Wilco, Radiohead and Flaming Lips: Questioning the Holy Trinity of Rock

A couple of weeks ago, I got to see Wilco's final show of the year. Jeff Tweedy announced to the crowd at the beautiful Auditorium Theater in Chicago (designed by legendary architect Louis Sullivan) that the band would be taking a break until sometime in late 2004. For most in the audience, this had to be a sad moment, as they wildly applauded everything Wilco did throughout the set (that ran well over two hours), hitting all four albums and throwing in some new songs.

I was not one of those wildly applauding every note. A lot of thoughts came to mind while watching Wilco in the swank environs, augmented by a superb P.A. One was the dichotomy between the first two Wilco albums and the last two. The transitions between those two eras seemed jarring. Sometimes it is hard to believe that it's the same band. Another was how dull some of Wilco's material sounds live. Though now aided by a fifth member on keyboards and guitar, who definitely helped flesh out the sound, some of the new songs and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot material sounded dry. Heck, at times they made Steely Dan sound like Flipper. Okay, so I'm exaggerating. Slightly.

What struck me the most was that I was watching what many writers and fans purport to be one of the greatest bands in the world, and they just didn't seem that great. I don't mean strictly the performance. I mean the talent I was seeing on the stage. It got me thinking about some of the other bands that serious rock fans have elevated to godly status.

Currently, the holy trinity seems to be Wilco, Radiohead and Flaming Lips. Two of those three bands do not really offer much in the way of superior performance. What do I mean? Well, look at Wilco. Jeff Tweedy is no great shakes as a singer. He has a very distinctive voice and persona, but he's no show stopper. As musicians, only drummer Glen Kotche is a top flight performer. (An aside -- for all his talent, I find Kotche to be oft-irritating. During some songs, his consistent need to hit one of the half-dozen cymbals surrounding his kit suggests a possible obsessive-compulsive disorder). (A second aside -- will obsessive-compulsive disorder take over being gay as trendy? There's Monk earning Tony Shaloub an Emmy award. Steve Martin's novel is about an OCD dude. And there are other examples. Hmm...).

The Flaming Lips? Wayne Coyne himself has admitted that his singing is mediocre (the upside is that it is very passionate and emotional, though I find it very annoying at times). And it's not like there's anyone who will make the cover of any musos mag anytime soon. Only Radiohead features superior performers. Thom Yorke is a stunning vocalist and other members of the band get cited for their obvious talents.

What does this all mean? I started inventorying past greats. Is having a superior vocalist or guitarist or drummer mandatory to really be great? I know the answer to that can't be yes, but I also know that if a band is full of adequate talent, it seems that greatness is harder to achieve. Writing great songs is worthless if you can't put them across. Moreover, the limitations of talent can be a barrier to writing those great songs, because the writer has to consider his or her talents when writing a song. This is why Johnny Cash did not compose arias for himself. (Not that I ever spoke to him to confirm this).

There are some bands who are all top notch performers. The Who. Cheap Trick. Led Zeppelin. Roxy Music (putting aside their revolving bass players). The Minutemen. And I'm not talking about mere technical proficiency. It's not just about training or technique -- there's that element of style, something that elevates a musician. Take Kurt Cobain. A lot of folks griped about his inclusion in the recent Rolling Stone list of top all-time guitarists. I suppose compared to Eric Clapton or Al DiMeola, that would be true. And while Cobain was probably ranked too highly, I do think he was a great guitarist, because of the way he was able to meld the punk rock guitar sensibility of Husker Du and Pixies with more of a metal edge. It was a distinctive and oft-copied sound. (And Cobain was joined by the indisputably great Dave Grohl on the drums).

Speaking of punk, what about the great punk bands. They couldn't play, right? Wrong. Maybe punk didn't yield a ton of virtuosos, but many of the great punk bands had fine musical skills. The Sex Pistols were a powerhouse, and I think they've been horribly underrated. The Clash? Topper Headon was an awesome versatile drummer. Mick Jones was a fine lead guitarist. And I think Joe Strummer was a great rock vocalist, so incredibly expressive, whether he was angry or empathetic. Then we could talk about Buzzcocks, The Ruts and on and on...

Which isn't to say that every great band is chock full of top instrumentalists and singers. Some might argue against R.E.M. for example. I wouldn't. But getting back to Wilco and The Flaming Lips -- these are bands who not only are favorites of critics and knowledgeable rock fans. They are incredibly influential.

For the most part, however, other bands aren't trying to play like Wilco or Flaming Lips, in the way someone might try to play like John Entwhistle or Johnny Marr or Dave Grohl or Billy Zoom. What I'm hearing are a lot of people emulating the songwriting approach and the production styles of these bands.

What does this mean? The Lips and Wilco are both artists who I have mixed feeling about. I think some of their recent material is great and some is dead boring. In both cases, particularly the last Wilco record, I feel there's a lot of artifice as opposed to a real song. So I guess I'm saying that I don't think either are all they are made out to be. Because of their relative (and I mean relative -- believe me, I've heard plenty of incompetent musicians in my life, and Wilco and Flaming Lips are leagues ahead of them -- they can play) lack of performing ability, their greatness rests more heavily on qualities that are harder to sustain. It's hard to rely on being continually innovative and different. Whereas, if you can just play great songs well, you've got a lot more going on.

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