xTonyWonder Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I ask this because I have heard them played twice lately on the Jam On station on Sirius XM. I admit I do love to hear the intricate instrumentals they create, but a jam band? When I hear jam band, I think the likes of Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, The Band, Allman Brothers. I hesitate to put Wilco in that same category. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mpolak21 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I feel like they're a little bit of a lot of styles-- Psych, experimental, folk, rock, indie, country, etc. and can be tangentially placed with a lot of other bands in a lot of genres and fit. But they've never fully been one thing or fit one description. So I can see how playing something from Being There or Kicking Television wouldn't be out of entirely out of place on a jamband station. But then there are albums they've done like Summerteeth that wouldn't fit that format at all. Electicism may be their greatest strength, this is a band that can play shows with Deerhoof one gig, Nick Lowe the next and Natalie Merchant after that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
choo-choo-charlie Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Not really. they've got some extended guitar breaks, but they've also got a lot of melody, tight song structures and arrangements -- great songwriting all-around. They're not just playing two or three chords endlessly and jamming for 20+ minutes... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
you ever seen a ghost? Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 anyone that would say so is stupid. at any rate, they play Wilco an the Outlaw Country station on XM, so genre categories are pretty broad. -justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D. Boon Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I understand why they get played on Jam On ( a great station, by the way!) but I really don't consider them a jam band in any sense. I've never heard of them busting out with a 25 minute Impossible Germany or ending a set with rolling out an extended 15 minute midsection of ALTWYS. They certainly seem to improvise in small bites here and there -especially Nels - but each song is pretty much the same length each night. Phish and Widespread Panic? They could play a whole second set consisting of 2 30-minute songs and fans would love it. As much as I love, love LOVE IATTBYH, I don't want it to eat up half a set. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bart Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I understand why they get played on Jam On ( a great station, by the way!) but I really don't consider them a jam band in any sense. I've never heard of them busting out with a 25 minute Impossible Germany. Agreed. Impossible Germany has that great instrumental/jam section in it, but every single one is damn near exactly the same. That's not jamming in the typical sense, that's just rocking out! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bleedorange Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 No. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skip Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 No. Their songs have lyrics. Also they're too...pop oriented for me to call them a "jam band" per se. Do a handful of songs drift into that genre? OK. I might buy that argument. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 WIlco concerts don't have bass solos, so...NO. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
choo-choo-charlie Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I remember when I first got into Wilco, one of my first purchases was Kicking Television. At the time, I also read a lot of Pitchfork reviews, including their review for KT, which said: "In its 10+ years of existence, Jeff Tweedy's post-Tupelo project has cycled through several lineups and styles: alt-country, Beach Boys-splashed Americana, Radioheaded abstraction. Then, after 2002 masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came last year's confusingly lateral move to listener-unfriendly classic-rock, A Ghost Is Born; "I will turn on you," Tweedy sang in "I'm a Wheel". The tables turn again with Kicking Television, which casts its predecessor's songs in hotter light and serves as a coming-out party for Wilco's newest, six-member incarnation: a drinking man's avant-jam band." I thought that was a weird description. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D. Boon Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 "Then, after 2002 masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came last year's confusingly lateral move to listener-unfriendly classic-rock, A Ghost Is Born;" That quote makes me want to kick Pitchfork in teeth. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
choo-choo-charlie Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Their review of AGIB is maybe one of the most far-off reviews they've ever done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oil Can Boyd Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 WIlco concerts don't have bass solos, so...NO. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D. Boon Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 WIlco concerts don't have bass solos, so...NO.True enough - but after seeing John tearing it up in Montreal, I kinda wish they did! He's the understated secret weapon of this new album, in my humble opinion. And he always, always, always seems to be having a ton of fun - be it during a joyous pop song like ITMWLY or the darkest parts of Via Chicago. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sweet Melinda Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 True enough - but after seeing John tearing it up in Montreal, I kinda wish they did! He's the understated secret weapon of this new album, in my humble opinion. And he always, always, always seems to be having a ton of fun - be it during a joyous pop song like ITMWLY or the darkest parts of Via Chicago. Plus he can jump really high. Count me as a no. I don't consider Wilco a jam band. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JAK2112 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I always tell my friends "I really dislike Jam Bands. Wilco is just a band with good jams". I could see how if you went to a show and saw them do ALTWYS, Spiders, Ashes of American Flags, Impossible Germany, and Handshake Drugs, you could see Wilco as being some sort of Art-Rock Jam Band, but there really is an enormous difference between Wilco and the whole Jam Band genre. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shakespeare In The Alley Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 No. Their songs have lyrics. Not that I think Wilco's a jam band, but having lyrics isn't what makes a band a not a jam band. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
u2roolz Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Hmm. Tastes like raspberry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ih8music Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Wilco (The Jam) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bobfrombob Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I can certainly see how they would appeal to the "jam band people". But (and this is really just a re-stating of the above), with Wilco, the songs come first and the playing serves the songs. I don't listen to a lot of jam bands and never see them live but that doesn't stop me from generalizing about them - it seems to me that the jam comes first, or the song is a means to get to a jam. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rareair Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Not that I think Wilco's a jam band, but having lyrics isn't what makes a band a not a jam band. their fans shower? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I don't listen to a lot of jam bands and never see them live but that doesn't stop me from generalizing about them - it seems to me that the jam comes first, or the song is a means to get to a jam. I used to go see "jam bands" in the early '90s (Phish, Widespread Panic, Col. Hampton, etc.), and I'd agree with the bold portion. I remember when Phish put out Hoist, and it was just a bunch of normal length songs with normal length guitar solos. A lot of their fans started getting nervous. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
choo-choo-charlie Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I used to go see "jam bands" in the early '90s (Phish, Widespread Panic, Col. Hampton, etc.), and I'd agree with the bold portion. I remember when Phish put out Hoist, and it was just a bunch of normal length songs with normal length guitar solos. A lot of their fans started getting nervous. It's funny -- the Phish that I enjoy the most fits that description. I used to enjoy the 20+ minute versions of songs and became very burnt out. Farmhouse might be my favorite record of theirs, which to many hardcore fans, I believe, is unthinkable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SeattleC Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 No way, their arrangements are way too tight to be a jam band. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
moxiebean Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I haven't yet gone to a Wilco concert and seen someone in a tie-dyed peasant skirt spinning so... NO. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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