WILCO is not the most successful American rock band working today, only the most storied. What’s made them so is a combination of serious musical ambition and a ready supply of conflict. As the band’s sound has absorbed ever more punk and electronic layering over its alt-country foundation, they have parted ways with a series of musicians and a record label, and pissed off many fans in the bargain. Despite this, they are more popular than ever and leadman/songwriter Jeff Tweedy’s unwillingness to restrain his own varied musical instincts has made him a cause celebre of the rocknoscenti. It’s not surprising why. Wilco’s ups and down have become the most compelling rock-n-roll narrative since the demise of grunge.
The band’s rise from the remains of pioneering alt-country fave Uncle Tupelo has been obsessively followed by fans and journalists. Last year saw the release of a documentary by musician/Wilco fan Sam Jones, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, on the making of the band’s critical and commercially successful 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This year saw the publication of Learning to Die (Broadway Books) by music critic Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune. Both proceeded with the band’s full cooperation, and both are unusually revealing documents of what the band is like and how they make music. Most of all they reveal the fickle side of the tormented Jeff Tweedy as he falls in and out of love with a series of collaborators and band members.
