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Billy Bragg on recording with Wilco


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And don't give me that crap about him being socialist...Almost all of his moves as it relates to working with Wilco reek of shameless self-promotion and an attempt to cash in on a buck with an artist who is significantly more successful than he.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

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Meh...it's obvious Jeff doesn't want anything to do with a MA 3,4,5, and 17. Billy would do it all in a heart beat.

 

And don't give me that crap about him being socialist...Almost all of his moves as it relates to working with Wilco reek of shameless self-promotion and an attempt to cash in on a buck with an artist who is significantly more successful than he.

 

 

For the record I like Bragg's music a lot, but Jeff is right; Billy Bragg is full of shit. He spreads rumors and tall tales about stuff like tours, extra tracks, etc to drum up interest in himself due to his Wilco connection.

 

The fail boat has arrived.

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Sorry, but you're wrong.

 

I'm not wrong; it's my opinion based on what we know about the sessions. You've done nothing to refute me, just saying "You're wrong."

 

I'm sorry your debating skills never grew after Kindergarden, maybe you want to show me some examples of Billy Bragg taking the royalties he hoarded from the MA albums (which Wilco didn't recieve a red cent for according to interviews), and giving them away to the poor in a robin hood suit? Maybe you want to tell me that the scheduling a tour behind a band's back who's previous release had outsold anything Billy had done by 150k copies?

 

Maybe you want to tell me why he's still insisting on touring/ working with a band that has no interest in him? Every time he name drops Wilco, we take note here at the VC. It's Billy Bragg putting himself back in the front of our minds.

 

Either he's got serious social issues (can't take a hint), or he's a shameless self promoter, and an opportunist. I'm sorry if this contradicts the ideal version of Billy Bragg that you have.

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I'm sorry your debating skills never grew after Kindergarden, maybe you want to show me some examples of Billy Bragg taking the royalties he hoarded from the MA albums (which Wilco didn't recieve a red cent for according to interviews), and giving them away to the poor in a robin hood suit? Maybe you want to tell me that the scheduling a tour behind a band's back who's previous release had outsold anything Billy had done by 150k copies?

It's "kindergarten," and for that matter, "receive."

 

You have your view of the Wilco/Bragg thing, other people have theirs. Yours is obviously biased. Mine certainly is too. The truth is undoubtedly somewhere in the middle.

 

I'd be surprised to find that much in the way of "royalties" got paid for either MA album. The lyrics were all Guthrie's, so no publishing credit would have gone to either Bragg or Wilco. Those albums didn't sell all that much, so I don't imagine they made much (if any) profit for the artists after Elektra took their share. You can't hoard something that doesn't exist.

 

Maybe you want to tell me why he's still insisting on touring/ working with a band that has no interest in him? Every time he name drops Wilco, we take note here at the VC. It's Billy Bragg putting himself back in the front of our minds.

Show me one actual example of Bragg "insisting" on touring or working with Wilco.

 

Bragg mentions Wilco because people ask him about Wilco. I've seen him live multiple times when he played songs from those albums and never once mentioned Wilco. I've talked to him personally about his career on at least three occasions and Wilco never came up. He doesn't care about those guys any more than they care about him these days.

 

It's hilarious to me that there are Wilco fans who make Bragg out to be some kind of name-dropping, avaricious monster who raises the specter of Wilco to further his own career. Bullshit. Bragg was a well-established artist long before Uncle Tupelo recorded their first record. He doesn't need Wilco, now, then, or ever.

 

If anyone derived commercial benefit from the Mermaid Avenue projects, it was probably Wilco, who were suddenly on the map for a whole category of fans who never would have known about them otherwise. Go ahead and ask people here how they found out about Wilco, and you'll find an astounding number of responses that point to one or both of those albums as their first exposure. Without Billy Bragg, drunken idiots at Wilco shows couldn't shout over and over for "California Stars," because it never would have been recorded.

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Without Billy Bragg, drunken idiots at Wilco shows couldn't shout over and over for "California Stars," because it never would have been recorded.

 

In the past I never had a reason to dislike Billy Bragg, but now...

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Bragg mentions Wilco because people ask him about Wilco. I've seen him live multiple times when he played songs from those albums and never once mentioned Wilco. I've talked to him personally about his career on at least three occasions and Wilco never came up. He doesn't care about those guys any more than they care about him these days.
Actually the one and only time I talked to Billy we did talk briefly about Jeff and his family. I do think he has a soft spot in his heart for his work with Wilco, not withstanding the other issues that are obviously there. Other than that I totally agree with you. MA helped raise Wilco's profile immensely. People who barely know about Wilco know about MA and like at least the first album. It will always be a major part of their career despite the problems it created. (If Wilco never sings California Stars again it is fine with me....)

 

LouieB

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Bragg mentions Wilco because people ask him about Wilco. I've seen him live multiple times when he played songs from those albums and never once mentioned Wilco. I've talked to him personally about his career on at least three occasions and Wilco never came up. He doesn't care about those guys any more than they care about him these days.

Exactly. There is an ocean of difference between BB "name-dropping" Wilco and answering an interviewer's question about his collaboration with them.

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Look, Billy got the MA thing off the ground and Wilco were his backing band of choice.

 

Then it all went tits up. Jeff didn't like being treated like the poor relation in the collaboration and they fell out. Billy wanted to tour it but Jeff didn't for the above reason.

 

Billy still says some nice stuff about Wilco, Jeff thinks Billy is a c***. This I know, from a first hand source.

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Without Billy Bragg, drunken idiots at Wilco shows couldn't shout over and over for "California Stars," because it never would have been recorded.

 

then they shut up and listen when they play Mountain bed or One by one!

 

People who barely know about Wilco know about MA and like at least the first album.

 

that was the story down here. AM and BT slipped out without a word, but MA got them radio play. funny thing is it was labelled as billy's new album and wilco were shoved off as the backing group - even though california stars got all the airplay on the radio

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