WILCO

'Wilco' is an American rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar departure from the band. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. The other current members are guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released six studio albums, a live double album, and three collaborations: two with Billy Bragg, and one with The Minus 5.
Wilco's music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles, including Bill Fay and Television, and has in turn influenced music by The National and Cherry Ghost. The band continued in the alternative country of Uncle Tupelo on its debut album ''A.M.'' (1995), but has since introduced more experimental aspects to their music.
Wilco garnered media attention for its fourth album, ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' (2002), and the controversy surrounding it. After the recording sessions were complete, Reprise Records rejected the album and dismissed Wilco from the label. As part of a buy-out deal, Reprise gave Wilco the rights to the album for free. After streaming ''Foxtrot'' on its website, Wilco sold the album to Nonesuch Records in 2002. Both record labels are subsidiaries of Warner Music Group, leading one critic to say that the album showed "how screwed up the music business [was] in the early twenty-first century."^[1] The album was the most successful of Wilco's career, selling over 590,000 copies. Wilco won two Grammy Awards for their fifth studio album, 2004's ''A Ghost Is Born'', including Best Alternative Music Album.

Band history

Formation

Main articles: Uncle Tupelo

Wilco was formed as a result of the breakup of the influential alternative country music group Uncle Tupelo. Singer Jay Farrar quit the band in 1994, as a result of a soured relationship with co-singer Jeff Tweedy.^[2] Both Tweedy and Farrar sought to form bands immediately after the breakup. Tweedy was able to retain the entire Uncle Tupelo lineup sans Farrar, including bassist John Stirratt, drummer Ken Coomer, and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston. The band was tempted to keep the Uncle Tupelo name, but ultimately decided to rename the band.^[3] The four-piece named itself Wilco; after a voice procedure commonly used by US truckers.^[4]

''A.M.'' and ''Being There''

After collaborating with Syd Straw on a cover version of the Ernest Tubb song, "The T.B. is Whipping Me" (released in September 1994 on the ''Red Hot + Country'' compilation), Wilco began recording tracks for ''A.M.'', their first studio album, at Easley studio in June 1995.^[5]^[4] A demo tape from these recordings was sent to executives at Reprise Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, and the label signed Tweedy to a contract. Although Tweedy stated that he wanted a more collaborative project than Uncle Tupelo, only his name appeared on the Reprise contract.^[7] Tweedy requested songwriting submissions from other members, but only one submission—John Stirratt's "It's Just That Simple"—appeared on ''A.M.''. It was the last song Wilco ever released that was solely written by a member besides Tweedy. Stylistically similar to Uncle Tupelo, the music on the album was considered to be straightforward alternative country rock in what Tweedy later described as "trying to tread some water with a perceived audience."^[8] ''A.M.'' peaked at number twenty-seven on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers chart, considerably lower than the debut album of Jay Farrar's new band, Son Volt.^[9]^[10] The album was met with modest reviews, although it would later rank thirty-fourth in the ''Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop critics poll.^[11]^[12]^[13] Critically and commercially paling in comparison to the reception of Son Volt's album, the Wilco members perceived ''A.M.'' to be a failure.^[14] Shortly after the release of the album, multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett joined the band, providing the band with a keyboardist and another guitarist.
Wilco made its live debut on November 17, 1994 to a capacity crowd at Cicero's Basement Bar in St. Louis, Missouri (the band was billed for the occasion as "Black Shampoo").^[15] During the two hundred-date tour supporting ''A.M.'', Tweedy began to write songs for a second album. The lyrical theme of the songs reflected a relationship between a musical artist and a listener; Tweedy chose this topic because he sought to eschew the alternative country fanbase. Ken Coomer elaborated:^[16]
A number of songs were recorded with this theme, including "Sunken Treasure" and "Hotel Arizona".^[17] However, Wilco also recorded a number of songs that mimicked the style of ''A.M.''.^[18] Wilco named the album ''Being There'' after a Peter Sellers film of the same name. The band went through some personnel changes during the recording sessions. Max Johnston left the band because felt that his role in the band had diminished in favor of Bennett; he had also been replaced by violinist Jesse Greene on one track because the band felt that Johnston was unable to play the part. Bob Egan of Freakwater briefly joined the band in the studio, playing pedal steel guitar on "Far, Far Away" and "Dreamer in My Dreams", and then became an official member in September 1996.^[19]^[20]
Unlike the ''A.M.'' recording sessions, the band had no vocation for producing a hit song from their second effort.^[21] The recording sessions produced nineteen songs, too many for a single album release. Tweedy was concerned about the high retail price that a double album would be sold for (at least $30), so he asked Reprise Records to release it as a double album at a single album price ($17.98 or less). Reprise agreed to this on the terms that they received Wilco's share of the album royalties. It was estimated in 2003 that the band lost almost $600,000 on the deal, but Tweedy was satisfied.^[22] ''Being There'' was well-received by critics from several major media outlets, including ''Rolling Stone''.^[23]^[24] The album reached #73 on the ''Billboard'' album charts,^[10] a significant improvement from ''A.M.'', and placed fourteenth on the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1996.^[26]

''Summerteeth'' and the ''Mermaid Avenue'' sessions

In November 1997, Wilco entered Willie Nelson's recording studio in Spicewood, Texas to record a third studio album.^[27] The album was lyrically inspired by the marital problems of Tweedy and his wife, as well as by Twentieth century literature.^[28] Tweedy relied heavily on Bennett to provide music for singer's "bold, but depressing" lyrics.^[29] Wilco recorded several songs, including "Via Chicago" and "She's a Jar", but began working on another project before assembling the tracks into an album.^[27]

The two ''Mermaid Avenue'' albums consisted of recordings of unreleased Woody Guthrie (''pictured'') songs.

Nora Guthrie contacted singer-songwriter Billy Bragg in spring 1995 about recording some unreleased songs by her father, folk singer Woody Guthrie. Most of the songs were written late in Guthrie's life, when he was unable to record due to the motor impairments of Huntington's disease. By the 1990s, Woody Guthrie had become a "relic" to the MTV generation, and Nora sought to establish a different legacy for the musician. To Nora, Bragg was "the only singer I knew taking on the same issues as Woody." However, Bragg was concerned that his fans would not realize that the songs were written by Guthrie when he performed them on tour, so he decided to record the album with another band.^[31]
Bragg contacted Tweedy and Bennett about co-recording the album while Wilco was on the European stage of the ''Being There'' tour. Bragg was particularly fond of ''Being There'' because their influences extended farther back than the 1950s. Although Tweedy was indifferent to the offer, Bennett was enthused about recording songs of one of his idols—Bennett's previous band Titanic Love Affair was named after a Woody Guthrie lyric. A recording contract between Bragg and Wilco was signed after a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire. Bragg mostly recorded the politically-charged lyrics, while Tweedy preferred to record lyrics that showcased Guthrie as a "freak weirdo." The recording of ''Mermaid Avenue'' began on December 12 1997, and was the topic of BBC's ''Man in the Sand'' documentary film.^[32]
Tempers flared between Bragg and Wilco after the album was completed. Bennett believed that Bragg was overproducing his songs, a sharp contrast to Wilco's contributions. Bennett called Bragg about the possibility of remixing Bragg's songs, to which Bragg responded with "you make your record, and I'll make mine, fucker." Eventually Bragg sent copies of his recordings to Chicago for Bennett to remix, but Bragg refused to use the new mixes on the album. The two parties were unable to establish a promotional tour, and quarreled over royalties and guest musician fees.
Despite these conflicts, the album was released on June 23, 1998, and sold over 277,000 copies.^[33] The album received rave reviews from Robert Christgau and ''Rolling Stone'', and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.^[34]^[35] It also placed fourth on the Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1998.^[36] After the album was released, Bob Egan was replaced by multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach.^[37]
After the completion of the ''Mermaid Avenue'' sessions, Wilco returned to Spicewood to complete their third studio album, ''Summerteeth''. Unlike previous Wilco and Uncle Tupelo recordings, the album featured a lot of overdubbing with Pro Tools.^[38] Stirratt and Coomer were concerned with the production, since it reduced their involvement in the music. According to Stirratt:^[39]
During 1999, Warner Brothers was looking to recover a $16 billion debt acquired during a recent merger with Time Inc..^[40] As a result, Warner's imprints were under pressure to produce musical acts that would yeild hit records. The head of Reprise, Howie Klein, who had previously authorized the release of ''Being There'' as a double album, was willing to let Wilco produce ''Summerteeth'' without label input. However, when Klein played the album for Reprise's A&R department, they demanded a radio single for the album. Wilco agreed to do this "once and once only," and recorded a radio-friendly version of "Can't Stand It" at the request of David Kahne, the head of the A&R department.^[41] The single version of "Can't Stand It" failed to cross over from Triple-A radio to alternative rock stations. Consequently, the album sold only 200,000 copies, significantly less than ''Being There''.^[42] This was despite critical acclaim—the album placed eighth on the Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1999.^[43]
After the release of ''Summerteeth'', the band resumed the ''Mermaid Avenue'' sessions. Although they had recorded enough material for a second release in 1998, Wilco recorded a few new songs for ''Mermaid Avenue Vol. II''. "Someday Some Morning Sometime", which features a vibraphone filtered through a space echo, was identified by Tweedy as being as being the "piece to the puzzle" towards the creation of their fourth studio album. The album was released on May 30, 2000, and was the last release from the sessions.^[44]

''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot''

Shortly after the recording sessions for ''Mermaid Avenue Vol. II'', Wilco purchased a studio in Irving Park, Chicago, which they named the Wilco Loft.^[45] The band recorded some tracks in the studio in early 2000 for a fourth studio album. In May 2000, Jeff Tweedy requested to perform with Jim O'Rourke at a festival in Chicago; Tweedy was a fan of O'Rourke's ''Bad Timing''. O'Rourke introduced Tweedy to drummer Glenn Kotche, and the trio enjoyed working together so much that they decided to record an album as a side project named Loose Fur.^[46] Wilco had recorded an entire album of music at this point, but Tweedy was unhappy with the drum parts. He enjoyed Kotche's contributions to Loose Fur so much that Tweedy brought him into the studio to re-record some demos. Tweedy sought to make Wilco sound like Loose Fur, and officially replaced Ken Coomer with Kotche in January 2001.^[47]

''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' was rejected by Reprise Records, but released by Nonesuch Records. Both record labels were subsidiaries of Warner Brothers. The album is Wilco's best selling album to date.

Although Bennett sought to act as both mixer and engineer for ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'', Tweedy was unsure of Bennett's abilities against those of O'Rourke. Tweedy and Bennett frequently argued over whether the album should be accessible to a general listener, or attempt cover new musical ground.^[48] Unbeknownst to Bennett, Tweedy invited O'Rourke to remix "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", and the results impressed the other band members—even Bennett. Tensions grew between Bennett and O'Rourke because Bennett wanted to mix every song on the album. O'Rourke cut the contributions of other members on several of the songs; some songs, such as "Poor Places", only featured the Loose Fur trio.^[49] The album was completed in 2001, and Bennett left the band immediately afterward.^[50] The recording of the album was documented by Sam Jones and released in 2002 as the film ''I Am Trying to Break Your Heart''.
Time Warner, which owned Warner Brothers, merged with America Online in 2001, leading to more pressure on Warner's record labels to cut costs. Over 600 employees of Warner Music Group were fired, including Howie Klein, the president of Reprise Records. In absence of Klein, David Kahne became the interim head of Reprise.^[51] Kahne assigned Mio Vukovic to monitor the progress of ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' and to offer suggestions. Vukovic disdained the album, and was unhappy about how Wilco ignored his suggestions.^[52] He brought the album to Kahne, who felt that there was no single on the album. In June 2001, the album was rejected by Reprise and Wilco was asked to leave the label.^[53]
Wilco managed to negotiate terms to a buy-out from Reprise. Instead of financial compensation, the band agreed to leave the label with the master tapes of ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot''.^[54] The label was already receiving bad publicity for their treatment of the band, and were willing to accommodate Wilco's request.^[55] David Kahne and Mio Vukovic were both fired soon afterward for their treatment of the band.^[56] To curb the negative publicity, Reprise began to invest more in bands such as The Flaming Lips. Lead singer Wayne Coyne once remarked:^[57]
As the band searched for a new label to release the album, they decided to stream it at their official website to discourage illegal trading of low-quality MP3s.^[58] The band signed with Nonesuch Records, another Time Warner subsidiary, and the album was released in the spring of 2002. When it was released, ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' reached number thirteen on the ''Billboard'' 200, Wilco's highest chart position to that date.^[10] ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' sold over 590,000 copies, and to date remains Wilco's best selling album.^[60] ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' was met with wide critical acclaim: it topped 2002's Pazz & Jop critics' poll, was named one of the 100 greatest albums of all time by ''Q Magazine'', and was named one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by ''Rolling Stone''.^[61]^[62]^[63]

''Down with Wilco'', ''A Ghost Is Born'', and ''Kicking Television: Live in Chicago''

While waiting for the commercial release of ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'', Wilco agreed to back up R.E.M. collaborator Scott McCaughey as The Minus 5. They scheduled a recording session for September 11, 2001, but were distraught about the 9/11 terrorist attacks that day.^[64] Late that day, Wilco and McCaughey agreed "create something good in the world right now" and record some material.Kot 2004. p. 221 Influenced by Bill Fay's ''Time of the Last Persecution'', The Minus 5's ''Down with Wilco'' was released in 2003.^[65]

Wilco at the Wired Rave Awards in 2004

In November 2003, Wilco traveled to New York City to record their fifth album. Unlike ''Summerteeth'' and ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'', ''A Ghost Is Born'' featured songs that were created with Pro Tools before ever performing them live.^[66] The album featured the song "Less Than You Think", which included a fifteen-minute track of electronic noises and synthesizers, which Tweedy called "the track that everyone will hate". Tweedy justified the inclusion of the song:
Leroy Bach left the band immediately after the album's completion to join a music theatre operation in Chicago.^[67] Like ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'', Wilco streamed the album online before its commercial release. Instead of using their own web page, the band streamed it in MPEG-4 form on Apple's website.^[68] Wilco sought to substantially change their lineup after Bach's departure, and added Mikael Jorgensen, who had engineered ''Down with Wilco'', Pat Sansone of The Autumn Defense, and avant-garde guitarist Nels Cline to the lineup.^[69] Just as the band was about to tour to promote the album, Tweedy checked himself in to a rehabilitation clinic in Chicago for an addiction to painkillers. As a result, tour plans for Europe were canceled, and the release date for the album was set back several weeks.^[70]''A Ghost Is Born'' was released on June 22, 2004, and became Wilco's first top ten album in the U.S.^[71] The album earned Wilco Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package in 2005.^[72] It also placed thirteenth on 2004's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.^[73]
In 2004, the band released ''The Wilco Book'', a picture book detailing the creation of ''A Ghost Is Born''. The book also contain writings and drawings from band members, as well as a CD with demos from the ''A Ghost Is Born'' recording sessions.^[74] Also that year, ''Chicago Tribune'' music critic Greg Kot released a biography of the band entitled ''. The new six-piece Wilco lineup debuted on '', a two disc live album recorded at The Vic Theater in Chicago. Released on November 15, 2005, the album received high accolades from ''Spin'', ''Billboard'', and ''Entertainment Weekly''.^[75] As of 2007, it has sold over 114,000 copies.

''Sky Blue Sky''

Wilco returned to their loft in Chicago to record a sixth studio album in 2006. Influenced by The Byrds and Fairport Convention, the band considered ''Sky Blue Sky'' to be less experimental than previous releases. Also unlike previous albums, the songs were created as collaborations—in contrast, ''A Ghost Is Born'' featured only Tweedy creating the songs on Pro Tools.^[76]
Wilco streamed the album online on March 3, 2007, and offered the song "What Light" as a free MP3 download.^[77] To further publicize the album, Wilco licensed several songs from the ''Sky Blue Sky'' recording sessions for use in a Volkswagen advertising campaign. The move was criticized by both critics and fans; Wilco responded by noting that they had previously done advertising campaigns with Apple Computers and Telefónica Moviles.^[78]^[79]^[80] The album was released on May 15, 2007, and was a commercial success: it sold over 87,000 copies in its first week and peaked in the top five in the U.S. album charts.^[81] It also was a top forty hit in seven other countries.^[82]

Musical style and influence

Wilco performing in support of ''Sky Blue Sky'' at Festival Internacional de Benicàssim on July 20, 2007.

Wilco's music is typically categorized as alternative rock and alternative country. Despite their career long association with a major record label, they are generally associated with indie rock.^[83] Wilco draws influence from bands from a variety of musical genres, but primarily from music created between 1966 and 1974.^[84]^[85] John Cale's ''Paris 1919'' was credited by the band as providing a musical parallel. According to Tweedy, "It was eye-opening that I wasn't the only person that felt like these worlds had a lot more in common than they'd been given credit for — that experimentation and avant-garde theory was not directly opposed to beauty, y'know?"^[86]
Other recording artists from that timespan appreciated by the band include John Lennon, Neil Young, and Brian Wilson.^[87]^[88] For his thirty-fourth birthday, Tweedy received a private guitar lesson from Richard Lloyd of Television; Tweedy was a big fan of the group and was particularly fond of the guitar work, which he wanted to incorporate into his music. Uncle Tupelo was inspired by bands such as Jason & the Scorchers and The Minutemen, influencing the recording of Wilco's ''A.M.''.^[89] Tweedy and O'Rourke enjoyed free jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and Derek Bailey; they also listen to mainstream jazz by artists such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane.^[90]^[91] The lyrical structure of Wilco's songs were dictated by classic literature and ''cadavre exquis''—an exercise where band members take turns writing lines on a typewriter, but are only allowed to see the previously written line. Among the books that the band has cited as being stylistically influential include William H. Gass's ''In the Heart of the Country'', Henry Miller's ''Tropic of Cancer'', and Harold Bloom's ''.^[92]
Some critics have dubbed Wilco the "American Radiohead", due to the their stylistically diverse catalog.^[93]^[94]^[95] ''Rolling Stone'' described Wilco as "one of America's most consistently interesting bands" and "America's foremost rock impressionists."^[96]^[97] Despite critical acclaim, Wilco's influence on modern rock has been limited.^[98] Bands that have been influenced by Wilco include Switchfoot,^[99] Derek Webb (of Caedmon's Call),^[100] The National, and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.^[101] English indie rock band Cherry Ghost took its name from a lyric from the Wilco song "Theologians" (from ''A Ghost Is Born'')—lead singer Simon Aldred is a self-proclaimed "massive Wilco fan".^[102]

Discography

Main articles: Wilco discography

Albums

★ ''A.M.'' (March 28, 1995)

★ ''Being There'' (October 29, 1996)

★ ''Summerteeth'' (March 9, 1999)

★ ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' (April 23, 2002)

★ ''A Ghost Is Born'' (June 22, 2004)

★ '' (November 15, 2005)

★ ''Sky Blue Sky'' (May 15, 2007)

Band member timeline

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Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1994 till:2007
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:official value:claret legend:Official
id:producer value:tan1 legend:Producer
id:manager value:tan1 legend:Manager
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1994
PlotData=
width:20 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:Jeff Tweedy text:"lead singer and guitarist" from:1994 till:end color:official
bar:John Stirratt text:"bassist" from:1994 till:end color:official
bar:Nels Cline text:"guitarist" from:2004 till:end color:official
bar:Glenn Kotche text:"percussion" from:2000 till:end color:official
bar:Pat Sansone text:"multi-instrumentalist" from:2004 till:end color:official
bar:Mikael Jorgensen text:"pianist" from:2002 till:end color:official
bar:Ken Coomer text:"percussion" from:1994 till:2000 color:official
bar:Max Johnston text:"multi-instrumentalist" from:1994 till:1996 color:official
bar:Brian Henneman text:"guitar" from:1994 till:1995 color:official
bar:Bob Egan text:"multi-instrumentalist" from:1995 till:1998 color:official
bar:Jay Bennett text:"multi-instrumentalist" from:1995 till:2001 color:official
bar:Leroy Bach text:"multi-instrumentalist" from:2000 till:2004 color:official
bar:Jim O'Rourke text:"producer/multi-instrumentalist (studio only)" from:2001 till:end color:producer
bar:Tony Margherita text:"Manager" from:1994 till:end color:producer

References

Sources

★

★

External links

★ Official website

★

★ Wilco at Rolling Stone

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