Bandwagonesque
Teenage Fanclub
1991
Album Summary
Bandwagonesque is the third album by Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub, released in November 1991 on Creation Records. The album gave the band substantial US success when the single "Star Sign" reached number four on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, becoming their biggest hit in that country, with "What You Do to Me" and "The Concept" also becoming top 20 hits on that chart. Bandwagonesque was voted 'album of the year' for 1991 by American music magazine Spin, famously beating Nirvana's landmark album Nevermind. It was voted number 386 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).
WikipediaPretty good, got some oasis vibes in the middle tracks then realised this came out in 1991, before oasis. No i’m wondering okay, so who do oasis sound like then? Some hits and some not so hits but overall quite enjoyed this one, 7/10. Favourites: Metal Baby Is This Music?
The name sounds familiar, but I don't know this band. They're Scottish, so I imagine the British list author put this on very begrudgingly. The album started slow, but by "I Don't Know" things picked up a bit. This is pretty good alternative rock, but it's very tame. The vocals are subdued, the instrumentals aren't too creative. At least it's got a consistent sound. It's funny to me that the last song is called "Is This Music" because that's probably the best on the album. Yes, guys, THAT is music. Give us more of that. Favorite tracks: Is This Music, Star Sign, I Don't Know. Album art: Extremely simple, but I love this one. We love a sack of money with a dollar sign on it, don't we folks? Wikipedia has a blurb about Gene Simmons trademarking the moneybag symbol, that's insane. I linked his logo below, It's awful. Why did he make it lumpy? Dollar bills are not lumpy. You should be ashamed of yourself, Gene. 3.5/5 https://celebrityclothingline.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/money-bag-gene-simmons-logo.jpg
Creation Records at their absolute peak! They released this one, Loveless AND Screamadelica all within 2 months! Good job, Alan!
Bloody loved it. Perfect blend of early 90's British indie, American alt rock and the 60's. Immediately added to my favourite albums playlist.
This is another one of my all time favorite albums so I'm pretty sure I won't be able to review it objectively. Or maybe it's just one of the greatest albums ever. Noisy, jangly, perfect power pop from Scotland. Fun fact: Spin magazine picked this as album of the year in 1991 over Nirvana's Nevermind. Usually when this fact gets brought up it's to show how short-sighted Spin magazine was but maybe they were just brilliant. Don't get me wrong, I love Nevermind too but I listen to Bandwagonesque way more often.
Dunno anything about these guys! The Concept - A nice, mellow song. Sad lyrics. Kind of rides the line between early pop punk, emo, and grunge Satan - Accurate! A mental breakdown December - Another kind of emo love song. What You Do To Me - Beach Boys with more fuzz. I Don't Know - This is kind of an easy listening track. All of these songs have nice melodies. Star Sign - Another touchpoint for me is Rooney. These guys sound like Rooney. Metal Baby - Pure Beatles on this one. Same melody, harmonies. This could be a Beatles song. Pet Rock - Kind of a jam session continuation of the above. Sidewinder - Back to Beach Boys again. This album started out being a downer, but the entire back half is peppy pop songs with the effects pedal turned up. Alcoholiday - Great title. Do I detect some melancholy returning? Guiding Star - Back in full melancholy, even though the melodies are still lilting. The fuzz just keeps increasing! Is This Music? - Good question. I'd say so! Favorite melody on the album, even though it gets a bit close to the U2 department. Overall, this is a fine album. I'm not sure if it belongs on the list of 1000 greatest ever, but I didn't hate it. Pet Rock
June 7th, 2021 1.THE CONCEPT- Solid first track in two parts. Definitely a rock "anthem". 2.SATAN- Experimental. Self explanatory. 3.DECEMBER- Not too bad. The violins make the song. 4.WHAT YOU DO TO ME -My favorite track so far. Great harmonies. 5.I DON'T KNOW- All-around good rock song. 6.STAR SIGN- 🔼"ditto" 8.METAL BABY- If the Beatles, circa 1963, made a song about an edgy metal chick, this would be it. Definitely a favorite. 9.PET ROCK- Good guitar solo. 10.SIDEWINDER- Another slightly more contemporary take on Beatles harmonies. 11.ALCOHOLIDAY- This is what happiness sounds like. 12.GUIDING STAR- Nice mellowed out tune. 13.IS THIS MUSIC- A refreshing change of pace from the rest of the album encompasses this final track. >In Review: It's impossible to truly dislike this album. Even though it's overall pretty straightforward (nothing too crazy) it's well-produced and there's great harmonies, guitar solos and good vibes throughout. It's timeless pop rock for the whole family (well, except for "Satan" of course). With all that being said, "The Concept" is this album's very own rock anthem and "Metal Baby" is an awesome track that brings the Please Please Me-era Beatles to mind. Also, the final track "Is This Music?" is a refreshing stylistic change of pace (another stylistic deviation on this album would be terrific). Overall, I'd give it a 7 out of 10 if possible.
A fine album under any other circumstances but when your album cover is something I could have created in Microsoft Paint and your music can barely rise above the hum of background music, I, again, question why it is on this list. Clearly this group of people liked the idea of 1001 albums more than actually trying to find 1001 albums. Seems more like they found about five hundred and then said "right, just toss a bunch a randoms in here"
Do you remember that time earlier this year when everyone made a really big deal about the 30th anniversary of this album? No? That's because nobody remembers Teenage Fanclub, and any acclaim this album received back in '91 has been lost to time. ]"Bandwagonesque was voted 'album of the year' for 1991 by American music magazine Spin, famously beating Nirvana's landmark album Nevermind." Hahahahahaha.... hahahahaha! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Do you know who likes astrological signs? Teenage girls. They’ve got apps that give them daily horoscopes and other jazz. But astrology thinks I’m a Virgo. My 8th grade science teacher looked up the orientation of the night sky when I was born and said that I’m actually a Leo. Do you know who's thoughts on astrology are vague and confusing? Teenage Fanclub. I don’t know what “Star Sign” is trying to say. Apparently it was their biggest hit though. Probably with teenage girls in their teenage fanclub who love that stuff. The rest of the songs made little-to-no impact. "Satan" and "What You Do to Me" and "Pet Rock" were wastes. They weren't interesting enough as near-instrumentals or interludes to be worth it. And the rest of the songs were rather generic. I don't know how Spin got this one so wrong. Their other album of the year picks seem pretty standard and acceptable. Oh well. The music itself is a 3. Harmless, only one or two songs I would actively run away from. I'm trying real hard not to dock it an extra star for Spin's overhype.
Chido, sí me gustaron varias de este rock sabor haggis (porque escoceses XD). La vibrita de garage rock (but not really) de la primera canción le da un toque especiado que después se vuelve más bien melancólico, un poco desabrido, y luego vuelve a la locura con Satan y así ondula entre bandida genérica X y por partes cae pesado. Variedad de moods. Creo que las que más me gustaron fueron Star Sign, canción genérica de rock divertidilla con un bajo muy pegajoso, y Pet Rock que tiene guitarras entretenidas. Letras cagadas que siento que sí dan algo de cringe, pienso también que si estuviera en una banda escribiría pendejadas así, lol, re cursis o simplonas o ya sin sentido de plano. En fin, divertido. Mood: Rocksito bien hecho, pero tomado a la ligera y I can respect that.
No lo había escuchado nunca y eso que me leí una revista biográfica de esas españolas que todavía vendían en los oxxos de chihuahua por ahí del año 2009. Discazo.
Classic rock break down at the end of the concept is both hilarious and perfect and December and What You Do To Me both continue to satisfy.
Great blend of Brit pop and punk with The Beach Boys influence coming through. Overall, a warm album from a band who knows how to effectively switch up a song
Completely blown away by this album. Unfortunately, my review is not very original and reflects the others that I have read: Didn't know much about the band so this album was a pleasant surprise. Still incredible to think that this was released in 1991. Even the mixing is a joy to listen to. I've listened to it no fewer than 4 times since it showed up yesterday. I then jumped on ebay and purchased it on CD. A real gem!
Just some good 90s rock. The guitars were front and centre and it clicked. Liked this a lot, new one for me never heard of these guys before today. Added most of the album to playlist.
Great band and great album. What a year 1991 was for music. This is one of the many great albums that came out that year, and over 30 years later it still sounds great. Great 90’s indie rock mixed with some 60’s. Given I’m Scottish this is maybe a biased voted but I believe this to be a solid 5 star album.
I LOVE Teenage Fanclub. That is all I can say. From the minute I put this on, to the minute it is over, it is such a genuine pleasure.
It's tricky because while we hadn't heard of the band, at first it seemed derivative. It sounded like a lot of other 90s alt rock bands, but it turns out that this band was one of the influences for that band and not derivative at all.
Brilliant. I'm not sure why I didn't listen to them before, other than my disliking for jangle pop. An extra star for being Scottish as well means that it has to be 5 🌟
Sounds like what I'm listening to when I come home from the skate park and need a glass of water.
i like this, sounds like a foreign rusty machines. album also has a good spotify radio.
Very very fresh, fuzzy pop. The runtime is broken up by instrumentals which feel good. For that matter, the entire project feels pretty great. I think it succeeds on about as many levels as one could expect it to.
Really enjoyable album. So much variety that ultimately results in a highly satisfying listen.
A lot of these alt/indie 90s rock bands are starting to sound the same to me. But it's still nice.
The outro to Satan is sick and I liked Sidewinder as well. Is This Music? is a great closing track too
The very first notes were pretty jarring. So far I like the songs themselves, but I’m not a huge fan of the electric guitar heaviness. I like the vocals and the melodies, but the electric guitar makes my ears want to bleed.
Big Star, but not. Excellent musicianship, good tunes, and immediately catchy at first listen. Power pop at its best.
Un álbum medianito, a gusto, hasta tranquilo a pesar de tanto riff. De pronto tiene reminiscencias de Sonic Youth, yo diría en mi poco entendimiento. Se me hizo curioso que la apertura sea la canción más larga y la que más cambios internos tiene y que el cierre sea un cuestionamiento instrumental ("Is This Music?"). Canciones fav: "Star Sign" y "Alcoholiday". Le doy 7.5/10.
7. Maybe an 8, didn't listen that intently, might come back to it at some point to see
don't really get the hype for this one. sounds good but it’s pretty generic and the lyrics seem so cliched. 7
Hele toffe plaat. Kende deze nog niet zo heel goed, maar heb 'm zelfs 2 keer gedraaid.
Not heard of the album, or the band. Not quite sure how. Good album. Very 90's indie. Guitars, jangly. Decent.
Interesting album. It starts off w/ what seems like an ode to Free Bird and then explores the alternate 90’s alternative timeline. Spin picked this as album of the year over Nevermind, and I see where they were coming from. This is a world where My Bloody Valentine was Pearl Jam. It’s an interesting thought. Overall, I like this album, I will listen to it again. I think it’s worth exploring. I’m rounding up and giving it a 4
Good ol' 90's rock! These Scots knew what they were doing when they made this Alternative Rock album, and it was very enjoyable to listen to.
as predicted, very alt rock-y. fitted my taste in music, kind of reminds me of the replacements
I was pleasantly surprised by this one, thought I wasn't going to like it but ended up really getting into it. 8, saved and will probably come back to this
Very cool nostalgic sound. Reminds me a little of the Foo Fighters (at least their mellower songs). Gives me some angst by association, but in the best way.
Pretty impressed with this first album. Had a very fresh sound given it came out in the early 90's. Seems to meld several genre's together in a nice melodic way.
Was not expecting a band I had never heard of on the list. The album was great though. Especially "What You Do To Me". How have I not heard that song before, it's great!!!
Solid Rock album. Is it better than Nevermind? Ehhh probably not but still very enjoyable and well done
Pretty great power pop album of the 90s revival like The Posies or Jellyfish who would later inspire pop-punk. Coherent with decent tracks with clear inspirations from Big Star, Beach Boys, and Beatles, but with a spin of 90s alt-rock trends like shoegaze. Tracks are pretty solid: sufficiently catchy with enough melodic variation to keep interest. My favorite is the opener "The Concept," especially with the shift half way in. Main complaint is that songs are often longer than need be. They shouldn't be longer than say 3.5 minutes... except for that opener due to the half way shift. Biggest example is "Alcoholiday." Favorite Tracks: The Concept, What You Do To Me, Star Sign, Metal Baby, Sidewinder
The Concept and Alchololiday are fantastic. There's a bit of a middlin' dive in the middle, but both beginning and end are strong. Very enjoyable.
Yeah, I really liked it. Mostly upbeat, melodic. none of the songs were megahits, but it was a very even album.
Lovely album and band but suffers by following the White Album, What You Do To Me was the first track of theirs I really loved
Teenage Fanclub are a terrific band and Bandwagonesque is a great album. Their songs stood out from the Brit Pop scene - indeed, they don’t really belong to that genre. Here are finely crafted, folk influenced songs with intricate sung melodies and lead guitar duties shared between the band, with lovely guitar solos. The model was refined further on their next album, Grand Prix, which of their masterpiece - five stars are reserved for that album so four stars for this.
Incredible early 90s alt rock/shoegaze. Will absolutely listen to more, love hearing the inspiration for later alt/indie/emo bands
I liked the last track the most. Overall, the sound is good but not interesting enough for me to really pay attention. It's more background music. But, Ben Gibbard's cover album takes it to that next level for me. It's more what my ears want to hear.
December and Star Sign are very nice tracks. The album indeed takes into teenage memories :)
Very solid album. Definitely ahead of it's time with the lofi and absolutely love the play with the guitar. However, some of the songs do kinda sound formulaic, but that doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the album. Something to drive around in on your morning drive.
03/05/2022 Had some fun with this one! Power-pop/rock with LOTS of similarities (to me, at least) to Weezer, with a bit more grunge. Glad to have found this!
Most music is influenced by what went before, and the influence on Oasis is well documentated and obvious. A good album in it's own right though
Iako nisan nikad slušala ovaj album (ni bend) ima mi nekako throwback vibe haha pozitiva!
Balanced, well rounded power pop. A seamless blend of alternative sound and mainstream appeal
Pretty solid, these songs mutate as they go which keeps things dynamic and interesting
Decent, melodic, power pop. ‘Bandwagoneque’ is sloppy and loose (partly deliberately, partly not) but that adds to its overall charm. It’s also got that distinct early 90’s rock sound that I associate with my childhood and find nostalgic. Not ground-breaking, but a cut above a lot of indie-rock records, both from its era and long after it.
Listened to this album a few times in the Q because Ben Gibbard said he really liked it. I really like it too
Tengo muy buenos recuerdos de este disco y tiene muy buenas canciones como "The Concept", "What You Do to Me" o "Is This Music?". Pero sobre todo es "Star Sign" mi favorita y que hace brillar todo el disco. Así que será un 4 estrellas ****.
I really enjoyed the subtle tones of this album. It feels a lot like relaxing metal with punk influences. I would totally listen to this more.
some of the best pure pop to come out of the 90's. it was a little before my time and i didn't even discover this album until college in the early 2000's. the hooks here are just to addicting and everything is so simple.
As a Scottish person, I feel like I have to admire Teenage Fanclub arbitrarily, however underneath this exterior of seemingly out-of-tune harmonies and repetitive structures, there's a sense of real talent. I firmly believe that Teenage Fanclub are a bit of a piss-take, in that they write mindless songs purposefully, which kinda makes them secretly genius.
I like the blissed out power pop Teenage Fanclub, but this isn't my favourite albums from them. It might be the most consistent but it lacks the hooks of some of their later albums.
From memory, UK guitar bands just before Britpop took off: Madchester / Shoegaze / Wedding Present / St Etienne and ..Teenage Fanclub. Bandwagonesque might be the best album from a very solid band, who made a string of very decent albums. It is nice to see this album on the list, like that album from the La's, just short of 5 stars for me.
Had heard the band name but that was it and don't think I was expecting melodic indie. Apparently I like bands / albums with 'teen' in them.
Qui el vam viure al seu moment el vam veure com un altre signe que les coses estaven canviant, no només a USA (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc), sinó també a Europa. El seu primer vers, amb menció no gratuïta a Status Quo, és mític, i un bon senyal de per on anirà el disc al llarg del seu trajecte. Un dels millors discos d'aquells anys, que és molt dir, i una obra inspiracional per tots els que vam créixer escoltant-la
We've had a pretty fantastic run of classic British albums recently and this no exception. Bandwagonesque blends the angular indie of Husker Du, Pavement and similar American bands with a proto-Britpop catchiness that results in a hugely enjoyable record
early 90s alt-rock that doesn't really go anywhere, just kinda stares at its own shoes... but not in an annoying way like my bloody valentine. sounds a lot like oasis, but obvs predates them. i'd never heard it before but will probably add it to the "listen every now and then" list along with stuff like soul asylum and the gin blossoms, but not the whole album. dragged on a bit towards the end, the last 4-5 songs seemed to go for about half an hour on their own. 3/5.
3.5/5. Mostly enjoyable, kinda catchy, noisy pop. Standout Tracks: The Concept, Metal Baby, Alcoholiday
It's alright. Kind of zoned me out for a while in the middle. Could imagine hanging in a Seattle coffee shop or record shop while this record played over the speakers. Favorite track: "The Concept", "Is This Music?"
This is fine for background noise, but it's not something I would seek out, really. It gives me Beatles vibes, but a bit heavier.
Starting to worry about the annoyance to discovery factor on this list. Honestly found this bizarre- mixing workmanlike if slightly plodding ballads with some of the sloppier guitar soloing I've heard, plus some feedback-noise cacophany elements without Hendrix level virtuosity to hold them together. Not a lot of meat on the bone.
I think the album started off really well for me but somewhat fell off a little bit toward the end. But the guitar in basically every song was absolutely incredible. I liked the occasional instrumental being thrown in. But I don’t know if I’ll ever listen to any of the songs from the album again, making it a 3.
Would give a 3.5 if i could. Really enjoyed the first half, but the second half didn’t stand out much to me. The guitar was really amazing throughout and overall I enjoyed the feel the whole time.
Well... The tunes themselves are pretty good but the vocals and lyrics are just awful. Shame
A couple of standouts and I’m not against it but need to be in the mood for this type. Can hear it’s influence in a lot of stuff though.
It"s fine, if not unremarkable. I'd use some of the songs in a coming of age indie movie set in Wisconsin.
Vroeger vond ik het helemaal niets, nu kon ik het wel waarderen. Ik word oud denk ik..
Well, Nigel Spackman knows a thing or two about teenage fan clubs, let me tell you. As a footballing superstar and high street heart throb, I often had to deal with groups of young...boys screaming in my presence. At first it's exciting and you love the attention, but soon it begins to chip away at your soul. The smile once so bright, becomes dimmer and you start to hate the little fuckers. "Nigel! Nigel! Give us a wave. Can we have an autograph? What are you having for supper? Can we get in the bath with you again?". Tiring. I didn't hit that boy though, no matter what you've read. He deserved it, but I didn't hit him. I should have hit him.
Curiosamente nunca había escuchado ninguna canción de este álbum ni de esta banda, fue totalmente un descubrimiento. Tienen un estilo más alternativo y creo que escuché gaitas, me gusta el rock con instrumentos de viento. Confirmo lo de gaita, son una banda escocesa xD
who knew this is what jeffrey epstein would make his music sound like. nowhere near as noncey as the bandname suggests. maybe if you play it backwards on a turntable it gives you an invitation to his noncing island.
Por lo general escucho estos discos como música de fondo (por eso mis reseñas son malitas, sori), y cuando algo me llama la atención entonces sí indago y ya le echo más ganitas a la evaluación. Este no es ese caso. A lo mucho me quedo con “Is this music?” pero en general me pareció meh
Općenito ovaj power-pop album, note, ritam se čuo u dosta albuma koje sam slušao, trenutno ne pada na pamet koji. (Moguće lako poneki album od Guided By Voices, Sebadoh, Ride?, Weezer...). Prepoznatljivo je. Jedan dobar album koji je proglašen najboljim u časopisu Spin 1991 godine.
I liked this more than some others - some of the transitions felt a little off though (e.g. 'Satan' to 'December'). Wish I could give this 3.5 - it's not quite a 4.
Another one I had to listen to on shuffle, so that may make an impact on score. Not sure what to rate this one, somewhere between 3 & 4 was decent, but not really anything special to me. Probably a 3.5 but I’ll rate it as 3 cus I think there has been better 4s.
A pleasant indie rock album that leans heavily towards the power pop genre. Often messy yet very melodic music. I like how they played with the usual tension between feeling lovesick and the moments of euphoria. The album feels familiar and thats a good thing. And surprisingly consistent. There isn't anything to hate here even if it isn't what I would truly adore.
This one is new to me, Probably wouldn't have ever stumbled into it if it wasn't for this thing. I don't really think it's my style to be honest. I think the writing is pretty good, the instrumentation is very passable. The vocals are solid. Everything about this albums seem good. and because of that I really wished I liked it more. I'm not upset I listened to this album, Listened to it twice actually was hoping it would hit a bit better the second time round. And it didn't really at all. But hey it's not horrible, just not my speed is all. Metal baby, the concept, and what you do to me were my favorites of the bunch.