All Shook Down

The record was first meant to be Westerberg's solo debut, and his management talked him into making it a Replacements album before recording began. Many session musicians play on it alongside the other three Replacements. Westerberg told Musician magazine there were four drummers on it. Mars brought in a cassette of his own four-track songs, and when Westerberg rejected them he decided to leave. Charley Drayton had already replaced him on a few tracks. John Cale plays viola on Sadly Beautiful, and Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde duets with Westerberg on My Little Problem. The acoustic Attitude may be the only track with the whole band playing together.

Merry Go Round reached number one on Modern Rock Tracks for four non-consecutive weeks. Mars left in November 1990, his last appearance as a Replacement being the Merry Go Round video, and Steve Foley played the six-month All Shook Down Tour of 1991. The claymation and live-action video for When It Began was nominated for Best Alternative Video and Best Special Effects at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, and the album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. Rolling Stone ranked it third among its albums of 1990. Rhino reissued it in 2008 with 11 extra tracks.