Billie Joe Armstrong and Paul Westerberg interviewed together in SPIN

Photo by Stacy Schwartz

​While they may not make for the most likely bedfellows, it turns out that Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg and Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong have known each other since the mid-'90s and share some similar insights on the local music scene. The two sat down for a joint interview with SPIN magazine this month to talk about meeting each other for the first time, and the result is an intriguing slice of Twin Cities music history.

Case in point, here's Armstrong talking about how he was drawn to Westerberg and Minneapolis:

You gotta understand, being a Replacements fan was a prerequisite for any girl I ever dated. So, of course I marry a girl from northeast Minneapolis -- I met her on the first Green Day tour, when I was 18 years old, and I was trying to figure out which bike paths these guys rode on and where they played. And seeing a skyway for the first time and standing in front of First Avenue, I just wanted to experience that whole thing. So the first time I met Paul -- I don't know what the equivalent would be for Paul, maybe Keith Richards or Johnny Thunders -- but for me, I was meeting my hero.

Read the whole exchange between Armstrong, Westerberg, and SPIN reporter Steve Kendall over on the SPIN site.