Paul Westerberg: Beautiful loser

By Nick Smith

If you loved rock `n' roll in the 80s, only three bands mattered: REM, Husker Du and the Replacements.

You might ask, who was that third band? Indeed, while REM achieved monster success following a string of major label albums, and Husker Du almost cracked the big time, the Replacements are destined for eternal cult status.

Led by singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg, who has just released his third album Suicaine Gratifaction in his creatively erratic solo career, the Replacements should have achieved the sort of success and respect accorded REM.

That they didn't is as much their own fault as the mystery of musical success.

The Replacements were the spirit of rock `n' roll. And as such, they were always aiming for the stars while simultaneously shooting themselves in the foot.

You think this is hyperbole? When producer Tony Berg worked with the band on a major label album, Don't Tell A Soul, the wonderfully named guitarist Slim Dunlap several times threatened to kill him, while bassist Tommy Stinson destroyed a rented 100-year-old German upright and then admitted sabotaging the recording because Berg was "too young" to do the job.

Berg was subsequently replaced by Matt Wallace but recollects that he got to "spend 10 days in the studio with one of the best bands in the world and lived to tell the story."

Another tale in the Replacements legend involves the band stewing about the plan of Twin/Tone, its first label, to release their early albums on CD.

Following a drinking session, they stormed the office and grabbed as many of the master tapes as they could find and threw them into the Mississippi.

Rock writer Bill Flanagan said he was told that the band hoped that Prince, who lived in a big purple house down river, "would see the tapes floating by like baby Moses, retrieve them, play them and reconsider his musical approach."

Westerberg, on the phone from his home in Minneapolis, where he recorded Suicaine Gratifaction, confirms the story is true. Except he is not sure which master tapes were consigned to a watery grave.

"That was the last seriously dumb thing that we did," says Westerberg. "There was a loaded shotgun in the car, too. We thought it would be fun to pull it out, not that we did because we knew [the record company receptionist who let them in].

"We threw something into the Mississippi and I'm not exactly sure what it was. I think we threw in some outtakes and I think we threw in Stink. We didn't care what it was. We just went and grabbed it."

Implicit in Westerberg's admission is the fear that inferior material would be released by others who did not understand or share their creative vision.

The Replacements' and Westerberg's career are littered with examples of their refusal to compromise. It's called integrity, a word often used in the same sentence when discussing his music.

Yet what has that integrity earned Westerberg? His is a talent as under-rated and criminally ignored as Big Star's Alex Chilton, who is eulogised in the Replacements' should-have-been hit off Pleased to Meet Me.

Westerberg evinces a Zen-like attitude to his musical highs and career lows. He refers to himself in his press release as both has-been and hero.

"A liberated has-been. It's hard to be a hero and not be a has-been. Its only when one faction of people discard you that those who love you, love you even more. They are even more protective of you, the ones who were there to begin with."

Those fans are still there and do love Westerberg. Bill Flanagan calls him and the other Replacements "beautiful losers," which is as apt a description as any.

Westerberg calls his new album, Suicaine Gratifaction, "stuffed-up folk music," which is also apt if you accept that folk and blues is the basis of rock `n' roll.

Produced by Don Was, who says that "it seemed discourteous to clean up the mess after him [as] it wasn't appropriate to litter it with my own personal touches," it is rock music at its simplest.

Guitar, piano and Westerberg's inimitable voice. What more do you need?

He's never been to New Zealand but says the prospect is more appealing than playing New York again. However, he warns fans may be disillusioned if he ever made the trip.

"Have you ever met one of your heroes and been disappointed? I remember the time I met Van Morrison. I loved him and he was ...three sheets drunk to the wind. He was like kind of a dope. I still listen to his records but he personally let me down. I kind of wish I hadn't gone back stage."

As for the Replacements ever reforming, it is a forlorn hope.

"We succeeded. We took it to the pinnacle and for us to get back together and succeed would be to fail. And for us to get back together and fail again is like ... why?"

Pictured: Paul Westerberg