Pleased to Meet Me


Pleased to Meet Me is the fifth studio album by the American rock band the Replacements, released on March 3, 1987 by Sire Records. The album reached No. 131 on the Billboard 200 and later appeared at No. 3 in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1987. Critics have described the record as a ragged strain of power pop that broadened the band's early punk approach.

Background and recording

Pleased to Meet Me is the only album recorded by the band as a trio. After their previous album Tim, guitarist Bob Stinson was no longer with the band. Stinson was still a member when the album's demos were recorded in August 1986. He only showed up for one recording session.
The main recording sessions for the album took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis between November 1986 and January 1987, under the supervision of producer Jim Dickinson. Producer Jim Dickinson attempted to involve Bob Stinson in the sessions and even floated the working title Where's Bob? as a nod to Stinson’s absence.
Guitarist Bob "Slim" Dunlap joined the band soon after the recording sessions.

Music and lyrics

While the punk roots of the group were still apparent on Tim, by Pleased to Meet Me they were there more in spirit as the band delved into other genres, such as soul and cocktail jazz, alongside tracks featuring their customary hard rocking sound. Reviewers noted a shift toward hook-forward power pop and the addition of horns and cocktail-jazz flourishes, while retaining the group’s rough edges. David Fricke called it “alive with the crackle of conflicting emotions and kamikaze rock & roll fire,” and later writers have framed the record as wounded, ragged power pop.

Artwork and release

The album's cover art mocks the band's transition from young punks to successful musicians with a major record deal, depicting a handshake between one person clad in a suit, starched white shirt, glitzy watch and diamond ring and the other wearing a ripped workshirt. Westerberg was the man in the ripped shirt, but his face was not shown in the shot used on the cover. Westerberg said, "That was Tommy's line. Whether he took it from Johnny Rotten, I don’t know. 'Pleased to meet me, the pleasure is all yours.' We had to hire a hand model for the major-label rich guy because nobody in the band owned a watch." The self-mocking tone continues on the song, "I Don't Know", with its chorus, "One foot in the door/The other one in the gutter."
Pleased to Meet Me was released in 1987 by Sire Records and peaked at No. 131 on the Billboard Music Chart's Top 200. According to Our Band Could Be Your Life author Michael Azerrad, the album sold "about 300,000 copies".
On September 23, 2008, Pleased to Meet Me was remastered and reissued by Rhino Entertainment with 11 additional tracks consisting of studio demos, B-sides, and alternate takes. New liner notes were written by Peter Jesperson.
In 2020, Rhino Entertainment released a deluxe edition that contained 3 CDs and 1 LP.

Censorship and the "The Ledge" video

A video for “The Ledge” was rejected by MTV, whose standards department objected to the song’s narrative involving a suicide attempt. Contemporary coverage described the decision within a broader late-1980s debate on music-video content and teen suicide.

Commercial performance

The album peaked at No. 131 on the Billboard 200 and ultimately sold in the neighborhood of 300,000 copies, according to journalist Michael Azerrad.

Critical reception

Pleased to Meet Me was acclaimed by music critics. Writing for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described it as "an album alive with the crackle of conflicting emotions and kamikaze rock & roll fire." In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that Pleased to Meet Me "was the last time could still shoot for the stars and seem like their scrappy selves and, in many ways, it was the last true Replacements album". The album appeared at number three in The Village Voices Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1987. In 2012, Paste placed the record at number 70 on its list of "The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s".

Personnel