Paul Westerberg
Paul Westerberg
Paul Harold Westerbergis an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter in The Replacements, one of the seminal alternative rock bands of the 1980s. He launched a solo career after the dissolution of that band. In recent years, he has cultivated a more independent-minded approach, primarily recording his music at home in his basement...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth31 December 1959
CityEdina, MN
CountryUnited States of America
I have my own language and it's high time I put a little of it out there.
I don't think there's anything that will make me stop doing it. There may be a time when it's not available to anyone. You may have to come listen at my basement window... but I can't stop.
I sat through Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones like three times at the Skyway when it came out.
The soul of rock 'n' roll is mistakes, and making mistakes work for you. The people who shy away from mistakes and play it safe have no business playing rock 'n' roll.
The hack songwriter will write the absolute truth every single word, whether it makes a great song or not.
I try to write for highest common denominator. I don't write for dumb people. I figure if everybody doesn't get it, that's OK. Someone bright enough will get it, and that's who I write for. It's probably not the way to make million-sellers. What can I say? I won't apologize for trying to write for smart people.
The sheer volumes of songs have come from the hours of cold and darkness that one spends inside with the lights on.
Nobody can miss you unless you go away.
Any musician who can stop may be a musician, but they're no artist. If it's in your blood, it can't stop flowing.
I think of the Replacements only when they're brought up to me. For two years, I'm at home, they don't really cross my mind. I still hear them on the radio. I'm not ashamed of anything we did.
Right now, it hasn't affected my music other than the fact that I don't have time to write any of it. That's no different from when I first started and I lived at home. I would play the guitar in the afternoon and then my mom or my dad would come home and I'd have to quit.
I'm constantly recording and playing down in the basement, and my voice is starting to sound really good. There's cracks and scratches in my voice that have been there since I was 19. It hasn't changed that much.
It's like, it's up to the people to fall in love with the song. The record company can only do so much.
Nobody gets married to a clever song, let alone falls in love to one.