Oh my goodness, yes to all of this. They certainly had songs that could and should have been hits on both Being There and Summerteeth. But I remember alternative radio in the late '90s very well. I love a lot of that music (I grew up with it) but Wilco just doesn't sound like any of that stuff. The smash alternative hits in 1996 was stuff like Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in my Hand, Pepper, Counting Blue Cars, Wonderwall, Ironic... all good but Wilco is so different. Rootsier for sure. Pearl Jam had hits in 1996 from No Code, which was a weird rootsy album (that I love) but they had built in good will and audience from the early albums. I doubt Who You Are would have been a big radio hit from a smaller cult album like Being There.
It is a little weird that songs like "Monday" and "Outtasite" didn't hit big with the Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, BoDeans, and Black Crowes fans, if not the Hootie, John Mellencamp, and Sheryl Crow crowd. 1996 was a big year for Alanis, Jewel, Joan Osborne, Melissa Etheridge, Sophie B. Hawkins, and Natalie Merchant, too. Seems like there should have been some more room for Wilco in there. But maybe part of the problem is that, according to Wikipedia, "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" was the only single from Being There. It did moderately well on the Rock/Alternative charts, but of course was not a Hot 100 smash. Evidently the record company didn't see fit to get "Monday" on the radio?!?! Malpractice.
Monday is one of those songs that ALWAYS makes me smile, makes me sing along, and makes me increase the volume. I would be wary of someone who doe not find joy in this song.
All right. It's not in the Wikipedia singles discography, but Discogs has a Promo single release featuring the "Album Version" and the "Demo Version," and a Promo CD-R with just the "Less Horny Edit" on it for the Rock stations that may have shied away from the horns. So, maybe they did try to get it on the radio (sorry, Reprise), but the single wasn't released for sale? Apparently Wilco recorded shows for HBO and VH1 at the time, but did they make a video for MTV?
At the 1996 Fourth Of July concert I mentioned up-thread, Wilco played immediately before Paul Westerberg. Not at bad concert for free!
Every ounce of "Monday" sounds like it's trying to be a big college rock radio hit in 1996. For whatever reason it just didn't reach that huge status, even though other catchy Monday and Friday songs typically did very well in their day...but it's got all the hallmarks of other rock songs in 1995/96 that hit big. I don't know the answer. Then they left-turned into Woody Guthrie world (which I love) but that stuff wasn't going to hit on college radio.
Exceptional circumstances aside, bands have windows to become popular. I don't think that big stardom was ever in the cards for Wilco, but I have always thought that they were never as popular as they should have been. But by how much they missed... who's to say? It's not like anybody else from their first scene (alt.country) scene got more popular. YHF was possibly their least commercial album but it became their best known on the strength of great press. Which possibly *hurt* their chances for greater success, if you think about it (if Summerteeth had gotten the buzz of YHF their fortunes may have been different). By the mid-2000s, the window had closed; popular tastes were moving away from rock and Wilco were getting long in the tooth.
I don't know about that. Anecdotally, I knew a lot of frat brother types (I'm not one myself, just for the record) who liked Wilco from 2004 to 2007, on the strength of tunes like "At Least That's What You Said" and "Impossible Germany." Not that this is any indication of commercial success by itself, but I do think their popularity was still expanding. Hell, they won a Grammy during that period.
I dunno, they have had top 10 albums, all their shows sell out pretty much and they are still a going concern after 25 years. Much better than having the fate of a few hits in the 90s followed by obscurity.
My point wasn't that they toiled in obscurity, it was about a popularity level greater than what they achieved. They're a cult band. Selling between 150,000 and 400,000 units per album between the years of 1995 and 2002 - the peak of album sales in US history - is not indicative of a high degree of popularity. My point was that I think that they could have gotten to the next level at some point in the 1990s if they'd managed to have a hit and/or other things had broken right, because they have a lot of catchy songs, make compelling music, are pretty accessible and have a great live show.
Yeah, they're so good, they made a book out of them! Beyond The Fleeting Moment: Wilco Concert Posters 2004-2014
Being There Another album that I came to later in my own Wilco journey. It certainly begins to stir things up, from a standpoint of both music and personnel. I'm not sure where my views of this album land compared to fans that had been following the band by this time, but I get the feeling that some of my opinions might differ in certain ways. As I understand it, Farrar's album Trace was a relatively bigger commercial success than A.M., and Wilco seemed to represent a more medium ground alt-country/folk approach. A.M. held a collection of good songs, but maybe there was a sense of playing it safe. With Being There, there is a glimpse of shaking things up, stretching out, but at the same time it also continues some of the established vibe of the debut, which I kind of feel lends to an album that lacks a bit of focus. Plus, the ambition of a double LP length release creates a situation that demands more of the material. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good tracks on this record, but for me the album as a whole doesn't quite make it as a cohesive work. Hopefully I'll be able to clarify these thoughts as I go through the songs.
I remember seeing the video four "Outtasite" on 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield pretty regularly. This was the program that aired from 10pm-12am on Sunday nights and played stuff like Wilco, Pavement, Cornershop, etc., more under-the-radar stuff that nonetheless had some smaller-scale commercial appeal. At the time I was pretty deep into Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP, etc., so Wilco was a little on the country side of rock-n-roll for my tastes. What a dolt*. Oh, to be 13 again. "Monday" is a song I really enjoy, but as I mentioned before, depending on the day it can take me out of that deep, reflective headspace established by "Misunderstood" and "Far, Far Away" -- sometimes it's a relief that comes just in time, other times I want to wallow even deeper. And I really like the horns -- I love horns in rock music, I wish more bands used them! *For sleeping on Wilco, not for liking those other bands, who still rock!
Next up we have the song selected as the big single complete with music video: Outtasite (Outta Mind) I see a lot of comments on the YouTube video from folks saying that this song/this video was their introduction to Wilco. It is definitely an incredibly memorable video clip and one I would have loved if I had seen it at the time (let's see...1996...I was just starting to get into 'real' music and leaving behind my Disney soundtracks ). 'Outtasite' actually did fairly well, climbing to #22 on the alternative charts. Not a huge hit, but certainly out there and getting seen and noticed. It's a great pop/rock song and this one definitely feels influenced by Paul Westerberg (especially in the vocals). Fine by me! As we've said, the influences are just colors on the palette. This song is all Wilco. It's catchy, it's fun, I love the keyboards ripping away in the background and the guitar riff is great. Like Monday, this is just incredibly fun music that always puts me in a good mood. And the music video is fantastic. I've watched it a lot and it never gets old. They all look like they are having a blast and apparently they did the jump multiple times in that day to get the best shots. This song has been performed live more than 500 times. (Despite my username, I have never been skydiving. I'm pretty wimpy. 'Parachute Woman' is a Stones deep cut if you were wondering at all...)
This is now two albums in a row where the first four tracks of the album are outta-sight good. Catchy as hell, Outtasite (Outta Mind) was the first single from the album and is one of those ‘I’m just fine without you’ songs, full of false bravado. First—there’s incompatibility (talking/walking). And he knows exactly where he stands: “I know where I'll be tonight, alright Out of mind, out of sight” Then, he’s resigned to the break-up...but it’s no big deal: “Well okay, I know you don't love me But you'll still be thinking of me, oh whoa Well alright, I know you probably hate me That's okay with me Alright” And the alright is said with almost a snarl. Yet the chorus sounds a bit plaintive (even though the words are the same). “Look out, here I come again And I'm bringing my friends Look out, here I come again I'm bringing my friends Okay, alright, okay, alright” On this verse you can hear an almost Roger McGuinn-like (jangly?) guitar join the fray. “I’m bringing my friends”! I’m over you. “Alright!” At least that’s my read if I think about the lyrics. Which I don’t because the music is so infectious. Yes, yet another song that makes the list. 4/4.
Yankee sold about 600K in US and over a million worldwide I believe. Not too shabby. I get your point otherwise, but I think their live popularity now is such that they could move to arenas in some areas. I think they don't want to do that though. * if arena concerts ever come back
Being There is now off to a 4-for-4 start songwise, and 0-for-1 videowise. The video is definitely Wilco's attempt to grab the Mountain Dew crowd. It's their DLR "Just Like Paradise" moment, too. Video aside, I really liked the comment by @Paul Gase above about the band "need[ing] some kind of 'hit single' in the alt rock world. Something that would’ve brought out the casual alt rock fan of the day to one of their shows. Something that struck paydirt like that goofball hit 'Sex and Candy.'" I think it's pretty clear from the two MTV videos they made that they were trying to bring this hit to the masses: the two poppiest and least challenging songs on their respective albums got made into upbeat and personable vids, but neither song seemed to find that huge appeal at the time. I vividly recall "Sex and Candy," "...Phone Booth...," Cake, etc., inundating Boston area radio....but don't remember any of my friends latching on to Wilco whatsoever. And we were the music loving, stoney kinds of college kids who would latch onto a band like that! These guys know how to craft perfect pop, and "Outtasite" is exhibit A.
They picked the right song for a single with Outtasite - just a huge mystery why it wasn't a hit. It had all the elements to be one, and especially at that time.
Side thought: does anyone know if there’s film of the Sheryl Crow/Wilco ‘No Matter What’ tour encore? I’ve searched and haven’t been able to find anything (both under Wilco and under Sheryl Crow).
[QUOTE="Paul Gase "They tried. Outtasite is brilliant. Can’t Stand It less so but still a good track. Shot In The Arm? In my world that’s a smash. But in my world so is In The Street, September Gurls and Back of a Car by Big Star!"[/QUOTE] I am with you on this. I hear in some of these Wilco songs what I love about The Replacements and they both lead back to Big Star.
Honestly, I don't think it was ironic enough. Post-Nirvana mid-90s rock radio hits [as evidenced by the short list above] had a kind of kookiness to them. Wilco was maybe too hearts-on-their-sleeves to be "cool" enough to garner such a radio hit.
Outta mind This is a bouncy fun song. I like the tremolo guitar, often a nice effect when used well. They let the verses breathe nicely, held chord, vocal, riff... it has space, but still bangs along nicely. The bridge is very cool and really adds some colour. Back in my stoner days I would have really related to the chorus well. Another solid track. Does what it needs to and moves on.
