read Paul Westerberg's tribute to Prince

There have been a lot of tributes to Prince from fellow musicians, but one that many people have been keeping an eye out for is fellow Minneapolis resident Paul Westberg who fronted The Replacements during the Purple One’s heyday. Today he wrote an essay in Rolling Stone talking about Prince’s influence and legacy, and sharing a few personal anecdotes as only Westerberg could:

My first recollection of seeing him was a dress rehearsal for one of his early tours. I was next to another musician, a couple other guys that were up-and-comers and that thought they were hot shit, and we were watching Prince. The guy turned to me and said, “I’m fucking embarrassed to be alive.” And that’s how I felt. He was so good. It was like, “What are we doing? This guy is, like, on a different planet than we are.” It was showmanship, it was rock & roll, it was fun, it was great. I think it helped everyone around. It made us all think that Minneapolis wasn’t the dour town that we tried to pretend it was. He was like a ray of light in a very cautious place. He was a star. He made no bones about it. He was glitz to a place that wasn’t used to it. I remember a little scuffle broke out in front of the stage one night and Prince said, “Stop fighting, you’ll mess up your clothes.”

It’s a terrific read, and you can check out Paul Westerberg’s warm, moving tribute to Prince at Rolling Stone.