Albums Of The Decade: #4 – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

by Matthew James on December 9th, 2009

It’s amazing to think now but out there, somewhere in the world, is a man who once said no to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This man was unable to understand that when presented with YHF’s final mix, he had just heard one of the greatest albums ever recorded and said it wasn’t good enough. This man heard songs we now deem to be classics such as ‘I Am Trying To Break Your Heart’, ‘Ashes Of American Flags’, and ‘Jesus, Etc.’ and said the album had no singles on it. He worried about radio play, he worried about record sales, he worried that one of his most bankable acts had given him something so abstract and different from their previous output that there was no way it could be a success. Who the fuck was this guy? Had he not heard Kid A? If not, then surely he had heard Sgt. Pepper’s. Bands do change, bands do evolve, and music fans will embrace this evolution. When it was finally released, YHF turned out to be Wilco’s highest selling album to date, one of the most celebrated American recordings of all time, and it made Tweedy and company one of the most popular acts in the world, selling out venues across the globe in addition to headlining festivals.

The opening scattered drum pattern, random chimes, and other assorted noises on ‘I Am Trying To Break Your Heart’ indicated that this was not going to be usual fare from Wilco. But while Yankee Hotel Foxtrot certainly explored the possibilities of the recording studio and embraced new technologies, it was by no means completely abstract. The early part of the millennium seemed to create both excitement for the future as well as nostalgia for the past. In that regard, we had the quite astonishing Radiohead album Kid A featuring a rock band not using guitars and The Strokes’ Is This It, a record that summoned the influences of 60s garage rock and pop. Wilco were a band who, like Radiohead, were willing innovators of new sounds and landscapes but still remained true to their more structured alt-country roots. Simply put, if Summerteeth was Wilco’s Revolver, then Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the responding Sgt. Pepper’s; an album that explored new ideas and song structure but was still full of great accessible moments. If you listen to some of the songs that might not immediately jump out at you, there is always a piece of wonderful pop just around the corner. The best example of this might be ‘Radio Cure’, a song that ponders along with its consistent single drum beat and echoing bass. Somber and passive, it soon reaches a climax filled with chirping and happier noises becoming almost uplifting.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was also one of the first albums to use the internet to such great effect. File sharing was an established phenomenon by this time but no major band had ever put their new album in full on their website before. Free of their contract with Reprise, Wilco did just that. YHF was available for everyone to hear more than six months before its actual physical release. This only helped build up the buzz surrounding the release. By the time it came out in 2002, not only did it have the story of record company misgivings to go along with it, there was also the evidence of the songs themselves for everyone to hear.

While a challenging listen initially, the strength of the songs soon worked themselves into the heads of Wilco fans old and new. I remember being packed into the Riviera Theatre in the summer of 2002 for Wilco’s homecoming performance on the YHF tour. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen. It was in many ways a celebration and triumph for the album. Jeff Tweedy and his bandmates had been on quite a journey getting the album out and were now reaping the rewards. Despite the ridiculous temperature inside, the obviously overly sold out venue was full of those who had taken Yankee Hotel Foxtrot into their hearts. Each song performed by Wilco was sung back with great gusto by the crowd. A few years later, a much larger crowd at Lollapalooza would again sing along word for word with YHF, further evidence of the album’s amazing success and legacy.

Although Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was recorded and finished pre-9/11, its release the following year very much fit into the mood of a nation trying to recover and make sense of the New York terrorist attacks. ‘Jesus, Etc.’ eerily features the lyrics “tall buildings shake/voices escape singing sad, sad songs” while images of the wreckage and a distressed star-spangled banner are brought to mind with ‘Ashes Of American Flags’. Completely unintentional but oh so poignant, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was certainly an album of its time that explored so many themes and feelings that people were dealing with at the time. Even the album’s cover, the Marina Towers in Chicago, could be seen as a tribute to the World Trade Center. Either way, it’s hard to ignore these coincidences.

Along with the more melancholic and thought-evoking tracks, there were some great moments of more lighthearted pop. ‘I’m The Man Who Loves You’ is a lot of fun with interchanging screeching blues guitar solo, shuffling acoustic guitar, woodwind instrumental interludes, and oom-pah-inducing brass. For an album meant to have no singles, ‘Heavy Metal Drummer’ sounded glorious on the radio. While the electronic drum introduction may be misleading, it’s just a splendid pop song. With its “oooh yeah” backing vocals as well as tales of Kiss and getting stoned, it’s no wonder it remains a live favourite. It’s as accessible and immediate a song as anything Wilco had done previously and since. Big choruses are also present on ‘Pot Kettle Black’ and ‘Kamera’, two more songs of morose pop brilliance.

Looking back, it’s not hard to see why this album is loved by so many. Initially, it may have been labeled as something like America’s response to Kid A but in reality, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is just an amazing record by a band realizing their own potential as songwriters and musicians while acknowledging and allowing new technology and ideas to incorporate themselves into an already successful setup. This was the album to cement Jeff Tweedy’s place as one of rock music’s finest songwriters with his lyrics of both direct and obscure nature. The textures of sound that go from fragile and vulnerable at one moment to forceful and confident at another maintain the flow of emotions delivered by Wilco. As the haunting conclusion to ‘Reservations’ fades to silence, the listener is left with a head full of ideas and differing emotions that require contemplation. It’s hard to go directly from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to another record. Usually, the silence or a return to ‘I Am Trying To Break Your Heart’ is required. Even after more than seven years listening, its power still resonates strongly and this remains one of the finest albums of our time that will surely evolve into a classic for generations to come. Perhaps the most amazing thing about all this is that the man who said no to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot still works for Warner Bros.

Matthew James

Honorable Mentions (Part 1)
Honorable Mentions (Part 2)
#50-41
#40-31
#30-21
#20-11
#10 / #9 / #8 / #7 / #6 / #5 / #3 / #2 / #1