I know that may sound really weird. We're just supposed to like the music that speaks to us.
For some reason lately I've been in a musical rut. The old stuff in my library is still great but I don't want it to get stale. I haven't found much new that I love.
A few really important people in my life LOVE wilco and tweedy to an almost unnatural level. I respect these people and our tastes overlap in lots of ways. But for some reason I've never really gotten past a song or two from wilco.
So there it is hubski. Help me like wilco. Where do I start? Why's your favorite wilco or tweedy song?
I fell hard for Wilco. I began with the flick I am trying to break your heart. It documents the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I adore that record and fell immediately in love with it. I'd suggest that silentequinox described it rather nicely. Then I worked my way backward through their discography... and then forward... ever since that flick I've bought each new record as it was released. One of the band's current guitarists, Nels Cline, is one of my personal favorite players - that was just an aside. If you dig live performances - there are plenty of great videos on YouTube. I looked for a good representative link but I couldn't decide upon one. They performed a show at the David Letterman theatre that was shot a few years back (2012 maybe?)... you should be able to find it on YouTube or Vevo. I remember enjoying it through repeated viewings. Their work ranges from concise well-crafted rock and roll / country / americana type tunes to atmospheric and experimental stuff - and pretty much everywhere in between - with the lyrics usually being noteworthy - It's difficult to recommend a specific song or album. Oh... and those direction changes that @silentequinox mentioned... oh how I love those... I think I know what I'll be listening to today... ... and this is what they do when they're rehearsing:
Move on man. Find music that you like now, and come back later. Maybe you haven't had in your life what other people have had that gives them an affinity for Wilco. Maybe you have, and it's just not working for you. We don't all like the same food, we don't all like the same art, don't try to like music that you don't like. It just doesn't make any sense. What you might try to do instead is go through the Billboard charts from a completely different era than you're listening to now, and just start at number 1 and work your way down. You're going to find all sorts of music that you've never heard. If you start in the 80s you'll likely still have a chance to see some of the bands performing. Obviously that chance dwindles as you get further back, but Les Paul just died in 2009 and was playing the whole time. I'm going to see Veruca Salt in a few weeks and am super excited. There's a lot of other music out there and you are wasting your time trying to force yourself to like something that you don't. Have you ever heard Pussy Control by Prince? That's a fuckin' crazy song.
Well, I started with Wilco's album Summerteeth which consists largely of accessible pop-rock tunes focusing on lyricism and vocal emotion. Though a lot of the love I have for Wilco comes from their layered detail work instrumentally. Specifically, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel - an album that marries their raw lyrics and lush instrumentals the most successfully, in my opinion. Just when you think they're going in one direction on almost any song, they take an unexpected and experimental twist - sonically splashing in colors of red, or blue, in an otherwise coffee-colored album. Keep listening to their music until it clicks for you. Eventually it will.