Wilco “Jesus, Etc.” released

Jesus, Etc. Wilco

Writer(s): Jeff Tweedy, Jay Bennett (see lyrics here) Released: April 23, 2002 First Charted: -- Peak: 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 9.16 video, 127.90 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: When singer Jay Farrar left the alternative rock group Uncle Tupelo, the remaining members formed Wilco in Chicago in 1994. The band’s lineup changed frequently over their first decade with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt being constants. On the band’s fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the lineup also included multi-instrumentalists Jay Bennett and Leroy Bach as well as drummer Glenn Kotche. The album, initially scheduled for released on September 11, 2001, was pushed back in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. However, the album’s song “Jesus, Etc.” eerily sounded like it could have been written about the horrific events with lines like “Tall buildings shake, voices escape” and “Skyscrapers are scraping together.” Tweedy acknowledged that the album had “a lot of eerie echoes of 9/11” WK saying it focused a lot on “being introspective about America. I understood how people could hear that in it. I’m obviously very, very honored if anybody found any kind of consolation in that record.” WK “Jesus, Etc.” “is often hailed as one of the best…from the band’s entire discography.” WK “The production is about as fine as the band would ever achieve; a keyboard and bass line bounce over a snare drum; the string section melts over Tweedy’s lost landscapes.” CO Stereogum.com’s Chris Deville called it “a tender midtempo glide that strikes some impossible balance between the Eagles and Steve Reich. It may be the finest song of Tweedy’s lifetime, and it continues to turn my orbit around to this day.” WK The song was one of the last recorded for the album. Tweedy fired Bennett and drummer Ken Coomer during the making of the album and this was one of the only things new drummer Glenn Kotche played on. Tweedy said, “It's one of the first songs of the new lineup and it came about very quickly. And then it got a really inspired performance.” SF He explained that the song also featured “the first string arrangement that I've done untutored or without someone else charting stuff out and helping.” SF Jay Bennett said the original title was intended to be “Jesus Don’t Cry” but he got lazy, writing “Jesus, Etc.” and the name stuck. WK Resources: CS ColoradoSound.org “The Song That Changed My Life” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/6/2025.

 

NME – Greatest Artists of All Time

image from kingloaf.com

New Musical Express, or NME, is a British music magazine. In April 2002, they featured a list of those artists which they said had the biggest impact over the magazine’s first 50 years.

1. The Smiths
2. The Beatles
3. The Stone Roses
4. David Bowie
5. The Sex Pistols
6. Oasis
7. Radiohead
8. Paul Weller
9. U2
10. Public Enemy

11. Bez and Shaun Ryder (of Happy Mondays)
12. The Clash
13. Nirvana
14. Elvis Presley
15. Joy Division
16. Blur
17. The Strokes
18. The Rolling Stones
19. The Verve
20. Bob Marley

21. The Fall
22. Prodigy
23. Lou Reed/Velvet Underground
24. R.E.M.
25. Frankie Goes to Hollywood
26. Dexy’s Midnight Runners
27. Beastie Boys
28. T-Rex
29. The Jesus and Mary Chain
30. The Specials

31. Manic Street Preachers
32. Roxy Music
33. The Pixies
34. Iggy Pop
35. Shane MacGowan (of The Pogues)
36. Primal Scream
37. Frank Sinatra
38. Bob Dylan
39. Blondie
40. Eminem

41. Boy George
42. Madonna
43. Marvin Gaye
44. Pulp
45. Michael Jackson
46. The Charlatans
47. Echo & the Bunnymen
48. The KLF
49. Neil Young
50. PJ Harvey

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Resources:

• rocklistmusic.co.uk: NME’s Greatest Artists of All Time

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Aha released Lifelines

Lifelines A-ha

Released: April 2, 2002 Peak: -- US, 67 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: synth pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Lifelines (7/8/02, 78 UK) You Wanted More Forever Not Yours (4/2/02, --) There’s a Reason for It Time & Again Did Anyone Approach You? (9/30/02, --) Afternoon High Oranges on Appletrees A Little Bit Less Than Pure Turn the Lights Down Cannot Hide White Canvas Dragonfly Solace Total Running Time: 61:34 The Players: Morten Harket (vocals, guitar) Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitar, bass) Pål Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars, drums, percussion)

Rating: 3.333 out of 5.00 (average of 3 ratings) Quotable: “Their most varied, versatile and multicolored album.” – Amazon Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Synth-pop trio A-ha first emerged with the international hit “Take on Me” in 1985. They released five studio albums over the next decade before taking a seven-year hiatus. “Time had moved on, things had grown: Magne Furuholmen was working with visual arts as well as music, Pål Waaktaar-Savoy’s Band Savoy had released their fourth album Reasons to Stay Indoors (2001), and Morten Harket had developed a successful solo career and had become a songwriter on his own.” AZ A-ha wasn’t done yet, though. They returned with Minor Earth, Major Sky in 2000 and followed up with Lifelines two years later. It was “a difference from their last effort yet undeniably a-ha.” AMG The album “proved they were back and brilliant as ever, if not even better.” AZ “For Lifelines each band member contributed his personal compositions to the album, which finally was produced by six different producers including Stephen Hague, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley and Martin Landquist. Anneli Drecker gave her beautiful voice to some of the songs. As their most varied, versatile and multicolored album, Lifelines gained international critical respect and went number 1 in Germany.” AZ “The album begins with a lush ballad -- which is typical a-ha, pastoral with support orchestration – almost like a modern day Moody Blues. You Wanted More also follows this trait, only darker with spiky electronics.” AMG “Afternoon High sketches out ‘70s pastel glory similar to what Tears for Fears were getting at with parts of the Seeds of Love album.” AMG There are shades of Minor Earth Major Sky in that they keep the sugary neigh pleasant ballads vein to full emotional effect on Turn the Lights Down, Time and Again…Cannot Hide opts for a Jennifer Paige ‘Crush’ vibe with George Harrison-style guitar.” AMG Forever Not Yours served as the lead single from the album and became the band’s eighth chart-topper in Norway. The song’s “pleasant dramatism echoes Darren Hayes’ recent ‘Insatiable.’” AMG Notes: A deluxe edition included alternate mixes of “Did Anyone Approach You” and “Time & Again.” A 2019 deluxe edition added a second disc of demos.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for A-ha AMG All Music Guide review by Kelvin Hayes AZ Amazon WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 9/9/2020; updated 8/9/2021.