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Is Wilco the "American Radiohead?"

Two successful careers - but how alike are Wilco and Radiohead?

Many years ago, I believed that every garbage can had the possibility of being Oscar-the-Grouch’s home. “Is Oscar in there?? I would ask any adult willing to listen. I did not yet understand the difference between correlation and causality. In reality, Oscar would lead to a garbage can, but the relationship did not always work in the opposite direction. Garbage cans did not necessarily lead to Oscar.

When I first heard Wilco referred to as the “American Radiohead?, I thought it was one of the laziest and inaccurate comparisons I had ever heard. Wilco has never had and probably never will have any singles that rival “Creep?, “Fake Plastic Trees?, or “Karma Police? in popularity and their music is barely comparable. The similarities between these bands were drawn, of course, after the release of Wilco’s “experimental? album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot .

Inspired by news of Radiohead releasing a new album, I decided to throw O.K. Computer into my daily rotation. Coincidentally, I had recently been listening to a lot of my favorite Wilco album, Summerteeth. Listening to these two albums, I realized that there are striking similarities between the two bands. I noticed a blindingly simple pattern. Although the music is not very similar at all, upon closer inspection patterns emerge between the two bands.

The timeline does not match up, so don’t start looking for dates on the backs of your CDs. However, take a look at how similar Wilco and Radiohead’s catalogs are. The sequence is what matters.

For example, A.M. is Wilco’s Pablo Honey. Like Radiohead - Wilco had not yet achieved a cohesive and consistent sound. Wilco was riding the coattails of Jeff Tweedy’s association with Uncle Tupelo and Radiohead was riding the coattails of the early nineties alternative boom. Both records were not distinctive compared to other albums in their respective genres.

Being There and The Bends were both well received by fans and critics alike. The albums established the bands as forces to be reckoned with. Although neither band was a media darling yet, they were receiving praise from publications that would describe their next albums as best of the year.

Summerteeth and O.K. Computer are the best and most consistent albums the bands have ever released. Sure, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was heavily hyped due to the label refusing to release it and the inadvertent 9/11 symbolism that critics read into it, but Summerteeth is the real masterpiece. Many people are still waiting for a band to come out with something that is as influential as O.K. Computer.

YHF and Kid A were both dubbed “experimental?. Each album garnered critical praise on account of reputation rather than substance. Over-hyped is a term that comes to mind when describing YHF and Kid A, both albums were good but not great. Each pales in comparison to the previous release.

A Ghost is Born and Amnesiac display bands comfortably recycling uninteresting techniques. Sales and positive accolades were achieved by riding the success of each band’s previous album (sound familiar yet?).

Sky Blue Sky and Hail to the Thief are the bands worst material since their debuts. Sky Blue Sky is boring. Hail to the Thief is boring. There are no good singles and nothing seems even remotely catchy. Let’s see, there’s the Wilco song from the Volkswagen commercial and Radiohead has the song that has the video. This demonstrates that memorable is not a good description of any music contained on either one of these discs. Wilco stuff keeps sounding too much like Phish and Radiohead sounds more and more like a band who really digs The Bends.

Do all of Wilco’s and Radiohead’s albums merit the positive reviews they have received? Or is the acclaim driven by the fact that they are Wilco and Radiohead, not the albums themselves? Oscar might lead to a garbage can, but not every garbage can has Oscar inside. To me, Radiohead (and to a lesser extent, Wilco) are a couple of garbage cans. They both arguably have lead to Oscar once. Reputation creates an aura about Wilco and Radiohead so people want to find Oscar in their albums, whether he’s there or not.

Posted by Greg Herald on Oct 08, 2007 @ 12:00 am