Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" officially turned 18 years old yesterday. What did you do to celebrate?
We at Superior St. raised a glass to Jeff Tweedy who was fronted thousands of dollars by Warner Bros. to record this album in his own studio,
Amazingly, when the album was delivered to the WB, they took one listen and rejected it. Rather than re-tool or start over, WIlco chose to leave the label, taking their newly-completed album with them to shop to other labels.
They also posted it on the web in its entirety, allowing fans to download the album for free, building quite a buzz for the album in the process.
After talking to a few labels, WIlco simply signs to Nonesuch Records (a Warner label, as luck would have it), who then pays the band to license the masters to "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", making WIlco the first band to get a label to pay twice for the same album.
While Tweedy and guitarist Jay Bennett had been inseparable for much of the sessions, their competing chemical dependencies eventually led to misunderstandings and, before long, the two to begin sparring as Tweedy felt Bennett was trying to assume creative control of the band. When the amicable levee between these two broke, the damage was immediate, and big, and would lead to Bennett's messy departure from the band.
Despite millions of people downloading the album for free in the months leading up to its release, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was officially released on CD and LP on April 23, 2002. A week later, the album entered the Billboard Top 20 - a feat no other Wilco album had come close to accomplishing.
Despite millions of people downloading the album for free in the months leading up to its release, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was officially released on CD and LP on April 23, 2002. A week later, the album entered the Billboard Top 20 - a feat no other Wilco album had come close to accomplishing.