A plodding piano ballad about abortion was being played on mainstream radio stations across the country. Only in 1997 could something like this happen. It seemed weird at the time. But so did the Spice Girls.
Being There still feels monumental 25 years later. It also announced the arrival of Wilco: The Band That Jams and Takes Risks. Risks like recording a double album, opening it with a 45-second drums-and-feedback freakout, and then spending the next 76 minutes alternating between ennui-filled ballads and surreal-nonsense-filled bangers.