With his latest solo outing Suicaine Gratifaction, former Replacements leader Paul Westerberg embraces his dark side with the passion of a proud father (which he recently became). The music business has not been kind to this brilliant tunesmith, whose aggressive rock ΓÇÿnΓÇÖ roll angst shredded the late ΓÇÖ80s with a melodic, intelligent, and often drunken rebelliousness that predated the Nirvanas, Soul Asylums, and Goo Goo Dolls that followed in his path. With such genius albums as Tim and Pleased To Meet Me to their credit, the Replacements got screwed when it came to promotional support (not to mention the fame & fortune thing), and the band ultimately split apart to issue solo records that never duplicated the raucous profundity of their collective works. When asked whether the bad boy Replacements would get a record deal in the current business climate, Westerberg replied, "[The industry] would be afraid of us. They wouldnΓÇÖt sign us todayΓÇôespecially if we were 19 and in our prime. WeΓÇÖd probably be the quietest band in the world. On purpose. I donΓÇÖt think weΓÇÖd have any difficulty in pissing everybody off all over again." This exclusive video of WesterbergΓÇÖs "Whatever Makes You Happy" was shot by Don Was and appears only in LAUNCH.
