Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#64: Paul Westerberg “Dyslexic Heart”
Few Replacements fans would probably count “Dyslexic Heart” as a career highlight for frontman Paul Westerberg, but then again, there’s no arguing with those people. Replacements fans are as prickly as Paul himself. More than anything, “Dyslexic Heart” just seemed a little weird: Not only is Westerberg’s first solo single a bubblegum tune from one of the scrappier songwriters of his generation, it also stuck out like a sore thumb on the 1991 Singles soundtrack. Westerberg and Smashing Pumpkins were the only non-Northwest acts on that soundtrack, and you could argue that Smashing Pumpkins belonged in grunge’s company on the basis of their guitar blare alone. Not “Dyslexic Heart,” however. Whatever distorted reality brought Westerberg together with Cameron Crowe’s ode to early-’90s Seattle isn’t worth complaining about. When Westerberg made his comeback in the early ’00s (read all about it here), he did so with tattered, lo-fi songs recorded in his basement. Some of us just prefer music to sound the other, prettier way.
One reply on “120 Reasons To Live: Paul Westerberg”
there’s nothing wrong with replacements fans. they’re fine and reasonable people. and so was the band, for as kick ass as they were.