Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Heavy Metal Drummer (2001)
September 2001 was a weird time for the band Wilco. To be fair, it was a weird time for everybody. But setting aside world-changing acts of terrorism, Wilco was dealing a lot of stuff musically. The previous album from Jeff Tweedy and co., 1999's Summerteeth, found the band moving away from the alt-country sound of its first two releases and was critically acclaimed but commercially disappointing. There were pressures from the band's label, Reprise Records, to sell more albums.
Tweedy and multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett, the other main creative force in the band, were at constant disagreement over the band's sound. Tweedy wasn't happy with the drum sound on the fourth album and drummer Ken Coomer was let go and replaced by Glenn Kotche. Jim O'Rourke was brought in by Tweedy to remix "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," which caused more problems with Bennett, who wanted to mix all the songs. Bennett was fired from the band after the album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, was finished in 2001. All of this was documented by director Sam Jones and released in the 2002 documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco.
Also in 2001, Time Warner (owner of Warner Bros. Records, which owned Reprise) merged with America Online, which created more pressure to cut costs. Reprise eventually rejected Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in June 2001 after deeming it too uncommercial. Wilco negotiated a buy-out from the label, which reportedly included the master tapes of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
While they were still searching for a new label, Wilco streamed the entire album for free on their website on Sept. 18, 2001, creating a huge buzz for the new songs. In November, the band signed with Nonesuch Records (also a subsidiary of Warner Bros.), which released the album to retailers in April 2002. The album finds the band in experimental mode, exploring different avenues including dissonant art rock, electronic bleeps and bloops and moody ruminations. And then there's "Heavy Metal Drummer," which is a poppy, upbeat strummer about loving heavy metal as a kid.
"Oh, I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands/I used to go see on the landing in the summer/She fell in love with the drummer/She fell in love with the drummer/She fell in love/Shiny, shiny pants and bleached blond hair/A double kick drum by the river in the summer/She fell in love with the drummer/Another then another/She fell in love/I miss the innocence I've known/Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned."
Musically, the song is as far from metal as you can get, all bopping synths and bouncing bass. It's also pretty far from the rest of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, especially the song before it, "Ashes of American Flags."
It's a light moment on a heavy album that a lot of folks felt was relevant to the mood of the country at the time, even though it was recorded well before the 9/11 attacks. Songs like "Ashes" and "War on War" and even the iconic cover image of the Marina City towers in Chicago was compared to the World Trade Center towers.
Once it was finally released, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot went to #13 on the Billboard 200 chart, Wilco's highest-charting album. In the 22 years since, the band has become an indie rock staple, releasing nine studio albums, exploring different sounds including avant garde art rock, traditional country and folk. Wilco also formed their own label, dBpm Records, in 2010 and runs the annual Solid Sound Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Jay Bennett, who had been releasing solo albums and working with other artists including Sheryl Crow and Billy Joe Shaver, died in his sleep in May 2009. His death was ruled accidental as the result of a Fentanyl overdose.
Wilco has become known as one of the main purveyors of "Dad rock," but the band is so much more than that.
