Will Wilco Albums Get Happier Under President Obama?

Chicago is going through somewhat of a renaissance following the win for hometown hero Barack Obama. The Windy City is entering the race for the 2016 Summer Olympics, new skyscrapers are being erected and, most surprisingly, even Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy seems happy. Tweedy, Obama's "friend for years" and frequent performer on the rally circuit, told the New York Times "I think people really do enjoy the idea that we're living in the center of the world all of the sudden. There have been all these prevailing stereotypes, and people don't know how big and urban Chicago actually is. People think of it as being in a cornfield." Tweedy also questions the so-called inferiority complex outsiders believe the "Second City" has as the Midwest conduit between New York and Los Angeles. Tweedy grew up in southern Illinois and makes his home in Chicago. No word which Tweedy would prefer though: a Chicago native in the White House or a Chicago Cubs World Series victory.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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