My Top 1000 Songs #761: Outtasite (Outta Mind)

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Wilco have covered so much ground in their 30 years that an old-school, chunky party rocker sounds downright quaint. But "Outtasite (Outta Mind)," another one from their 1996 sophomore LP Being There, was a dynamite intro to the band for those who skipped the debut as just some album by the other guy in Uncle Tupelo, early evidence that this was gonna be no mere offshoot-band. And, sure, it's pretty lightweight, a power-pop-tinged classic rock stomper that shows little evidence of Jeff Tweedy's Americana roots or his bold experimental streak (which showed up elsewhere on the LP but would really bloom starting on the following album). But it's a timeless earworm hook that's lost none of its cheery power, one of those tracks a band can toss into the encore after three decades and still have everyone cheering like it's still brand new.

The album's alternative version, the rootsier "Outta Mind (Outta Site)":

Live 1996:

And in 2011--Very different band, same great song: