Anyone else not see what the big deal is about Wilco?

[RandomKoolzip]

Maybe it's being in Chicago and Wilco being the big band here, but frankly, I just can't get excited about them. I liked Uncle Tupelo somewhat, and I understand Tweedy & Co.'s fight with their label was cool, but, musically....Am I the only one who notices that Tweedy is a poor singer and a bland songwriter?

Somebody gimme an "amen."

[truthspeaker]

1. Big "meh" from me. Never saw the big deal in Uncle Tupelo either.

The whole thing was a genre looking for a fan base.

[RandomKoolzip]

4. Actually, they had a built-in fan base: critics.

Fuckers are such suckers for "literate" songwriters who flog faux-folkie nostalgia. That's why they love a sixth-rate hack like Springsteen so much. He pushes their buttons.

[Magrittes Pipe]

2. I think Wilco fans are people who are embarassed...

...that they didn't "get" Uncle Tupelo when they were together. UT was a fantastic band, much better than Wilco.

Hell, if you wanna talk post-Tupelo, I like Son Volt way better than Wilco.

[RandomKoolzip]

5. Me too.

I alsways thought Jay Farrar was the whole point of that band. Tweedy's songs were the ones I always fast-forwarded over.

The contrast between the two was striking; Tweedy seemed like a wanna-be college boy flaunting a romantic small town "working-class" affectation borrowed from John Cougar, with added gravitas; while Farrar actually seemed like a natural talent with a stunning voice. I stuck with Farrar, while Tweedy's become the successful one. Why?

[tigereye]

12. he is much more interesting than John C

they were pretty good live - lots of feedback. Tweedy and company sound great on the Woody Guthrie discs they did with Billy Bragg. I liked the previous incarnations, but I like Wilco too.

there is probably some alt marketing ploy going on.. agents and such. They are big on our local alt radio station that wishes it wasn't a non-profit. Go figure.

[RandomKoolzip]

13. Yeah, but who isn't?

Wilco, like Radiohead, owe their popularity to PR departments working overtime.

[9119495]

16. Or that could be your opinion stated as a fact.

Radiohead is one of my favorite bands--and how do they get PR? No radio play for them in most of the country. MTV doesn't play videos--nor does VH1. Which leaves print--and who actually reads that stuff anymore.

The last guy I talked to that hated Radiohead thought Metalica and Black Sabath were the best bands ever. Which one of us has their tastebuds in their assholes?

[RandomKoolzip]

17. Uh, iMO, the Radiohead fan.

Sabbath and Metallica were a lot more interesting musically. And more uptempo, fer crissakes! Jeez, Mss. Yorke, et al., if you guys get near a melody that doesn't make me wanna slit my wrists, lemme know! (And growing a sense of humor wouldn't hurt, either.)

re: PR: Take a look at what the label is doing. Saturating the market with videos is nothing, it's the strategy to "pop" success; it's paying off the hip critics that gets "rock" "word-of-mouth" spreading. (Take it from me, I was a critic for a while.) Videos will get you the big buck teeners; critical hosannas will secure that coveted "prestige" market, the depressed college kids -less lucrative, but very valuable in terms of "respectability," in the long run.

Just as the Heritage Institute, Scaife, Olin, etc. dominate the political discourse due to their abundant funding of right-wing talking heads, so do the major labels dominate the music media with their blatant paying off of whores for major label products like Radiohead.

[9119495]

18. We may have to disagree about the music but

I would recommend you check out the Frontline Website for an episode called "Merchants of Cool." It describes exactly how big corporations observe, suck up, and twist youth culture, then sell different versions of it back to youth--as "cool." I show it too my classes because kids are largely oblivious to the fact this is going on. The website has the whole episode--note it is a bit outdated. They explored how Limp Bizkit became a phenomena.

[RandomKoolzip]

19. I've seen it.

it's disgusting.

One of the reasons I don't crit anymore is this very phenomenon; editors will kill your piece if it isn't flattering to the artist, whose PR lackeys just wined and dined said editor and the magazine the editor works for. It's just like politics.

[truthspeaker]

6. Here's a joke I heard on the scene: what 2 bands came out of Uncle Tupelo?

Son Volt and the Bottle Rockets.

[GOPisEvil]

14. I agree with that 100%.

Jay Farrar always spoke more to me with his songs that Tweedy ever did. Not to say that Tweedy didn't write some good songs, but Farrar's were consistently better.

I've always thought Wilco was over-rated, although Summer Teeth was a good album. They haven't produced anything close to that since.

meh, spelling edit

[Screaming Lord Byron]

3. I like 'Being There', but it's all downhill from there.

[RandomKoolzip]

8. I thought it was all downhill after "No Depression."

I mean, how much mid-tempo acoustic strumming can you take?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

11. True. The best songs on it are the Stonesier tracks.

I'm a sucker for classic-period Stones.

[bif]

7. I'd give them about a 5 out of 10

Pretty boring stuff.

[Nlighten1]

9. "Summer Teeth"

Was their only good album.

[demon67]

10. Agreed

Wilco is fine. I particularly liked their debut. But here is my take: Uncle Tupelo is better than Son Volt and Son Volt is better than Wilco.

And contrary to a prior poster's opinion, I think Springsteen is better than all of them.

[NashVegas]

15. I'm Down With Wilco

I haven't seen them play live since Jay (Bennett, not Farrar) left, but the shows I saw explained the reason for their fan base. They were fearless. Being There was one of the best albums of the 1990s.

[Ellen Forradalom]

20. I am at a loss to explain local critical fascination with them

I like them but I still don't get why a documentary, a book and countless Reader column inches have been devoted to every little aspect of Jeff Tweedy's life. My only hypothesis is connections--he's married to Julia Adams (?) a former co-owner of Lounge Ax.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Amen!

I don't get it either. They just don't do much for me. Neither hate them nor care for them. Kind of heard it all before.
The Professor

[jpgray]

22. They don't thrill me at all, but they are competent folks

I just can't stand the lethargic guitar pop with a whiny or mumbly singer over the top that's chic these days.

[mitchum]

23. I like them better now that Nels Cline is playing with them