why wilco is my favorite band

[welch79]

You know, it hits me as I write this that this is probably what evangelical Christians feel all the time. Like they've got this wonderful secret they're dying to share with everyone, and it will be good for everyone to know about it, because they know about the best thing there is! They can probably keep their mouths shut most of the time because they have a community they get to share their zeal with on Sunday mornings.

good analogy.

[smells like flowers]

My friends and co-workers, too, hear more than their share about Wilco from me. I've decided, though, to embrace it as part of my identity. Wilco really is such a big, rewarding part of my life and their music is deeply embedded in my heart and soul. Some people never do experience this kind of passionate zeal for music, or seeing shows, or much of anything. Their loss!

 

I did have the profound pleasure of converting my best friend to fandom (via a live show back in September) and she described her newfound love for Wilco as feeling like she had a happy secret. I love that!

[Autumnteeth]

good analogy.

 

I always thought taking one quote out of context is more evangelical than the actual act of liking the band but I could be wrong. I find that the Tebowites tend to take the one phrase from the psalm, reading, etc. and run with it as opposed to dealing with the entire context. But good analogy anyway, maybe.

[ditty]

My friends and co-workers, too, hear more than their share about Wilco from me. I've decided, though, to embrace it as part of my identity. Wilco really is such a big, rewarding part of my life and their music is deeply embedded in my heart and soul. Some people never do experience this kind of passionate zeal for music, or seeing shows, or much of anything. Their loss!

 

this!!!

[lamradio]

I wish I still had that. I was once (and no offense intended) a Wilco Super fan like you guys. I still love Wilco, but I'm not obsessed like I used to be. Well I guess I am still somewhat of a super fan if I still hangout at this place.

[Magnetized]

I wish I still had that. I was once (and no offense intended) a Wilco Super fan like you guys. I still love Wilco, but I'm not obsessed like I used to be. Well I guess I am still somewhat of a super fan if I still hangout at this place.

Honestly, I wish the obsession would die down--it feels like it has a bit too much of a hold on me. Just when I feel it starting to wane, though, something gets me all cranked up again. The Chicago shows, that Jeff interview, John's sweetness, Jeff, Nels' awesomeness, Jeff, Glenn's sweaty passion, Jeff. . .Jeff. . .

 

And yeah, hanging out here does qualify you as a more than casual fan, I believe.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Sarah, I feel your pain, although I have not directly experienced what you have. The fact is, even if Jeff was a total tool, and the band didn't give their fans anything but the music, they would still be a great band...I firmly believe they are the best touring band in America today.

 

The fact that you have had some personal interaction with them, and so have many others, should make your "uber-fan" status understandable at the very least. But honestly, if you're talking to someone who thinks that being played on the radio - in today's shitty market - is the defining sign of quality, well, quite frankly, you're talking to a fucking idiot. I know it's a tough lesson to learn, but the world is chock full of those, and you're better off avoiding them when possible...if you can't avoid them, at least don't take their opinions to heart. They probably think Two And A Half Men is the best show ever, too.

 

Have a great holiday.

 

EDIT: I just have to add, this whole "uber-fan" thing makes us sound like we have no objectivity, and kiss the band's asses even when they deliver something that's sub-par. Well, most of us don't do that. We know they're great, objectively speaking. One thing that showed me that was when I took my buddy Don to his first Wilco show. Don is like LouieB, a guy who has been around and seen a zillion concerts - everybody from The Stones to Miles Davis to Jefferson Airplane. He has seen most of the great acts out there. He still goes to New Orleans Jazz Fest every year, so he's a pretty jaded concert goer, to say the least. And during his first Wilco show, this guy turned to me several times after songs and just said, Wow. Wow. So there you go.

[junkiesmile]

You guys are lame. I'd make fun of you too.

[Autumnteeth]

You guys are lame. I'd make fun of you too.

 

Yeah, and we would make fun of you. It is not personal.

[Autumnteeth]

Sarah, I feel your pain, although I have not directly experienced what you have. The fact is, even if Jeff was a total tool, and the band didn't give their fans anything but the music, they would still be a great band...I firmly believe they are the best touring band in America today.

 

The fact that you have had some personal interaction with them, and so have many others, should make your "uber-fan" status understandable at the very least. But honestly, if you're talking to someone who thinks that being played on the radio - in today's shitty market - is the defining sign of quality, well, quite frankly, you're talking to a fucking idiot. I know it's a tough lesson to learn, but the world is chock full of those, and you're better off avoiding them when possible...if you can't avoid them, at least don't take their opinions to heart. They probably think Two And A Half Men is the best show ever, too.

 

Have a great holiday.

 

EDIT: I just have to add, this whole "uber-fan" thing makes us sound like we have no objectivity, and kiss the band's asses even when they deliver something that's sub-par. Well, most of us don't do that. We know they're great, objectively speaking. One thing that showed me that was when I took my buddy Don to his first Wilco show. Don is like LouieB, a guy who has been around and seen a zillion concerts - everybody from The Stones to Miles Davis to Jefferson Airplane. He has seen most of the great acts out there. He still goes to New Orleans Jazz Fest every year, so he's a pretty jaded concert goer, to say the least. And during his first Wilco show, this guy turned to me several times after songs and just said, Wow. Wow. So there you go.

 

The Edit hits home. The funniest thing I read in a year end wrap up of best albums, songs, and performances was a snide remark about the Whole Love. The commenter liked the album, but then mentioned that the Jeff Tweedy weather report was proof that if JEff walked on stage, took a dump, and walked off, not only fans but critics would hail the load he dropped as majestic and art in its purest form. If the review stopped there itwould have been funny, but he went on to give a critics description as follows:

 

It was brown, tan, maybe ecru, with perfect marbeling and ridges that spoke to the viewer on many levels. The heat it emitted was body temparature at first, but as it cooled it congealed in a way that led the viewer to the conclusion that this was no typical turd, it was a monumental statement to the consumption of corn on many levels, The layered by product left a lasting nasal impression that brought to mind anal discharges of a youth long gone, a lifeline to a world now uninhabited but in the past consumed, loved, and betrayed by unanticipated materialism from more innocent times, Yes, the band played, And the stool stewed, a dark contrast to the white porcelain that was granted the favor of holding, harvesting, even containing, the waste product of a genius. This is the colon impressed remnants of an era bygone, lost in a sea of liquid elimination that takes not the time to form into a log but instead free flows like an unfinished opus. This meatstick is one to be remembered, if not for itself but for its presence in the modern world, where loaf pinching is a lost cause, where Brown Town is merely a memory, where odiforeous is simply an elegant word no one remembers but many covet. Indeed, it is the loaf of life.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

The Edit hits home. The funniest thing I read in a year end wrap up of best albums, songs, and performances was a snide remark about the Whole Love. The commenter liked the album, but then mentioned that the Jeff Tweedy weather report was proof that if JEff walked on stage, took a dump, and walked off, not only fans but critics would hail the load he dropped as majestic and art in its purest form. If the review stopped there itwould have been funny, but he went on to give a critics description as follows:

 

It was brown, tan, maybe ecru, with perfect marbeling and ridges that spoke to the viewer on many levels. The heat it emitted was body temparature at first, but as it cooled it congealed in a way that led the viewer to the conclusion that this was no typical turd, it was a monumental statement to the consumption of corn on many levels, The layered by product left a lasting nasal impression that brought to mind anal discharges of a youth long gone, a lifeline to a world now uninhabited but in the past consumed, loved, and betrayed by unanticipated materialism from more innocent times, Yes, the band played, And the stool stewed, a dark contrast to the white porcelain that was granted the favor of holding, harvesting, even containing, the waste product of a genius. This is the colon impressed remnants of an era bygone, lost in a sea of liquid elimination that takes not the time to form into a log but instead free flows like an unfinished opus. This meatstick is one to be remembered, if not for itself but for its presence in the modern world, where loaf pinching is a lost cause, where Brown Town is merely a memory, where odiforeous is simply an elegant word no one remembers but many covet. Indeed, it is the loaf of life.

 

Oft times the issue is with the reviewer/poster, not that which is being reviewed/posted about.

[junkiesmile]

 

 

Yeah, and we would make fun of you. It is not personal.

Haha. I work in an industry with a bunch of musicians and music snobs who wouldn't be caught dead listening to "radio friendly music" and I still get made fun of for my Wilco obsession. Wilco's music is not for everyone. From the outside looking in they can be kind of bland in my circles. It takes a certain kind of taste and a desire to look beneath the surface.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Haha. I work in an industry with a bunch of musicians and music snobs who wouldn't be caught dead listening to "radio friendly music" and I still get made fun of for my Wilco obsession. Wilco's music is not for everyone. From the outside looking in they can be kind of bland in my circles. It takes a certain kind of taste and a desire to look beneath the surface.

 

I've never really been such a music snob that I have felt the need to ridicule somebody for a band or singer they like to listen to...unless it was J-lo. Or Creed.

 

I would think music insiders would appreciate the complexities and textures of Wilco's music. Lyrically and performance related.

Nuance and subtlety is something that is rare in today's world.

[junkiesmile]

 

 

I've never really been such a music snob that I have felt the need to ridicule somebody for a band or singer they like to listen to...unless it was J-lo. Or Creed.

 

I would think music insiders would appreciate the complexities and textures of Wilco's music. Lyrically and performance related.

Nuance and subtlety is something that is rare in today's world.

Yeah. You'd think it would be an obvious match but not everyone sees it the way we do.

[IRememberDBoon]

my punk rock buddy puts Wilco in the same category as 3 doors down and DMB and John Mayer type stuff.

 

DMB doesnt even belong in that category.

 

He bartends and they play a satellite station that plays Wilco all the time. I caught his ass singing What Light one night. He'll never live it down

[SteveMck]

 

wilco cares about their fans.

 

 

Likewise, their fans care about them.

I remember seeing Wilco at Otto's in Deklab shortly before A Ghost Is Born was released. XRT had been playing I'm A Wheel but nothing else had been released/played to my knowledge. In any event, they played Hell Is Chrome that night which is a quiet song that many people, if not all, were hearing for the first time and you could hear a pin drop in that place, people were transfixed. At a lot of shows I think you would have seen people shuffle around, head to the bar or restroom during a mellow song that they were not familair with but that wasn't the case at all this night.

 

What does it mean? To me, it means that Wilco fans genuinely care about the songs and that Wilco write songs worth paying attention to.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

I genuinely believe that the band does care for their fans. Wilco (the Song), may be a bit tongue in cheek, I believe it does contain sincere sentiment. (But then again...so does Misunderstood )

[smells like flowers]

The Edit hits home. The funniest thing I read in a year end wrap up of best albums, songs, and performances was a snide remark about the Whole Love. The commenter liked the album, but then mentioned that the Jeff Tweedy weather report was proof that if JEff walked on stage...

 

I actually thought that weather report thing was awkward and ridiculous, and Jeff looked extremely uncomfortable. His banter had a definite undertone of "get me the f--k out of here!"