Originally released September 18, 2001
Reissued September 30, 2022
Nonesuch
2xLP (Black and White Vinyl) and 7xLP Deluxe Box
Of the many legacies left by Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the crown jewel in Wilco's formidable catalogue, arguably the best is just the story of how they took on their own record label and won.
In 2001, AOL merged with Time Warner, and in the ensuing kerfuffle, the head of Reprise Records (a Warner subsidiary) was dismissed. He was then replaced by a starchy-doofus who's name has been lost to history, and in his new role was assigned to closely monitor the production of Wilco's anticipated fifth album, providing (unsolicited) input, and getting his knickers in a knot when the band was unreceptive to his ideas. A radio-friendly single was demanded, but not accepted, by the label, which then lead to creative differences between the executive and the actual creatives. Ultimately, seeing no potential in the music, the label suggested the band release the album independently and offered to sell the rights to the album back to Wilco for $50,000, which is just a ludicrous thing to wrap your head around. Reprise seemingly recognized this, and in an attempt to save face (or their souls) gave the band the rights for free to then shop around.
Soon, tracks from the album began circulating online, drawing significant traffic to file sharing services. On September 18, 2001 — seven days after the planned release date — the album was uploaded to Wilco's website, where it became an immediate success, and overwhelmed the site with traffic. A bidding war soon began where, lo and behold!, Warner subsidiary Nonesuch Records successfully acquired the rights to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and provided a retail release to an album that reached legendary status months before it was made available on store shelves.
So to recap, Wilco wrote and produced the album in Warner's pocket, Warner dumped it for free saying no one would like it, people really liked it, and Warner purchased it again with their tail between their legs. This is to say nothing about exceptional warmth of the album's instrumentation, the studio magic that challenged how indie-rock was supposed to sound, Jeff Tweedy's prescient and introspective songwriting, or the immediate feeling of something special the album has left fans with for over two decades. This is solely to highlight how fickle an industry music can be, and how lucky we are that sometimes something remarkable may slip past the bottom line and find it's way to our hearts. How many more masterpieces never made it past an A&R in their feelings? Who knows. At least we have this one.