Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
Bob ‘Slim’ Dunlap, the Minnesota-born guitarist who rose to fame as the final guitarist for Minneapolis punk outfit The Replacements, has died at the age of 73.
Per a report from The Minnesota Star Tribune, Dunlap passed away early in the afternoon on Wednesday (Dec. 18). His cause of death was said to be related to the stroke he suffered in 2012 that not only left him bedridden, but unable to play music anymore.
“Bob passed at home today at 12:48 p.m. surrounded by family,” a statement shared by his family read. “We played him his Live at the Turf Club (Thank You Dancers!) CD, and he left us shortly after listening to his version of ‘Hillbilly Heaven’ — quite poignant. It was a natural decline over the past week. Overall it was due to complications from his stroke.”
Born in 1951, Dunlap began playing guitar at a young age and rose to local attention in the late ’70s while performing with Curtiss A (aka Curt Almsted). Almsted later formed the punk-influenced Spooks, which featured Dunlap on guitar and caught the attention of The Replacements’ Paul Westerberg.
At the time, Westerberg had been seeking a replacement for founding guitarist Bob Stinson, who was ousted in 1986. Though Dunlap initially declined Westerberg’s offer to join the band, the decision was later reversed due to his admiration for Westerberg’s songwriting.
Adopting the name ‘Slim’ to avoid confusion with Stinson, Dunlap fittingly became known as “the replacement Replacement” by many fans. He performed with The Replacements from 1987 until their dissolution in 1991, appearing on 1989’s Don’t Tell a Soul and 1990’s All Shook Down albums.
Following The Replacements’ split, Dunlap launched a solo career, releasing The Old New Me in 1993 and Times Like This in 1996, and remained active in the local scene until his musical career came to an end in 2012 following a stroke.
A number of artists, including The Replacements, Steve Earle, The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, Jakob Dylan, Frank Black, and Jeff Tweedy, all contributed to the 2013 Songs for Slim compilation to raise money for his recovery.
Dunlap’s final release, Thank You, Dancers!, was released in 2020 and featured recordings from a 2002 live performance at St. Paul’s Turf Club.
Share
Advertisement
Share
Lady Gaga has reflected on her mixed views to her 2017 Coachella headline set, and said that she is looking to redeem herself in 2025.
The line-up for the 2025 edition of the California festival was shared last month, with it being confirmed that it’d be Lady Gaga headlining, alongside Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott.
For Gaga, the event marks her second time taking the top of the bill at the event, as she headlined for the first time back in 2017. Initially, it was Beyonce who was set to headline seven years ago, however the singer was forced to pull out after announcing that she was pregnant with twins.
Now, ahead of the 2025 edition, Lady Gaga has looked back at her first time headlining at the site, and said that there are aspects she wishes she could have done differently, but was unable to due to the time constraints.
“Well, for reasons totally outside of my control, there was a cancellation,” she began in a new interview with LA Times, recalling what she meant by previous comments in which she said she “wants to go back and to do it right”.
“I really wanted to be there for music fans, and at the time there was all this excitement to be able to film bits of A Star Is Born at Coachella. But I only had two weeks [to prepare for the show],” she explained.
“So to design a stage, to have it made, all of those things — I didn’t have the time to totally do what I really wanted to do,” she added. “I love music. I love performing. I love music fans. And I was so excited to film pieces of our movie there. So I did it, and I loved it. But you know when you have a vision in your mind of how you want to do something? It’s time to make it happen.
Gaga also went on to share her outlook on music festivals as a whole, and explain how they played a big part in her upbringing.
“Music festivals to me are part of the community of music. I used to go to Bonnaroo a lot, actually, when I was younger,” she recalled. “It’s a place to just put pause on everything for a minute. You fall into everybody around you, and you fall into the music and the lights. I don’t think there’s anything that’s affected me as deeply in my life as live music. There’s something for me that’s religion about it.”
The comments in the new interview align with the update Gaga shared last month, as she was confirmed for the 2025 instalment. Taking to Instagram, she wrote: “I have long dreamed of throwing a massive night of chaos in the desert. I’ve had a vision I’ve never been able to fully realise at Coachella for reasons beyond our control but I wanted to come through for music fans.
“I have been wanting to go back and to do it right, and I am. I’m headlining and starting the weekend off at Coachella. Can’t wait to hear you all singalong and dance dance DANCE till we drop.” Check out the post above
Coachella 2025 is set to take place from April 11-13 and April 18-20.
Other major acts on the line-up include Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, solo performances from BLACKPINK‘s Lisa and Jennie, Benson Boone, the original Misfits, Zedd, The Prodigy, FKA Twigs, Beabadoobee, Clairo, Enhypen and more.
Coachella 2024 was headlined by Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat and Tyler, The Creator and also saw the return of No Doubt and more. Check out NME‘s overall recap of the 2024 festival here.
As for other Lady Gaga news, recently the pop icon was one of three guests on Apple TV’s A Carpool Karaoke Christmas, which dropped over the weekend (December 15). She joined Lowe alongside fellow guests Chappell Roan and Dua Lipa to perform festive classics as well as their own hits.
She was later joined by AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson for a karaoke duet of the band’s 1979 hit ‘Highway To Hell’ and revealed that she was once an extra in one of the band’s music videos.
Before then, the ‘Born This Way’ singer shared dramatic new single ‘Disease’ – which is the first taster of her new album. Little is known about the record yet, although it has been dubbed as ‘LG7’ by fans and is expected to arrive next February.
The track saw Lady Gaga make her return to pop, and follows on from ‘Harlequin’ – a companion album to her film Joker: Folie à Deux.
Explaining what fans can expect from the LP, she told Rolling Stone that ‘Disease‘ felt like “a way into the chaos of the album, which is kind of exercises in chaos – different sides of who I am as a person”.
Share
Advertisement
