University Of Minnesota Building Removes Replacements Photos

In 1985, hometown heroes the Replacements played a concert at Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota. The setlist looks awesome. (They covered “September Gurls”!) At the gig, Minnesota music photographer Daniel Corrigan, who shot the iconic rooftop photo of the ‘Mats that became the cover of Let It Be, snapped some shots of the band in the Coffman elevator. Until recently, framed copies of two of those photos could be seen hanging at Coffman, but as Minneapolis resident Tim Johnson pointed out on Twitter, they’ve been removed.

A university librarian with the Twitter account @snackeru visited Coffman to inquire about the photos and was told by someone at the welcome desk that the photos were removed due to student complaints. Allegedly the university fields “dozens and dozens” of complaints about the pics every year because one of them shows Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg smoking. The clerk said it’s possible the photos will be placed somewhere else in the building, but “it won’t be for a while.” This might be my “I am going to become the Joker” moment.

Coincidentally, Tommy Stinson has a new album out today, and we just published a fantastic interview with him. The phone number for Coffman is (612) 625-5000 in case you feel like lodging a complaint or, more in the spirit of the band, bombarding them with prank calls.