Bandwagonesque
Teenage Fanclub
DGC, 1991
Reviewed by
Troy Carpenter
Bandwagonesque beat Nirvana’s Nevermind and Matthew
Sweet’s Girlfriend to the punch. It’s a grab-bag of classic pop treats
delivered with a more contemporary, “alternative” guitar sound.
The album has a dazing, poppy crunch that rides a wave between American “indie
rock” and “Brit-pop.” A coming-of-age of sorts for Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque
found the band legitimizing power-pop for the early ‘90s. They brought back all that
had been great about pop songs in the ‘60s and ‘70s (which had been diluted
through disco and synth-pop into different aesthetics) and made it sound incredibly
in-the-moment.
All four band members contributed songs to the album. With the help of producers Don
Fleming and Paul Chisholm, they merged varying ideas into a group of songs similar enough
to give off a unique, cohesive sound and feel but not get too repetitive or boring.
Opening track “The Concept” expounds on its thought-provoking but simple themes
(“said she won’t be judged against her will/says she don’t do drugs but she
does the pill.”) for six minutes of crunchy major chord progression bliss, replete
with Jim Page’s old bow-on-the-guitar-string trick as an intro to the last solo.
Then, after the disjointed buildup and heavy metal riffing of “Satan,” comes
probably the most obvious pop single from the mix, “December,” a love song with
a tone conveying warmth in the winter month of its title.
The spacey, exquisite “Alcoholiday,” a wonderfully harmonic ode to premature
ejaculation (“went to bed, but I’m not ready/maybe I’ve been fucked
already”) provides the album with its climax, after which it slides gracefully toward
its end via the sentimental ballad “Guiding Star” and the closing instrumental
track, “Is This Music?”
A solid introduction to the Teenage Fanclub catalogue, Bandwagonesque made a
musical statement that was picked up by a lot of bands in the early ‘90s. Not all the
great rock hooks are taken, and even for ones that are, new textures and attitudes can do
a lot to revive interest. Those who like Sonic Youth and the Hollies can figure
out a way to compromise, and educate a new generation of listeners with the result.
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