"I Will Dare" is a song by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band The Replacements, written by Paul Westerberg

Paul Westerberg

Paul Westerberg is an American musician, best known as the former lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter of The Replacements, one of the seminal alternative rock bands of the 1980s. He launched a solo career after the dissolution of that band...

. The song was released as a single on independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 Twin/Tone Records

Twin/Tone Records

Twin/Tone Records was a record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that operated from 1977 until 1994 and helped several local groups receive national attention. The label was born from the Minneapolis punk rock music scene, which included venues like Jay's Longhorn Bar. The label was begun by...

 in July 1984, shortly before the release of the band's album Let It Be that October, on which the song served as the opening track. Allmusic writes that the song "stands as perhaps the band's most beloved song and is a touchstone for their mid-'80s heyday, not to mention its status in the jangle

Jangle pop

Jangle pop is a genre of alternative rock from the mid-1980s that "marked a return to the chiming or jangly guitars and pop melodies of the '60s" bands such as The Byrds, with their electric twelve-string guitars and power pop song structures. Mid-1980s jangle pop was a non-mainstream "pop-based...

 and college rock

College rock

College rock is a term that was used in the United States to describe 1980s alternative rock before the term "alternative" came into common usage. The term's use of the word "college" refers to campus radio stations located at institutions of higher education in Canada and the United States, where...

 canons."

The song is based on a shuffle rhythm and features Paul Westerberg playing a mandolin. Peter Buck

Peter Buck

Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....

 of R.E.M. plays guitar on the song. Westerberg himself noted that the song's title was an apt motto for the band, and said, "We'll dare to flop [. . .] We'll dare to do anything."

For the single release, "I Will Dare" was backed by cover recordings

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of T.Rex's "20th Century Boy

20th Century Boy

"20th Century Boy" is a song by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. It was released as a single in 1973 and reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included as a bonus track on a reissue of 1973 album Tanx.It later returned to the UK Top 20 in...

" and Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'

Hey Good Lookin' (song)

"Hey Good Lookin" is a 1951 song written and recorded by Hank Williams, and his version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. Since its original 1951 recording it has been covered by a variety of artists.-Chart performance:...

." The cover of "Hey Good Lookin'" was recorded at a club performance in Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

. Although Replacements guitarist Bob Stinson

Bob Stinson

For the baseball player, see Bob Stinson Bob Stinson was the founding member and lead guitarist for the American rock band The Replacements.-The Replacements:...

 claimed his guitar solo on the recording was deliberately off-key, Stinson tried to grab the tape of the recording from his bandmates as they replayed it endlessly and laughed at the solo after the show.
The song has been included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Track listing

1. "I Will Dare" (Westerberg) – 3:18
2. "20th Century Boy
   20th Century Boy
   "20th Century Boy" is a song by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. It was released as a single in 1973 and reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included as a bonus track on a reissue of 1973 album Tanx.It later returned to the UK Top 20 in...
   
   " (Bolan)
3. "Hey Good Lookin'
   Hey Good Lookin' (song)
   "Hey Good Lookin" is a 1951 song written and recorded by Hank Williams, and his version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. Since its original 1951 recording it has been covered by a variety of artists.-Chart performance:...
   
   " (Williams)

External links

• [ "I Will Dare" single entry on Allmusic.com]