Paul Westerberg’s T-Shirts Have a Message for You About The Replacements’ Breakup

As you may’ve heard, last week at Optimus Primavera Sound, America’s slurringest rock band, The Replacements, announced that their three-year reunion run had come to a close, ending their tenure right there on stage. A huge disappointment for their loyal fanbase of middle-aged bartenders, but then again, much like routing for the New York Jets, disappointment sort of comes with the territory of being a Replacements fan.

Reunions in general always come with a sense of skepticism to begin with, but in the case of The Replacements, their sincerity was particularly questionable. Something about the inherent slacker nature of the band made it hard to take their commitment seriously. The name of their reunion tour, “Back by Unpopular Demand,” didn’t help their case.

Over the weeks leading up to the announcement, fans and blogs have taken notice of frontman Paul Westerberg’s shirts on this last tour, each night's shirt spraypainted with a different letter on the front and back, spelling out a message. The Facebook group Paul’s Shirt has deciphered it to read:

“I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED YOU. NOW I MUST WHORE MY PAST.”

Much like everything involving The Replacements, this has lent itself to some debate. We now know that Westerberg seemed to be foreshadowing the breakup announcement, of course. But to what and who was Paul referring, specifically? There are a few theories going around. Let us throw them out here, batshit or not.

One theory is that he is referring to his ex-wife, from whom he recently divorced and was without a source of steady income according to a 2014 Star Tribune article.

Another theory considers the possibility that it’s a reference to Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap, whose severe stroke in 2012 lead to the benefit comp, Songs for Slim, and whose illness and medical bills are often believed to be the impetus for the band’s reunion shows.

Or maybe, and this is just us throwing shit at the wall, Paul’s just talking about The Replacements in general. Maybe he loved that damned drunken shitshow of a band and was bummed that he had to trot out its corpse for the last three years for a paycheck.

We don’t know. All we can say is, there are worse things to do for money, Paul. Here’s one example, which we have left for you in a coded message:

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