Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque (1991)

At the end of 1991, the respected music magazine, Spin, selected Bandwagonesque as the greatest album published in 1991. That's quite an accomplishment considering that in 1991, such albums as Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten and Guns n' Roses' Use Your Illusion were published. For many music nerds of the time, those albums were, however, overly produced and in some people's opinion, that was against the whole movement grunge represented. What makes this statement even more significant, is the fact that Kurt Cobain himself told everyone at the time that Teenage Fanclub, who had toured with them, was the best band in the world, pretty much based on the material on this album. I don't know if I completely agree with these statements, but it's still clear that this third album by the Scottish power pop band Teenage Fanclub had something really special. Even Liam Gallagher has called Teenage Fanclub the second best band in the world (after Oasis of course).



First of all, you can't overlook the album cover. This is probably one of the best album covers of all times. There's just a big sack of money that looks like it was drawn on MS Paint on a bright pink background. I don't know exactly what this is supposed to represent, but at least I like to think that it's some kind of critique of capitalism and commercialisation of music.

Also, Bandwagonesque sounds like it started something completely new at the time when it came out. it combined the heavy and buzzing garage sounds of 80's alternative rock with the amazing melodies and vocal harmonies of 1960's bands like The Beatles and Beach Boys. It held on to authentic lo-fi sounds while making catchy and melodic music.

There are a number of amazing tracks on this album. I won't go over each of them individually because that would take too much space, but I just mention my favourite tracks by name: The Concept, December, What You Do to Me, Metal Baby and Alcoholiday. What's really great is that this album doesn't just include catchy pop songs, but it also includes amazing sound experimentation in the style of Sonic Youth, for example in the song Satan and Star Sign.

And of course, as we're talking about an early 90's album, there has to be some music videos. The music video for What You Do to Me is a typical early 90's music video where the band is playing in psychedelic colours and they all wear really cool early 90's grunge outfits.

Teenage Fanclub really is one of the best bands I've seen live. Their vocal harmonies are so perfectly sung even on stage, that it's a pure joy to listen to them. I'm sure the Beach Boys were kind of like this when they were still playing in the late 60's.

What kind of annoys me with this album, though, is that it's been mastered really low. When you play these songs with shuffle, they sound a lot quieter than any other songs. This is a shame, because this kind of power pop is meant to be listened to quite loud. That's one of the reasons why I suggest listening to this album through on its own. You don't get the full experience unless you blast it louder from a proper stereo.

I only discovered Teenage Fanclub after the album Howdy! so I've had to go back to these early albums. Bandwagonesque is the third album, but you can really hear the change in band's sound at that point. This is the first album with the amazing melodies and harmonies that make them sound like they do, but this album also has the rough lo-fi sounds that give it authenticity. With all the historical references given to the album, I can definitely see what Spin Magazine was talking about.

Listen to the album on Spotify.