Twin Cities restaurants and hotels.

In the mid-1980s, Stinson married Carleen Krietler. The couple had a son Joey in 1989, who was profoundly disabled. Carleen filed for divorce around 1992. Joey died in 2010 at the age of 21.

Death

Stinson died on February 18, 1995. His body was found next to an unused syringe in his Uptown apartment. The media speculated he died from an overdose or "bad heroin". Two weeks later, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner disproved those rumors in a report stating Stinson died from organ failure as a result of his drug use. The assistant medical examiner told the press, "There is such a thing as total body failure. In general, all the organs - especially the liver - take a beating when they've been subject to years of excessive drug and alcohol abuse."

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash was played at Stinson's wake.

Discography

  • Shotgun Rationale, Beyond Rebellion (D.D.R., 1992).
  • Static Taxi, Stinson Blvd. (Rock X Change Music, 2000).
  • Static Taxi, Closer 2 Normal (Birdman Records, 2003).
  • Model Prisoners Featuring Sonny Vincent And Bob Stinson, Cow Milking Music (Disturbed Records, 2010).
  • The Bleeding Hearts, Riches to Rags (Fiasco/Bar None, 2022).

References

Further reading

  • Color Me Obsessed: A Film about the Replacements. Directed by Gorman Bechard. What Were They Thinking Films, 2012.
  • Sullivan, Bill. Lemon Jail: On the Road with the Replacements. University of Minnesota Press, 2018.
  • Walsh, Jim and Dennis Pernu. The Replacements: Waxed-Up Hair and Painted Shoes: The Photographic History. Voyageur Press, 2013.
  • Bob Stinson at Discogs.
  • "Interview with Bob Stinson", The Dewey Berger Show. Metro Cable Network. April 4, 1994.