Answering machine: The Let It Be anniversary quiz

In the history of music, there are weak years, there are good years, and there are years that are just ridiculous when it comes to quality. 1984 was totally absurd. Mainstream or indie, there was something for everybody: Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A., Prince's Purple Rain, Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual (which actually came out in 1983 but pummeled the airwaves with singles the next year), Run-D.M.C.'s self-titled debut, Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, The Minutemen's Double Nickels On The Dime. And in the middle of all that greatness, a record put out by a small Minneapolis label called Twin/Tone landed at No. 4 on The Village Voice's 1984 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. The Replacements' Let It Be is now considered a landmark record for indie rock, filled with frustration and love, outrage and frivolity. It paved the way for countless flippant but sensitive rockers whose patron saints—Paul Westerberg, Bob and Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars—seemed, in turns, wise beyond their years and wildly immature. To celebrate the album's 25th anniversary, local musicians are paying tribute to the band at First Avenue and the 7th St. Entry on Nov. 27. The Twin Cities are riddled with people who claim to be Replacements experts, so why not take The A.V. Club's quiz, tally your score, and ask yourself, "Are you satisfied?"

1. Local photographer Daniel Corrigan shot the band sitting on the roof of an Uptown home for the album's cover. Who owned the house?

A. Band manager Peter Jesperson
B. Daniel Corrigan
C. The Stinsons' mother
D. Westerberg's roommate

2. Before deciding to call the album Let It Be as a way of taunting Beatles fan Jesperson, which two of the following titles did the band consider?

A. Get A Soft On
B. Let It Bleed
C. Closer Than You Know
D. Kind Of A Sewer

3. Which two cover songs were featured on the single for "I Will Dare"?

A. Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock"
B. Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'"
C. T. Rex's "20th Century Boy"
D. An alternate version of Kiss' "Black Diamond"

 4. R.E.M.'s Peter Buck was a good friend of the band and even played the guitar solo on "I Will Dare." During one visit to Minneapolis, Buck and Westerberg nearly got into a fight with customers in which Northeast restaurant?

A. The Modern Cafe
B. McDonald's
C. Jax Cafe
D. White Castle

5. The band derided "phony rock 'n' roll" in the anti-MTV "Seen Your Video." The video for which later track further mocked the medium with a single shot of a speaker?

A. "Can't Hardly Wait"
B. "Bastards Of Young"
C. "Here Comes A Regular"
D. "I'll Be You"

6. Before reviewing the album, Rolling Stone contacted Jesperson to confirm what?

A. The spelling of "Westerberg"
B. The lyrics to "Unsatisfied"
C. Whether the band had been signed by a major label yet
D. Which song was the single

7. In his review of the album, The Village Voice's Robert Christgau wrote, "Bands like this don't have roots, or principles either, they just have —"

A. "frustration and guitars."
B. "riffs and the beer to fuel them."
C. "well-worded complaints."
D. "stuff they like."

8. The Shit Hits The Fans, a bootleg tape that was subsequently released by Twin/Tone, was recorded in what city during the band's 1984 tour?

A. Oklahoma City
B. Austin
C. New York
D. Omaha

9. Which indie-rocker wrote about Let It Be for the album-based 33 1/3 book series?

A. The Decemberists' Colin Meloy
B. The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle
C. Art Brut's Eddie Argos
D. My Morning Jacket's Jim James

10. As of 2007, about how many copies of Let It Be had Twin/Tone sold?

A. 250,000
B. 300,000
C. 350,000
D. 400,000

Click here for answers.