At 12:00 PM -0600 on 3/25/99, William F. Silvers wrote:
>Bob Soron wrote:
>
>> I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money. So far,
>> I've succeeded, no small feat in the town he lives in. (I didn't know
>> he was opening for Patti Smith, I swear. We only saw a song and a
>> half.) If his experimentation tickles you, you're ahead of the game. I
>> stopped playing, myself.
>
>Hmm, let's see. Somebody new gets on the list and, having actually listened
>to the record, has some positive stuff to say about the new Wilco record.
>The uninformed response is "I hate Jeff Tweedy" times six. Now *that's*
>analysis.
Well, now, I don't want to turn this into Postcard, but I think this is
a useful distinction: I don't hate Tweedy, I hate his work. And it
isn't an uninformed opinion; I've seen him in concert a bunch of times
(Wilco and Golden Smog only; by the time I'd heard of Uncle Tupelo,
they were touring with Michelle Shocked, whom I dislike even more, and
yes I've seen her too, and that's most of the reason). Bought the
records, saw the shows. Every piece of work he's done has interested me
less than the last. At this point, I think that declaring I'm not much
interested in his work is not an uninformed opinion. (And I need to
say: I've got no problem with him, or anyone else, being a chameleon. I
think he projects his stage personae very well. They're personae I'm
not interested in, though.)
I sure hope I didn't put Bob In Iowa off -- Bob, if I did, I'm sorry.
(And with Prellboy and Weisberger both vouching for you, I'm looking
forward to hearing you someday.) But Wilco -- no different from many
bands here, in our genre and not -- started out with a certain sound
and attitude that created expectations for a lot of people. The thread,
to me, comes down to, how far can a band drift from its original sound
before it just starts to drive those original fans away? Wilco's a
great example and timely enough to be worth discussing. As I said in
that penultimate sentence quoted above, if some fans like the
experimentation, they're ahead of the game. It isn't that there's
nothing wrong with it; it's that they're better off for it, as I say
there. But this isn't a zero-sum game; folks who didn't like the new
stuff as much as the old don't lose their right to complain, criticize,
or sulk. Frankly, my investment in the band was so low to begin with
that I'm more interested in the general issues than the specific.
Im my defense on my tone, and I guess I should have said this in my
reply to Bob, he did note that it wasn't indepth, so it's difficult to
expect me to do so. On both sides, it was just another "Tastes
great/less filling" call and response. And if it had been indepth, I
probably would've deleted it without reading for reasons that have
nothing to do with him and everything to do with Wilco.
>Lemme know Bob, I'll dub ya a free copy.
This is the bravest thing ever said on list during two simultaneous
antibootlegging threads. Um, that's OK, Bill. <g> (but seriously, too)
Bob
