What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Ten years ago, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out, an album that The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber is calling "the best rock record of the new millennium" in this piece, which burns a little too hotly in its adoration of the alternative-rock band. No doubt about it, the album was a milestone for Wilco, which formed in 1994 from the remaining members of the band Uncle Tupelo. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the band's bestselling album to date, was not only a commercial success, reaching thirteen on the Billboard top 200 chart, but the critics loved it. Rolling Stone, for instance, ranked it number three on its list of top albums for the 2000s--high praise for a record that was initially rejected by Wilco's original recording label, Reprise Records.
I've always taken my love with Wilco with a grain of salt--there's definitely a whole lot of pretension running through the band's schtick--but that doesn't mean that I didn't love them back then or that I don't now. I remember when Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out and the powerful affect that its lazy folk-rock style had on me as a fourteen year old listening to its songs on repeat over and over again or, years later, seeing the band perform "Heavy Metal Drummer" in a Vermont field on a summer evening. It was perfect.
Only recently has Wilco ceased to be my go-to listen, but when I think of some of the most memorable experiences of my teen years, Wilco's on in the background. Kornhaber was also in high school when the album came out, and since we're both still thinking and writing about--and listening to--its songs ten years later, there was obviously something special about them that really resonated with us and our generation of music listeners.
But what?
Here are my thoughts (the short answer: high school), but if we have any Wilco lovers in the crowd, I'd love to hear your two cents.
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Jul '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
I like Wilco but if they're not around then it's
Outta Site, Outta Mind
Dec '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
I don't mean to diss. I really don't. I totally understand why people like Wilco. I do, too.
I just liked the other band that came out of Uncle Tupelo better. The music seemed-- to me-- to have less of the conscious posing for the critics which you identify in Tweedy's work.
(This I differentiate from pretension. I actually love real pretension in my music. Better to try and miss than not try at all.)
Apr '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Hard to swallow for a card carrying Libertarian, Hillsdale College grad, but nothing beats "California Stars," once you get past the fact that they are singing Woodie Guthrie songs (they created the music for unadorned lyrics) with Billy Bragg. For Folk / Pop; the "Mermaid Avenue" albums cannot be beaten.
And the earlier "Summerteeth" album is even better than "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (think a modern Pet Sounds with angst)!
Dec '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a great ablum and originally turned me onto the band, but for my money, I'll take the album Mermaid Avenue that Wilco made with Billy Bragg over it anyday.
Aug '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
DocJay: I like Wilco but if they're not around then it's · 1 hour ago
Outta Site, Outta Mind
Well, Doktor. You see the other listed videos on the right hand column ?
I couldn't resist checking out the Neon Hitch video. It is gonna freak my daughter out when I recognize that one........
And the Outtasite video is incredible, Lance is the general of a quiet loud crew here. How did I miss Wilco ? How did I conflate that with Wilbury ? Probably why I avoided it.
Anyway great link, with addl fun there.
Where have you been Emily ? Acculturated is alot of fun.
Nov '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Yes, the lyrics read like they were pumped out by the versificator.
Yes, the band's politics were beyond liberal.
But the tunes were catchy, and the imagery evocative, if nonsensical.
Nov '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Handshake Drugs from the Live alabum
Impossible Germany Sky Blue Sky
Jesus, etc from YHF
Nov '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
My being a Wilco fan is open text. I dedicated a week of SOTD's to their work and I agree that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the album of the first decade. What I regret most is that I somehow missed their early and glory years. The whole Alt Country thing, starting largely with Uncle Tupelo, was simply not on my radar screen in college in Tucson or immediately post college in Scottsdale. The alternative stations I listened to simply didn't play it. So Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was my introduction, via a buddy at work. We couldn't have clashed on the outside more. He was a Yale educated throwback beatnik who took temp jobs so that he could focus on his art. But I like to think of myself as a creative type who finds the corporate world something of a canvas on which to paint. So at the core, we connected. And he shared with me his Wilco collection, the great works that came before, namely Summerteeth and A.M. and, of course, the aforementioned Mermaid Avenue.
It and its Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown Jayhawk, ilk is the great music of the 90's that I missed.
Sep '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
I was just chatting on Sunday night about this while watching the Gourds perform here in Charleston. I always dug Son Volt more. They felt more pure. That being said, I love YHF and A.M. (passenger side is my fave). I have been fortunate to see them both twice and Uncle Tupelo once. My fave band over the last 20 years though is the underrated CRACKER starring david lowery and Johnny Hickman.
Apr '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Right on. I also want to put in a good word for Mermaid Avenue, which was made up entirely of never previously heard, unfinished Woody Guthrie songs. It could have easily been another dull folk cover/tribute album, but Bragg and Wilco had the courage to really take ownership of the songs (which did take courage, since a 90-something Pete Seeger was surely waiting, axe in hand, to defend the integrity of the folk tradition - gotta love them peaceniks).
Ah, the wonderful contradictions of being a rightwing folk aficionado.
Unfortunately, as a capitalist believer in rewarding quality and merit, I can't pretend The Goldwaters make the grade.
Apr '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
My singer-songwriter older brother got me to listen to YHF about a year after it came out. Best album of the 2000s? For me, it must be, because it is one of the only albums of the 2000s that I own. I still listen to it all the time, and it remains ever fresh, like Pet Sounds or Rubber Soul. I also like the earlier Summerteeth and the Billy Bragg stuff, but it's YHF at the top. It's just a great album. It calls to mind my married but still childless late 20s. Definitely not high school, or even college. Four kids later...
Sep '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Looks like we need a contrarian. It is funny you write this, because I bought it when it was new, and just recently got rid of it. (Boooo! Hiss!, I hope the buyer on Amazon is enjoying it as much as you do). I kept some of the songs in my computer, but I just never really "got it," and can't help thinking that the controversy surrounding its production played into Rolling Stone's and others high praise. It is funny that much of their more recent stuff has been more engaging to me, and I really enjoyed Summerteeth. (Ghost is Born is another matter).
Uncle Tupelo was overrated as well, but "alt country" doesn't get any better than Old 97's, [earlier] Jayhawks, or Neko Case.
Apr '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
I was playing A Ghost is Born while deployed to Iraq while working late one night, some of the guys in the office described it as someone pushing a piano down an elevator shaft... I've wanted to push a piano down an elevator shaft ever since.
Sep '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
One of the bands weaker points is Tweedy's tendency towards some long, draggy, dull songs, often with noise. Being There even starting with one.
Jul '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
To me, they all sound like that. Sorry...
Jul '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Since I lived in Chicago at the time, I couldn't escape Wilco and bought this album when it came out. It was easy to appreciate what the band was doing to the recording industry by essentially self-publishing. The critics didn't seem to understand that this was another blow to the power of the labels. I'm not sure they would have been so quick with praise had they known.
My rating drops when yet another band features being stoned in what may be the album's most enjoyable song. I'm pretty sure that the word "stoned" sells another 200k albums. At some point, though, it just sounds like you're trying to be cool.
It's a good album, but someone could swipe it from my cabinet and I wouldn't know.
Nov '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
I hate Wilco with a burning fiery passion. They're like the Radiohead of boring fake country music. Hilarious.
Son Volt's alright, though.
Sep '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
Wow. Lots of haters out there. It is not for everyone and some of their stuff is indulgent and egomaniacal, but Summerteeth, Jesus Don't Cry, The Thanks I Get are good and their actual musician skills are pretty stellar. Reminds me of when my piano professor in college reprimanded me for saying that I hated Wagner's Operas. He said that I didn't appreciate them and saying otherwise made me sound ignorant.
Apr '11
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
As much as I've liked Wilco and YHF, it needs to be said that of course all this stuff is self indulgent, pretentious, and overrated. It's indie rock, alt country, whatever you want to call it. Given the seriousness with which a lot of people, artists and listeners, take this music, it can't not be overrated.
Edited on May 9, 2012 at 6:07pmAug '10
Re: What's So Great about Wilco? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at 10
I like Wilco, but I concur with those who say their music is pretentious and a bit too self-consciously avante-garde. While the band's musicianship and the originality of Tweedy's songwriting make Wilco worthwhile, for pure pleasure I prefer to listen to Ryan Adams or The Jayhawks. Adams is an excellent songwriter and singer (although he rivals Tweedy in the pretentiousness department). The Jayhawks are one of my favorite bands, and since they recently reunited, I finally had the opportunity to see them live. A couple of the best tracks by Adams and the 'Hawks, respectively, are "Two" and "Better Days". Gorgeous songs.