Line #57 Music/UncleTupelo


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uncle_tupelo_9.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''It's just me and Jay, playing our guitars along with it all.'' [[note]] The original lineup, left to right: Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn.[[/note]]]]
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4	->''"Well, time won't wait, better open the gate\
5	Get up and start what needs to be done\
6	It's winding down, there's much you missed\
7	Working on that graveyard shift"''
8	-->-- "'''Graveyard Shift'''"
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10	Uncle Tupelo was an American AlternativeCountry band from Belleville, Illinois active from 1987 to 1994 and initially consisting of guitarist Jay Farrar, bassist Jeff Tweedy, and drummer Mike Heidorn. First starting out as a PunkRock group called The Plebes and later The Primitives before acquiring their eventual name, the band developed itself into the TropeCodifier for AlternativeCountry, taking influence both from noisy alternative bands like Music/HuskerDu and Music/DinosaurJr and country acts like Music/HankWilliams, Gram Parsons, the Louvin Brothers, and the Carter Family.
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12	They signed with independent label Rockville Records and released two albums, ''No Depression'' and ''Still Feel Gone''; in spite of this, the label refused to pay the band royalties, and for their third album, instructed them to emulate acts like Music/{{Nirvana}}, who had [[Music/NevermindAlbum reached mainstream success]] the year before. [[WriterRevolt The band refused]], recording an acoustic album made of country and folk songs, ''March 16-20, 1992''. Although it sold more copies than their first two records, the label still refused to pay the band, so Uncle Tupelo left the label and signed with Creator/SireRecords.
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14	Heidorn left the band after ''March'' was completed, and since Tweedy wanted to play rhythm guitar on the songs he wrote, Tupelo expanded its lineup to a five piece, adding new bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston along with new drummer Ken Coomer. Their debut album for Sire, ''Anodyne'', was their biggest-seller up to that point. Unfortunately, tensions between Farrar and Tweedy had been building since the sessions for ''March'', and Farrar decided to quit the band (while reluctantly agreeing to do one last tour with them, as a favor to their manager). Farrar subsequently went on to form a new band, Music/SonVolt, while Tweedy and the other remaining members regrouped under a new name: Music/{{Wilco}}.
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18	!!Discography:
19	* ''No Depression'' (1990)
20	* ''Still Feel Gone'' (1991)
21	* ''March 16-20, 1992'' (1992)
22	* ''Anodyne'' (1993)
23	----
24
25	!!''Every trope that shines in the back of your mind is just waiting for its cover to be blown'':
26	* AlternativeCountry: Generally considered to be the TropeCodifier; their first album's title, "No Depression", became a nickname for the movement and was used by a popular magazine that covered alt-country.
27	* CoverVersion: Several, including "No Depression" by the Carter Family, "Give Back the Key to My Heart" by Doug Sahm, "Effigy" by Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival, "I Wanna Destroy You" by The Soft Boys, and "Sin City" by The Flying Burrito Brothers.
28	** ''March 16-20, 1992'' contains cover versions of several traditional folk songs, including "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down", "Coalminers", and "Moonshiner", as well as a cover of "Atomic Power" by The Louvin Brothers.
29	* {{Conscription}}: "Train" is about a young man who watches military vehicles pass by on a train; having recently been drafted into UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, he is contemplating his fate:
30	--> ''I'm 21, and I'm scared as hell\
31	I quit school, I was healthy as a horse\
32	Because of all that, I'll be the first one to die in a war''
33	* DrowningMySorrows: Common theme, especially in "I Got Drunk":
34	--> ''Well I took a fifth, and I poured me a shot\
35	And I thought about all the things that I haven't got\
36	And I drank that down, and I poured me some more\
37	Kept drinking and pouring till I felt the floor\
38	I got drunk and I fell down\
39	I got drunk and I fell down''
40	* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar met each other in high school during English class after they both discovered that they liked PunkRock. Farrar, who was already in a band (The Plebes) with his brothers, Wade and Dade, brought Tweedy into the group, originally as the rhythm guitarist, since they needed another member. Dade later introduced them to Mike Heidorn, another classmate of Jay and Jeff's that they had previously never spoken to. After Dade and (later) Wade eventually left the group, the classic lineup of Uncle Tupelo was born.
41	* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''89/93: An Anthology''
42	* InTheStyleOf: The album cover for ''No Depression'' is done in the style of albums released on Folkways Records, a record label that released thousands of recordings of folk musicians, such as Music/WoodyGuthrie and Music/LeadBelly.
43	* {{Instrumental}}: ''March'' has "Sandusky", which was the only song on the album written by both Farrar and Tweedy.
44	** "Take My Word", which was the B-side to "Sauget Wind", is also instrumental and credited to all three members of the band.
45	* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Lead guitarist Jay Farrar [[VocalTagTeam shared lead vocals]] with Jeff Tweedy.
46	* LyricalColdOpen: "Before I Break", "Grindstone", "I Wish My Baby Was Born", "Fifteen Keys"
47	* MeaningfulName: ''March 16-20, 1992''. The name was chosen because those were the five days that the band spent recording the album. ''Still Feel Gone'' was recorded not long after the band were touring their previous album - the title refers to being on a tour for so long that even when you return home you still feel like you're traveling.
48	* MinisculeRocking: Three songs on ''March'' qualify: "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" (1:53), "I Wish My Baby Was Born" (1:38), and "Atomic Power" (1:52). A 2003 reissue of the album adds a CoverVersion of "Series/TheWaltons (Theme)" (1:13) as a HiddenTrack.
49	* NewSoundAlbum: ''March 16-20, 1992'', which was almost entirely acoustic and made up of folk and country songs.
50	* RockTrio: The original lineup is an example.
51	* ShoutOut: "D. Boon" is a shout-out to Music/{{Minutemen}} guitarist D. Boon, who was killed in an accident while the band was on tour in 1985.
52	** "Train" references Music/TheByrds' 1965 hit "Turn! Turn! Turn!":
53	--->''Radio was playing, Roger [=McGuinn=] singing "To each and everything, there is a time and a season"''
54	** "Acuff-Rose" references the Acuff-Rose Music publishing company, one of the most famous music publishing companies in Nashville history.
55	* SpecialGuest: Doug Sahm provides vocals on their cover of "Give Back the Key to My Heart" (which he wrote).
56	* TitleTrack: ''No Depression'' and ''Anodyne'' both contain their own title track.
57	* VocalTagTeam: Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy both sang lead on their own songs.
58	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar. By the time they recorded ''March'', the two men had begun fighting over control over the band; Tweedy claimed that Farrar (originally their primary songwriter) became intimidated when Tweedy began to write more songs, while Farrar interpreted Tweedy as being arrogant (and also claimed that Tweedy attempted to hit on his girlfriend). The two have since communicated only a handful of times (mostly for business-related affairs), and all three members of the original lineup have shot down any ideas of a reunion.
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61
62	->''"That's gotta be it. Thanks."''
63	-->-- '''Jeff Tweedy''', at the end of Uncle Tupelo's last show.
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Context Music / UncleTupelo