Throwback Thursday: Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque

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Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque – Creation Records – 1991

So old school, and while this album may not quite be top to bottom as completely solid as the past few I have put on there, it still is a great album. It is very much classic of the time period, has that definitive early-90s alterna-rock sound of basic Marshall-amplified guitar overdubs and solos over sing-songy vocals. I didn’t really realize this either, but according to wikipedia this album beat out Nirvana’s classic “Nevermind” to win album of the year from SPIN magazine. Even though Nirvana was never as popular before Cobain’s tragedy as they were after, that is still a pretty crazy factoid.

Anyway, this album stands up pretty well I think, and has some pretty classic tracks like “What You Do To Me” and “Star Sign”, “Sidewinder”, and of course the great “Alchoholiday”. This album doesn’t really have any songs that really stand out and dominate the album necessarily, and really is pretty solid throughout. Like I said, you generally get some standard alternative fare, that is just well done in a very typical style for the time period. This is really an ultimate time warp kind of album, because it is the kind of thing everyone wanted to hear in 1991, but now pretty much no one would let this kind of thing fly. I think it is mainly for that reason that I like it and still give it the occasional listen. While there are other albums from the same time period that are probably better albums (Pearl Jam’s “Ten”, aforementioned “Nevermind”), this is really an album that is like a time capsule, not in any way sounding like an album today, but perfectly embodying the way people did things back then. Throw in some solid rhythms and some solid vocals and you have the perfect recipe for a classic early 90s alternative rock album.

There may actually be some modern love for this album anyway as also according to wikipedia, they performed this album in its entirety at ATP back in 2006 (which actually more and more artists seem to be doing, Liz Phair doing “Exile in Guyville” this fall, and obviously the other ones in the P’Fork/ATP Don’t Look Back pantheon). Anyway, if you grew up back in this era, no doubt you are familiar with this band/album, and if you are a youngster then you can go find this album somewhere in a bargain bin and listen to what some bands sounded like back then. I do still like this album, and it is always a good listen if you want to take a trip back in time to a really good album from the early 90s era. Honestly though, I think even though the album does have a bit of a dated feel in a lot of the production, the songs still stand up pretty well to the test of time, and are still really solid. And you also just can’t beat a song called “Alchoholiday”.

Teenage Fanclub – Alchoholiday – From Bandwagonesque
Teenage Fanclub – The Concept – From Bandwagonesque