Wilco (the Blog Post)

"Wilco the T-shirt. Wilco the lunchbox. Wilco the coloring book. Wilco... the flamethrower! Kids love it!" Altered Spaceballs quotes aside, yes, I'm being overly harsh here. Which is why I'm going to begin this post with a disclaimer: You can no longer believe anything anyone writes about Wilco ever again. Including me. They have touched too many fans in too many varying ways to take any sole person's opinion as an even remotely encompassing vision of the group. That being said, this is exactly what I am going to try to do. Take it with a grain of salt.

Wilco has indisputably become one of the most polarizing bands of the day. Throughout their large back catalogue they have roped in an enormous and fairly diverse fan base (right across the board from alt country rockers to your indie hipsters). Through putting on a great live show, fighting against the Warner/Reprise major label and winning, and putting out consistently great albums, this developed into a fiercely devoted fan base as well. If you didn't spot the title of this blog, now you know. With the release of 'Sky Blue Sky' in 2007 however they started doing some things to alienate portions of that fan base. Among these being making a record laced with the kind of songs your apt to hear playing in the produce aisle at your local grocery store, and selling half of the record off for Volkswagen commercials. This said, though a diversion from the two previous Wilco releases ('A Ghost Is Born' and 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'), 'Sky Blue Sky' was a pretty strong album with some trademark Wilco moments. Two years later with the release of 'Wilco (the Album)', those who were shaken at 'SBS' have jumped ship altogether, and a much larger contingent are similarly dissatisfied. Meanwhile, brand new fans flock to the record and many simply take no issue. These are the facts; lets take a look at why.

Wilco's musical progression can most easily be broken down into three periods: the beginning alt-country period, the middle experimental period, and the current adult alternative period. The alt-country phase was a natural progression after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo, and consisted of 1995's fairly forgettable 'AM', 1996's breakout 'Being There', and 1999's excellent 'Summerteeth'. The experimental phase followed with 2002's monumental 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' and its 2004 follow-up 'A Ghost Is Born'. Leaving the adult alternative period to naturally encompass 2007's aforementioned 'Sky Blue Sky' and the most recent 'Wilco (the Album)'. And before all of you excessively thorough enthusiasts start squirming in your seats, yes, the Mermaid Avenue collaborations fall within the alt-country period.

The three periods are very distinct in chronology and in the sound characterized within them. However, this is not to say there are not overlaps. We got our first glimpse into Jeff Tweedy's experimental future on 'Being There's somewhat out of place opener, "Misunderstood". 'Summerteeth' also proved a natural stair step into the experimental phase with hints to such being dropped on tracks like "A Shot In The Arm" and "In a Future Age". Likewise, within the experimental phase the band often hearkened back to its alt-country roots, most notably on 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's "I'm The Man Who Loves You" and within 'A Ghost Is Born' on tracks like "Hummingbird" and "The Late Greats". As much as I would like to point straight to the music as the source of the contempt Wilco has been generating with its adult alternative phase, these parallels we've been describing remain present; making these very distant dots difficult to to connect. For instance, the musical shift between 'AGIB' and 'SBS' can most easily be characterized by a return to a more conventional and roots based sound, which we all loved when it was being created back in the 90's (come on, I know you still shuffle "Forget the Flowers" regularly). Only the sound was not quite this simple anymore, as stronger elements of the experimental side of Wilco still lingered (the guitar breakdown in "Impossible Germany" and "Side With The Seeds"). Songs like "Walken" and "Hate It Here", while arduous in nature, are no larger of missteps than "Monday" off 'Being There'. For these reasons I think its only fair to meet the group halfway and acknowledge 'SBS' as just an applaudable effort as any of their releases from the alt-country period. To do the same for the newest release is not quite as easy, namely because the interesting experimental flair is largely absent (with exception of the questionable "Bull Black Nova"). This leaves an even dryer set of songs, but the fact is that they aren't terrible songs. The hordes of new Wilco fans being brought in can attest to that. "I'll Fight", "You Never Know", and Feist duet "You And I" stand with Wilco's best. Still, after fourteen years a bland, not bad, album should obviously not inspire such mutiny. So what exactly is it that with this release is leaving that bad taste in your mouth?

(Sidenote: Seriously Feist? You little concubine of indie rock you. How many collaborations can one person seriously do? Should we even try to count? Even if you set aside all the groups she is or was "in" (lets see, By Divine Right, Peaches, Broken Social Scene, Apostle of Hustle...) there are still almost too many to count. Off the top of my head, what've we got; Grizzly Bear, Kings of Convenience, Ben Gibbard, Chilly Gonzales, Mocky, Jane Birkin, Arthur H., The World Provider, Rubies, Jason Collet, I know I'm missing some, and now Wilco? Didn't you ever learn to say "no"? Is there no filter? What would your mother say? Point being, there was a time when it was cool to feature Feist on a track, but now it's about the most cliche ply for indie street cred you can hack.)

Back to bad taste. If anything Wilco related can cause it, it's Jay Bennett's death. Three weeks into a lawsuit against the group, and roughly four before the new release, one of the driving creative forces behind 'YHF' passed away due to overdose on pain pills. Now lets pretend you've never seen the "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" documentary or read extensively about the the state of the band during the 'YHF' era. To the casual fan, here is the picture I see. Jeff Tweedy plays music for fifteen years to moderate success before recording his masterpiece, 'YHF'. A masterpiece that is largely in debt to the contributions of 8 year band member Jay Bennett. Bennett is dismissed under tension, and the lawsuit would suggest was not treated altogether fairly by the band. So here we are, with Jay Bennett at an all time low, popping pills and in debt, being treated poorly by the band he helped propell to wild success. Not only do his former band mates allow him to wallow, but on the eve of his death they release "Wilco (the Song)", which firmly pronounces that this, this sound, this line-up, is the definitive Wilco. Hardly showing respect to Bennett and his contributions. Not only that, but a rich and smiling Jeff Tweedy sings "Do you dabble in depression? Is someone twisting a knife in your back? Are you being attacked? Wilco will love you Baby." I'd say Bennett was dabbling in depression, did Wilco love him? I'm sure that I'm missing out on large parts of this picture, but you can see the hypocrisy that is beginning to emerge. When viewed in this light the glib tone of the song is almost disgusting to say the least.

Even when viewed separately from Bennett's death the tone is off putting to say the least. Of our three aforementioned periods, different Wilco fans are more or less attracted to one or another of these creative phases. To definitively say that this line-up and sound is Wilco, as "Wilco (the Song) and even 'Wilco (the Album)' seems to, is obviously inflammatory to those who are deeply attached to 'YHF', or those who yearn for more summery pop of 'Summerteeth' or truer country roots of 'Being There'. All of these fans are throwing there hands in the air saying, "Huh?" Personally, if Wilco were "loving me baby", they would mine more territory in the vein of 'AGIB'. It's almost as if Zeppelin were to come out announcing 'Physical Graffiti' as their definitive work. It was a good album, but I'd like to see the Zoso lovers react to it.

I would assume that most would jump to commercialization as the new off-putting factor, and while for some this may have an effect, I doubt it is so simple. Commercials have been a more effective outlet for indie bands to find an audience than radio certainly has been, and Wilco didn't debut on Billboard charts at anywhere near heights of Grizzly Bear (who everyone is currently harboring fuzzy feelings for). As stated before, musically there are plenty of parallels from former Wilco. The name Wilco must be derived from the military radio pro-word, meaning will comply. Maybe the album and song were just an effort to play off of this association, but it comes off as smug. And in the wake of the death of Jay Bennett, it comes off as hypocritical to say the least. Either way, there are undeniably bad feelings being created here, and even if some would like to claim so, they do not originate with the music. One thing is for sure, as usual, everyone will have eyes peeled for what Tweedy and crew do next.