Just as Wilco begins its tour through Europe in the UK tonight, the band's 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has nabbed the No. 2 slot on the list of the 50 Best Albums of the Decade according to Paste magazine and claims the No. 1 spot in a poll of the magazine's readers. "Through its circuitous provenance and runaway success," says Paste, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot proved that great art—even in difficult times—will find the light of day."
Just as Wilco begins its tour through Europe at Leeds Academy in the UK tonight, the band's 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, its first on Nonesuch, has nabbed the No. 2 slot on the list of the 50 Best Albums of the Decade according to Paste magazine and claims the No. 1 spot in a poll of the magazine's readers.
While much has been made of the story behind the album, of its life in limbo between labels, and of its ultimately having found a home on Nonesuch, "Yankee’s success means that the system works," says Paste's Nick Marino. "The record did come out, full of glorious static and muffled drums and conflicted patriotism. People did buy it."
Released just months after September 11, 2001, with eerily prescient lyrics and sound experiments unlike anything the band had released before, it was unclear just how it would be received, yet it "was met with raves from both fans and critics," says Paste. "Through its circuitous provenance and runaway success, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot proved that great art—even in difficult times—will find the light of day."
Read Paste's Top 50 list and the readers' Top 10, visit pastemagazine.com.
For more on Wilco's European tour and its 2010 tour of Canada, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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