How and when did you discover Wilco?

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

It may have been done before, but it is always useful and interesting to know how others came to find the band.

 

I had never heard anything by Uncle Tupelo. I had seen the cd's in the bin and had read the raves about the band in Rolling Stone, but I had been burned with the flavor of the month bands before.

I was in my 30's and had young children to concern myself with, so music was taking a background noise place in my life. I had been an avid follower of all thing music. My dad had owned a small radio station (Pre-deregulation) and I had always had unlimited exposure to music. Managed to see Springsteen a week before my 16th birthday in Shreveport Louisiana and had made a major road trip in 1978. Was allowed to see the real back stories behind some of the popular artists of the day...was actually a bit jaded.

 

I was at a Best Buy in Arlington Texas on a Wednesday afternoon after work when I discovered Wilco. I know it was in early April because of some work related issues. Best Buy used to have a CD sampler rig in the stores where you could listen to the CDs. Something about the cover interested me. The CD had a little card that said that the band was 'formed from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo'. I wasn't even aware Uncle Tupelo had broken up. What the hell, I'll give it a whirl.

 

...so I gave it a listen.

 

To this day I cannot tell you what hooked me, but from almost the first drum notes of I MUST BE HIGH, I was sold.

 

Back in the day, there wasn't a lot of real information available on the internet. In 1995, the internet was still a novelty. But I remember using whatever primitive search engine I used in those days to look for Springsteen and Wilco related information. (Was it Yahoo?)

Almost from the beginning, Wilco occupied a prime place in my music obsessions: Springsteen, U2, Pearl Jam and Wilco. I had never pursued bootlegs or trade trees for bands outside of Springsteen, but I soon found a kindred spirit who was able to hook me up with some cool stuff. (Whatever happened to Dancing Joe?)

 

U2 and Pearl Jam don't have the same pull on my imagination these days. And Springsteen may be on the downslide.

 

But Wilco...always Wilco. Jeff has never let me down musically.

 

And with the advent of Bit torrent sites, I am now even more obsessed. I think I have managed to score EVERY SINGLE show that is available from this tour.

 

It's really nice to have something to that inspired passion. It might be trite, but I am really glad that I have this band to follow. And I am really excited that my son shares this obsession.

[dark]

I had a friend turn me onto YHF not long after it had come out ... yes I recognized it was good but for whatever reason it didnt at the time resonate with me ... a few years later I bought Being There and I liked it but still not a turning point for me .. then a few years back I was You Tubing and came across some live vids and BOOM that was the end or the beginning for me ... now I am a bit obsessed .. have seen four shows now and each one has been better than the previous

[IATTBYB]

When I was in law school in the mid-90's, there was an alt-country show once a week (Wed. evenings if I recall correctly) called Progressive Torch and Twang on the MSU student run radio station. The DJ had the sexiest voice and played the coolest songs . . . Rev. Horton Heat; The Knitters, Johnny Cash, The Jayhawks, etc. Just about every week she'd play Box Full of Letters and Windfall. These were my absolute two favorite songs at the time and I eventually went out and bought A.M. and Trace. Well the Son Volt bug didn't quite take, the Wilco virus set in and replicated with BT, was almost cured by ST, and came back with a vengeance with YHF and aGIB. I've always wondered what happened to that DJ with the sexy voice . . . I'd like to buy her a beer for turning me on to my favorite band.

[choo-choo-charlie]

I hadva friend in college who had a copy of AGIB and talked about how great it was. I shrugged it off. I had a roommate who had a burned copy of YHF and played it in his car. I too blew that off. My brother had given me a copy of the last UT show a few years earlier that i played once and never listened to again.

 

My last year of college, I was buying a few LPs and the store clerk suggested I grab a copy of Kicking Television, which had just come out. I bought it on a whim, but didn't open it immediately. At the time, my then-girlfriend-now-wife and I had just broken up and I holed myself off in my apartment for quite some time, only listening to music and feeling sorry for myself.

 

I decided to listen to KT and thought it was pretty,darn good. So i read up on Wilco and found my way to UT's story. i bought No Depression, then the March record, then Being There and Summerteeth. Listened to all nonstop for weeks, and proceeded to buy up the rest of the catalog from both bands. At the time, AGIB was the newest record. I bought a vinyl copy.

 

Then my girlfriend/wife and I got back together, fell in love and fell in love with Wilco together. OUr first show was a Tweedy solo gig in Lincoln, 2006. We've been hooked ever since.

[Skian]

I found them via Mermaid Ave when it first came out. Then I got my hands on a bootleg Tweedy disc from 10/21/99. (great show).

Started to collect Wilco bootlegs after that. I had not heard a studio album until sometime between YHF and the I Am Trying To Break Your Heart film. Continued to add bootlegs (Wilco, Tweedy and the like) to the vault. Finally saw them in Portland OR 11//11/04 (standing behind Sarah C) and the again at the Berkeley Greek 6/11/05. Great Great shows. Top notch performers. (can't say enough)

I wish I could see more shows. Still in all, one of my all time favorite bands!

[thejokeexplained]

August 14 1999 having dinner at the Green Room in Deep Ellum in Dallas. I ask my waiter a recommendation on live music in the area and he suggested i try the Gypsy Tea Room down the street. Walked down, purchased a ticket at the door and walked away blown away by a band i had never heard play a note until that night.

[Autumnteeth]

A couple of guys I shared a hose with in college were from Belleville and knew Jay Farrar. We followed Uncle Tupelo around, Jay was not the most likeable of fellows, and when AM came out I opted or Wilco, although I did think Trace was pretty good too. Can't believe how good the band became. Same enthusiasm they had n the old days, but they are ahell of a lot better now. At the same time we were hanging at early Tupelo shows a friend of a friend was close with the singer in Night Ranger. Glad I took the path of long term fulfilment over the instant gratification of become a Ranger Rover, or whatever the hell you would call it.

[JAK2112]

I knew my dad had been a fan of Wilco for a while, he saw them a few times in the late nineties around the time of BT, but hadn't seen them since. So when we went to Bonnaroo in 2009, i had a tough choice to make between seeing the Decemberists, whom i knew i liked and had seen recently, or venture and see Wilco. Chose Wilco and loved it. Right after they were done, my dad asked if i wanted to see them do their own show in Dutchess county the next month, and i immediately said yes. Haven't looked back (I have seen them another 9 times since)

[Jams]

I had heard of Wilco in the later 1990's, but I didn't listen to anything by the band until 2004, when a friend suggested that I listen to YHF, which I did--ultimately, over, and over, and over again.

 

They've been one of my favorite bands--ever--since then. I think The Whole Love is also one of the best records I've ever heard. Content, performance, production...the whole ball of wax....

 

I LOVE this band. (And, apparently, they love me, too! )

[welch79]

i used to be a member of one of those columbia house thingies were you'd get 7 cds for the price of one or something. based on my previous purchases, it recommended YHF to me (this was around 2002/2003). so, i ordered it. what the hell, right? it was practically free.

 

when it arrived, i put it in my cd player...and it didn't leave for months. from that first spin of YHF till now, they've been my favorite band.

[Sparky speaks]

Someone told me about Uncle Tupelo around 93 or 94. I bought a couple of CDs. I liked Tweedy's voice better than Farrar's. Around that same time Tupelo broke up and I read somewhere how they were forming new bands. Bought the first Son Volt album and the first Wilco album not really knowing who was with each band. Wilco had Tweedy, so there you are...

[TemplePilot]

From the official Stone Temple Pilots message board around 2002 or so. There was a guy on there who had a long running "download of the week" thread and it was always more obscure indie type stuff to get people to branch out a little bit. He put up something but I forget what it was but I kept listening to other tracks, found Being There, game over.

[maxspr1]

I was a latecomer to the band. I didn't know Wilco's music, but I'll watch a documentary on almost anything. I work at home, often pulling all-nighters to meet deadlines. I play a lot of documentaries via Netflix when I'm working in the wee hours. I decided to stream I Am Trying to Break Your Heart one night last year when I couldn't find anything else that interested me. I found myself thinking the title track over the credits was interesting...then I really found myself liking the version of Kamera that follows a little later. Then after that great live in-studio take of I'm Always in Love, I actually said out loud to myself: "F**k! Now I'm a Wilco fan!"

 

I should explain: that wasn't a bad thing--nothing against Wilco fans at all--but when I become a fan of a band, I start trying to collect all of their albums and non-lp tracks and any other rarities until i own every song they've recorded and released. I responded so quickly and strongly to just the few Wilco songs I had heard in the first half of that movie that I knew it was the beginning of a major new obsession--I'd soon be blowing lots of money and time on this band!

[brownie]

I discovered Wilco from a track on a compilation CD that came with a magazine. I can't remember now if the magazine was CMJ or Uncut, but it was around the time Summerteeth came out. I think the track was I Can't Stand It. I can't swear that was the track, it was so long ago now, but I bought Summerteeth immediately and have been hooked ever since.

[Autumnteeth]

I discovered Wilco from a track on a compilation CD that came with a magazine. I can't remember now if the magazine was CMJ or Uncut, but it was around the time Summerteeth came out. I think the track was I Can't Stand It. I can't swear that was the track, it was so long ago now, but I bought Summerteeth immediately and have been hooked ever since.

 

I always wondered if those worked. I end up thinkin to myself try this out.... and never do. That is great though. I am curious if you bought other stuff off promos like this? I am not a marketer or someone who will profit from it, just someone who is curious how this works.

[brownie]

I always wondered if those worked. I end up thinkin to myself try this out.... and never do. That is great though. I am curious if you bought other stuff off promos like this? I am not a marketer or someone who will profit from it, just someone who is curious how this works.

I did! I also discovered the Pernice Brothers, Joseph Arthur, and Calexico via compilation CDs from those two magazines. Unfortunately, I had to give it up about 10 years ago because I no longer had the time to devote to it, nor the money for the Uncut unsubscription (I think it was over $200/year). But yeah, it worked for me, at a time when I had absolutely no other outlet to hear new music I might like. Each of those four artists is still one of my favorites. Nowadays I get exposure to new stuff via satellite radio.

[Maggie]

I knew of Wilco during the 90's but took no interest in them. They'd pop up periodically throughout the following years, but I never gave them a chance. Finally in 2005 after a Ryan Adams binge I knew I needed to broaden my horizons or suffer Ryan overload.

 

I started searching the internet for "similar" artists and came up with Wilco. After sampling some stuff online I purchased Kicking Television. By the end of "Misunderstood" I was blown away. I could not stop listening to them. To this day when I listen to that album I have flashbacks to December days listening to that album on my iPod: Riding the bus at night, walking to class, standing in elevators.

[jcroach]

I was working as a DJ at my small liberal arts college radio station during my freshman year in 1993/94. We played Uncle Tupelo's "Long Cut plus 5 live" promo ep on pretty heavy rotation. After hearing it and loving it I was crushed when I learned that band had broken up before I got a chance to see them. Bought A.M. (as well as Trace) as soon as it came out.

[PopTodd]

I discovered Wilco before they were born -- big Uncle Tupelo fan and was shattered when they broke up.

But the first time that I heard Wilco was the first time that they played Chicago (maybe their second-ever show?). It was at Lounge Ax in 1994. The show was actually my second show of the night. Earlier in the evening I was at the Vic, at a Pegboy show, and they blew my freaking socks off.

After the show, we heard a rumor that Jeff Tweedy's new band was going to be playing the LAx that evening, too (the friends that I was with were also big UT fans), so we hustled over to Lincoln Ave. and got there in time to see the beginning of the set.

 

The first half of the show was just Jeff playing solo/acoustic -- he opened with a solo/acoustic version of "Gun". And then he brought the band on stage with him. I remember thinking that it was pretty good, but none of us were really blown away. (We were pretty much all "Jay People" at that point, anyway.) Still dug it a bit and all promised to buy the album when it came out.

 

A.M. was kinda the same -- pleasant, but not earth-shattering. While, Trace was (and remains) a brilliant slab of Americana, with many perfect songs.

 

But then Being There came out, and then Summerteeth, and all of a sudden Wilco was high on my list of favorite bands.

[alison the wilca]

At my university (yeesh, about 11 years ago now) we had this intranet/online bulletin board system for students. Everyone had the ability to create a free-form profile page. People always changed their pages and put funny things on them (basically a precursor to facebook type stuff) and we'd often find ourselves reading profiles for hours at a time. A friend of mine had the lyrics to California Stars on his profile and I loved them. It wasn't attributed to anything so I asked him about it and that was the end of that. I have a special place in my heart for that song because it introduced me to Wilco and I've had quite a few fond memories with that song as the soundtrack.

[Heart full of holes]

Many years ago, my best friend from college began dating my next door neighbor. Turns out, he had grown up in Belleville and remembered riding the school bus with Jeff. He lent me his copy of AM. Neighbor moved. Took best friend with him. Still have CD.

[Suki]

1999 -- I had never heard of Wilco or Uncle Tupelo. I have always loved music but felt like I was in a music void -- too busy with work and home to find interesting current bands. Then I read a review of Summerteeth, thought it sounded like something I would like, listened to the 30-second snippets of the songs on Amazon and ordered it. I fell in love with the whole CD from the first note to the last. It seemed as if I had been waiting for just this sound. I started looking for more information about Wilco on the internet and saw they were coming to our area, opening for REM. I told my husband I wanted to go to see REM, but really for the opening group. I still didn't know much about Wilco so wasn't sure how they would sound live, especially as all I knew was Summerteeth where so many of the songs are layered with multiple instruments and vocals. I thought it might not translate well to the live show. Of course I was wrong. It was fantastic. I fondly remember that show as the first time I ever heard California Stars. From then on, up to this day, Wilco has been my favorite band.

[choo-choo-charlie]

I fell in love with the whole CD from the first note to the last. It seemed as if I had been waiting for just this sound.

 

I remember that feeling too. Summerteeth was a big part of that. She's a Jar changed my world.

[I'm Incinerator]

I became aware of Wilco around the time of YHF's release. It was on my list of albums to check out...never really made it to the top. Then a guy I jammed with back in the day was obsessed with WIlco and Superdrag. I bit on the Superdrag bit, and hard, but still didn't check out WIlco. Then one night, while having a few beers at a bar, I heard a song come on the juke box, and I looked to see what it was and I saw the cover of Being There on the screen. A little while later, I picked up Being There, and that's when I became a casual fan. Then that following Christmas, I got a gift certificate to the local record store. I then picked up Kicking Television, which had just came out a little while before. Well, Kicking Television changed everything for me (still does after listening to it today). I proceeded to use all of my giftcard money to other big box stores to buy up the rest of the Wilco back catalog in the next few weeks, and wasting no time to get familiar with it. I became obsessed!!!! Luckily, my first live Wilco related experience came a couple weeks later in Feb. of 2006 with a Jeff Tweedy show (Lincoln, NE at the Rococo Theater) and Glenn opening up! The steam didn't come out of those sails for the longest time. Yes, other bands have come into my life since, but anytime I get the urge to put on a Wilco album all of the magic that filled me up comes right back. I am sad that my last live WIlco experience came in the autumn of 2007, and I'm sure I have missed out on a few easy road trips to see them since.

 

I will also say I slacked on picking up the Whole Love, but I must say after hearing the new releases from Ryan Adams, The Jayhawks, and Wilco...Wilco definitely has the better album of the artists that were my world of Alt.Country...even though Wilco has expanded those boundaries into other forms of music! This was the first time since becoming obsessed with Wilco that I wasn't down at the record store waiting on release day...

[choo-choo-charlie]

I became aware of Wilco around the time of YHF's release. It was on my list of albums to check out...never really made it to the top. Then a guy I jammed with back in the day was obsessed with WIlco and Superdrag. I bit on the Superdrag bit, and hard, but still didn't check out WIlco. Then one night, while having a few beers at a bar, I heard a song come on the juke box, and I looked to see what it was and I saw the cover of Being There on the screen. A little while later, I picked up Being There, and that's when I became a casual fan. Then that following Christmas, I got a gift certificate to the local record store. I then picked up Kicking Television, which had just came out a little while before. Well, Kicking Television changed everything for me (still does after listening to it today). I proceeded to use all of my giftcard money to other big box stores to buy up the rest of the Wilco back catalog in the next few weeks, and wasting no time to get familiar with it. I became obsessed!!!! Luckily, my first live Wilco related experience came a couple weeks later in Feb. of 2006 with a Jeff Tweedy show (Lincoln, NE at the Rococo Theater) and Glenn opening up! The steam didn't come out of those sails for the longest time. Yes, other bands have come into my life since, but anytime I get the urge to put on a Wilco album all of the magic that filled me up comes right back. I am sad that my last live WIlco experience came in the autumn of 2007, and I'm sure I have missed out on a few easy road trips to see them since.

 

I will also say I slacked on picking up the Whole Love, but I must say after hearing the new releases from Ryan Adams, The Jayhawks, and Wilco...Wilco definitely has the better album of the artists that were my world of Alt.Country...even though Wilco has expanded those boundaries into other forms of music! This was the first time since becoming obsessed with Wilco that I wasn't down at the record store waiting on release day...

 

I was that concert in Lincoln. Also my first Wilco-related show. Glenn opening was remarkable.