WEBVTT 00:00:24.929 --> 00:00:29.510 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. That right there, that's 00:00:29.510 --> 00:00:33.189 a Cold War era number station. Spy transmissions 00:00:33.189 --> 00:00:36.990 from the Soviet era. And somehow a Chicago alt 00:00:36.990 --> 00:00:41.390 -country band sampled it. Got sued for it, settled 00:00:41.390 --> 00:00:44.270 out of court, and used it anyway to create one 00:00:44.270 --> 00:00:47.890 of the greatest albums of the 2000s. Welcome 00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:50.509 to Shecky's Jam Bands. Today we're talking about 00:00:50.509 --> 00:00:54.520 Wilco, a band that proved you can get fired buy 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:58.039 your record label for making a masterpiece, then 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:01.020 make the same label buy it back from you at a 00:01:01.020 --> 00:01:03.820 profit. If that's not the most beautiful, chaotic 00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:06.299 middle finger to the music industry, I don't 00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:10.260 know what is. Quick question. What do you do 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:13.420 when your creative partner, the guy you've been 00:01:13.420 --> 00:01:15.760 making music with since high school, allegedly 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:18.540 strokes your girlfriend's hair at a party? If 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:21.980 you're J for R, you wait about a decade, let 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:24.810 the resentment simmer, then blow up one of the 00:01:24.810 --> 00:01:28.890 most influential alt -country bands of the 90s. 00:01:28.989 --> 00:01:33.310 Meet Uncle Topillo. Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:35.849 started making music together as teenagers in 00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:38.569 Belleville, Illinois, a working -class town near 00:01:38.569 --> 00:01:42.310 St. Louis. They were a band called The Primitives 00:01:42.310 --> 00:01:47.010 with drummer Mike Heidorn. When the band's lead 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:51.349 singer left for college, the three of them regrouped 00:01:51.349 --> 00:01:57.299 and became Uncle Tupelo in 1987. Uncle Tupelo 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:01.120 essentially invented alt country. They took punk 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:04.640 rock energy, bands like the Minute Men and Black 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.060 Flag and smashed it together with traditional 00:02:08.060 --> 00:02:12.780 country and folk. Their 1990 debut album No Depression 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:16.599 became so influential that it spawned an entire 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:20.500 magazine with the same name. People love them. 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:23.289 Critics love them. and they were on the verge 00:02:23.289 --> 00:02:28.629 of breaking big. Then, Farrar quit. January 1994, 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:31.430 Farrar calls the band's manager and says, I'm 00:02:31.430 --> 00:02:34.409 done. I'm not having fun anymore. I don't want 00:02:34.409 --> 00:02:37.430 to work with Tweety. Tweety hears the second 00:02:37.430 --> 00:02:40.530 hand, not from Farrar directly, from the manager. 00:02:40.949 --> 00:02:43.349 Imagine that. Your childhood friend, your musical 00:02:43.349 --> 00:02:46.169 partner for over a decade doesn't even have the 00:02:46.169 --> 00:02:48.949 guts to tell you he's breaking up the band. Tweety 00:02:48.949 --> 00:02:52.759 was understandably furious. They had just one 00:02:52.759 --> 00:02:56.240 last tour, which was reportedly awkward as hell, 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:00.099 and then it was over. Farrar immediately started 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:04.979 assembling Son Volt Tweety, not one to waste 00:03:04.979 --> 00:03:08.639 time wallowing, grabbed the rest of Uncle Talipo, 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:14.199 bassist John Sterot, drummer Ken Kummer, multi 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:18.039 -instrumentalists, Max Johnston, and said, we're 00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:21.000 starting a new band. They considered keeping 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:24.680 the Uncle Tolupo name, but ultimately they went 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:29.080 with something new. Wilco. So where does Wilco 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:34.099 come from? It's military and aviation radio jargon. 00:03:34.620 --> 00:03:38.060 Short for will comply. Like you get an order 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:41.439 over the radio, you respond Roger Wilco, okay. 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:46.639 Jeff Tweedy has said it's fairly ironic for a 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:50.500 rock band to name themselves. And honestly, it 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:54.080 is ironic, because Wilco has spent their entire 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:58.020 career not complying. Not complying to alt -country 00:03:58.020 --> 00:04:00.560 expectations, not complying with label demands, 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.699 not complying with anyone's idea of what they 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.879 should sound like. Their first album, A .M., 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:10.259 came out in 1995. It was solid, straightforward, 00:04:10.699 --> 00:04:14.919 alt -country, in the Uncle Tuleepo mold. Songs 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:18.709 like Box Full of Letters, and Casino Queen showed 00:04:18.709 --> 00:04:21.949 Tweety's knack for hooks and storytelling. But 00:04:21.949 --> 00:04:24.930 critically, it was fine, not groundbreaking. 00:04:25.810 --> 00:04:28.949 Meanwhile, Jay Farrar's son, Volt, dropped Trace 00:04:28.949 --> 00:04:33.490 in 1995, and credits went wild. It outsold AM. 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:37.430 It made year -end lists. Farrar had won round 00:04:37.430 --> 00:04:41.230 one. But here's the thing about Tweety. He's 00:04:41.230 --> 00:04:45.769 patient. He's willing to evolve. By 1996, Being 00:04:45.769 --> 00:04:49.329 there, a sprawling double album, Wilco was already 00:04:49.329 --> 00:04:53.290 morphing. They added keyboards, noise, texture. 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:56.430 They weren't just an old country band anymore. 00:04:56.709 --> 00:04:59.930 They were becoming something weirder, more experimental, 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:03.769 more interesting. And then came Yankee Hotel 00:05:03.769 --> 00:05:07.709 Foxtrot. Let me paint you a picture. In 2001, 00:05:07.930 --> 00:05:10.870 Wilco has been working on their fourth album 00:05:10.870 --> 00:05:13.790 for months. The record sessions were brutal. 00:05:14.029 --> 00:05:18.410 Jeff Tweedy and multi -instrumentalist Jay Bennett, 00:05:18.949 --> 00:05:22.310 who's basically been Tweedy's right hand since 00:05:22.310 --> 00:05:25.430 being there. They are fighting constantly. Both 00:05:25.430 --> 00:05:28.529 are struggling with addiction. Both want creative 00:05:28.529 --> 00:05:32.110 control. Tweedy brings in an experimental producer, 00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:35.029 Jim O 'Rourke, who helped finish the album. He 00:05:35.029 --> 00:05:38.250 also fires the drummer Ken Coomer and replaces 00:05:38.250 --> 00:05:41.730 him with Glenn Kutch from his side project Loose 00:05:41.730 --> 00:05:46.430 Fur. Jay Bennett fired after the album is done. 00:05:46.850 --> 00:05:49.689 Meanwhile, a documentary crew led by Sam Jones 00:05:49.689 --> 00:05:53.189 is filming all of this for a film called, I am 00:05:53.189 --> 00:05:55.589 trying to break your heart. The cameras catch 00:05:55.589 --> 00:05:58.810 everything, the arguments, the addiction struggles, 00:05:59.410 --> 00:06:02.970 the creative breakthroughs and heartbreak. Finally, 00:06:03.110 --> 00:06:05.949 the album is done. Tweety thinks it's the best 00:06:05.949 --> 00:06:08.310 thing they've ever made. Wilco hands in their 00:06:08.310 --> 00:06:12.110 label, reprise records, a Warner Brothers subsidiary. 00:06:12.189 --> 00:06:15.230 Reprise listens and they hate it. Where's the 00:06:15.230 --> 00:06:18.610 single? They ask. This will kill Wilco's career. 00:06:19.149 --> 00:06:21.730 They reject the album. They drop Wilco from the 00:06:21.730 --> 00:06:25.129 label. Now here's where it gets beautiful. Wilco's 00:06:25.129 --> 00:06:28.649 manager negotiates a buyout. Wilco gets to keep 00:06:28.649 --> 00:06:32.430 the master tapes for free. Reprise just gives 00:06:32.430 --> 00:06:36.810 them away. So what does Wilco do? They stream 00:06:36.810 --> 00:06:40.310 the entire album for free on their website. September 00:06:40.310 --> 00:06:45.639 18th. 2001, one week after 9 -11. The internet 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:48.939 goes wild. Fans love it. Critics start writing 00:06:48.939 --> 00:06:52.180 rave reviews. Suddenly every label wants to sign 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:56.500 Wilco. And guess who swoops in? None such records, 00:06:56.939 --> 00:07:00.939 also owned by Warner Brothers. Warner paid for 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:04.420 the same album twice. They recorded it on Warner's 00:07:04.420 --> 00:07:08.759 dime, got dropped, and then sold it back to another 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:11.860 Warner subsidiary. As Wilco's manager put it, 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:16.139 the coup of all time. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was 00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:20.420 released in April 2002. It hit number 13 on the 00:07:20.420 --> 00:07:24.500 billboard 200. Wilco's highest chart position 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:28.220 ever. It became their best -selling album. Rolling 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:30.620 Stone later ranked it among the greatest albums 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:34.160 of all time. The album, Reprise, said it would 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:37.639 kill Wilco's career, actually saved Wilco's career. 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:41.040 All right. Let's talk songs, because if you're 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.879 new to Wilco, you might be thinking, this all 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.339 sounds dramatic, but what do I actually listen 00:07:46.339 --> 00:08:09.399 to? Here's my take. One song to start with. meets 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:13.240 Sonic Youth. It's hypnotic. It's weird. It's 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:17.139 got lyrics about spiders filling out tax returns, 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:22.240 which honestly is peak tweety absurdism. Live, 00:08:22.339 --> 00:08:25.060 this song is a monster. The band locks into a 00:08:25.060 --> 00:08:28.100 groove and just rides it. Glenn Koch's drumming 00:08:28.100 --> 00:08:32.440 is relentless. Nels Klein layers guitar textures 00:08:32.440 --> 00:08:36.539 until you can feel you're floating. It's meditative. 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:41.399 It's chaotic. It's everything. If Via Chicago 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:44.720 is Wilco's emotional gut punch, Spider's Kid 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.519 Smoke is their invitation to get lost in sound. 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:52.659 Both are essential. Both are their top track 00:08:52.659 --> 00:08:56.039 lists. Both will make you a believer. Now, let 00:08:56.039 --> 00:08:59.000 me hit you with some Wilco facts that'll make 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:02.919 your brain itch in the best way. The album title, 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.340 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, comes from a real Cold 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:10.820 War -era shortwave numbers station. Tweedy heard 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:14.059 it on a compilation called The Connaught Project. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.480 The recordings of that were believed to be a 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:21.059 spy transmission. Robotic Voice repeats Yankee 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:24.460 Hotel Foxtrot over and over. Wilco sampled it 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:28.299 for the song Poor Places. The label that owned 00:09:28.299 --> 00:09:31.519 the recording, EarDal, sued them for copyright 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:34.000 infringement. They settled out of court. The 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.570 sample stayed. Fact number two. The cover of 00:09:37.570 --> 00:09:40.990 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot features Chicago's Marina 00:09:40.990 --> 00:09:44.649 City Towers, two cylindrical buildings. When 00:09:44.649 --> 00:09:46.950 the album was supposed to come out on September 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:51.730 11, 2001, people later read all kinds of eerie 00:09:51.730 --> 00:09:54.690 symbolism into the twin towers of the cover. 00:09:55.669 --> 00:09:59.029 Tweedy has said it wasn't intentional, but the 00:09:59.029 --> 00:10:02.929 timing was unsettling. Fact number three, Wilco's 00:10:02.929 --> 00:10:05.809 lineup has changed more than your favorite restaurant's 00:10:05.809 --> 00:10:08.610 menu. The only members who've been there since 00:10:08.610 --> 00:10:12.690 day one are Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Styrat. 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:17.649 Everyone else replaced at some point, but since 00:10:17.649 --> 00:10:22.690 2004, the current six piece lineup, Tweedy, Styrat, 00:10:23.230 --> 00:10:26.350 Koch, Klein, and keyboardist Michael Jorgensen, 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:30.669 and multi -instrumentalist Pat Sanson, has been 00:10:30.669 --> 00:10:34.440 remarkably stable. Longest live incarnation in 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:39.500 Wilco's history. Fact four, for his 34th birthday, 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:42.779 Jeff Tweedy got private guitar lessons from Richard 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:46.100 Lloyd of television. Tweedy was obsessed with 00:10:46.100 --> 00:10:48.919 television's guitar work and wanted to incorporate 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:51.840 it into Wilco's sound. Mission accomplished. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:56.399 Fact five, Wilco's first live album, Kicking 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:59.419 Television, was recorded in Chicago's Vic Theater 00:10:59.419 --> 00:11:03.470 in 2005. It's a two -disc... set that captures 00:11:03.470 --> 00:11:07.789 the band at the peak of their powers. Post Yankee 00:11:07.789 --> 00:11:11.809 Hotel Foxtrot, post drama, just a group of insanely 00:11:11.809 --> 00:11:14.049 talented musicians playing their hearts out. 00:11:14.429 --> 00:11:16.690 Here's what I love about Wilco. They didn't play 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:20.009 it safe. They could have stayed an alt country 00:11:20.009 --> 00:11:23.450 band, keep making albums that sounded like AM, 00:11:24.049 --> 00:11:26.490 toured forever, been comfortable, but they didn't. 00:11:26.490 --> 00:11:29.049 They took risks. They pissed off their label. 00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:32.889 They fired band members. They changed their sound 00:11:32.889 --> 00:11:35.690 with every album. And in doing so, they became 00:11:35.690 --> 00:11:38.230 one of the most important American bands of the 00:11:38.230 --> 00:11:41.990 past 30 years. Jeff Tweedy once said, I was trying 00:11:41.990 --> 00:11:44.529 to put it in perspective for myself. How can 00:11:44.529 --> 00:11:47.169 there be all these good things that I love about 00:11:47.169 --> 00:11:50.250 America alongside all the things that I am ashamed 00:11:50.250 --> 00:11:53.730 of? That tension between love and shame, beauty 00:11:53.730 --> 00:11:56.669 and ugliness, order and chaos runs through everything 00:11:56.669 --> 00:12:00.269 Wilco does. It's why Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sounds 00:12:00.269 --> 00:12:04.750 both intimate and colossal. It's why their song 00:12:04.750 --> 00:12:08.149 can be gorgeous melodies wrapped in feedback. 00:12:08.870 --> 00:12:11.750 It's why they named themselves after a phrase 00:12:11.750 --> 00:12:15.549 that means obedience, then spent decades refusing 00:12:15.549 --> 00:12:19.769 to obey. Wilco will not comply and thank goodness 00:12:19.769 --> 00:12:23.090 for that. That's it for today's episode of Shecky's 00:12:23.090 --> 00:12:26.350 Jam Bands. If you take away one thing from this, 00:12:26.610 --> 00:12:29.590 let it be, never let anyone tell you your art 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:32.970 isn't good enough. Reprise Records said Yankee 00:12:32.970 --> 00:12:37.070 Hotel Foxtrot would kill Wilco's career. It became 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:40.230 their masterpiece. Go listen to Via Chicago, 00:12:40.809 --> 00:12:43.909 Get Lost in Spiders, Kid Smoke, and remember, 00:12:44.309 --> 00:12:47.029 sometimes the best revenge is making your critics 00:12:47.029 --> 00:12:50.990 buy your album twice. Until next time, keep jamming 00:12:50.990 --> 00:12:53.690 and never ever comply.