Wilco Albums Ranked Worst to Best
When Jeff Tweedy formed Wilco in 1994 after climbing out of Uncle Tupelo's ashes, few expected he'd be the one with the lasting career two decades later.
After all, former bandmate Jay Farrar's new group Son Volt – whose debut album, Trace, arrived six months after Tweedy delivered Wilco's first LP, A.M., in 1995 – arguably made the better inaugural post-breakup record.
But then something happened over the next couple years: Son Volt got boring as Wilco got more interesting. Way more interesting, as you'll see in our below list of Wilco Albums Ranked Worst to Best.
Their second album all but abandoned the alt-country framework that housed A.M., Trace and Uncle Tupelo. Being There basically unraveled like the history of rock 'n' roll over two sprawling albums of psychedelic pop, ragtag post-punk and meaty classic rock.
That 1996 LP was just the start. Over the next five years Wilco rewrote their rule book, switching gears again for albums exploring folk music, synth-driven power pop and then, on 2002's milestone Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, ambient sounds and multilayered art rock.
They expanded on that template over the next decade while becoming one of the best bands of the 21st century in the process.
Even when it may appear that they're spinning in place on later records, further listens reveal a complex, and often challenging, band working hard at its craft. Few modern-day records sound as rich and as rewarding, as you'll see in our below list of Wilco Albums Ranked Worst to Best.