Bandwagonesque

This band has never really done anything for me. They come close sometimes, though! I would describe this album as “fine” and “inoffensive.”

Boring 90's alt-rock, not even interesting enough to hate.

I hate to give this a four, but I do like some of the songs a lot. Pet Rock has really strong early 70’s Stones vibes.

Is there really a demand for ANOTTHERRRR random rock album from the 90's??? It's not that bad that I should give it a 1/5, but it's just a rock album. The vocals are just a barebones version of great singers, it's like taking away all the soul from the song. Def another person's cup of tea tho.

It was a generic rock album that sounded like some guys out of a garage made an album. If I knew the guys and heard this from them I'd be impressed but compared to some of the other stuff we get on here it's super tame.

I really dig that. Kinda a “Matthew Sweet with a band” vibe. Good early 90s alternative

3.5* 82%

*slaps side of album* She’s a sturdy one! This is good, it was enjoyable. I had heard and liked The Concept previously so I went into it a little more optimistic than the huge dorks upset about the album’s artwork I guess.

Teenage Fanclub is a Scottish alt rock/pop band that have recorded a dozen albums over their over thirty year career. Bandwagonesque is their third studio album, and the only to find significant success outside of the UK. The album's hit singles, "Star Sign" and "The Concept, are great examples of Teenage Fanclub's power pop: sonically full, guitar driven anthems with great hooks.

Really enjoyed this, sat in a hybrid spot between a lot of other music of the era that i love.

Perfect mix of uninterested vocals, jangly guitars and distorted guitars

It's not so much that I disliked this, it's more that it felt like music you'd make as the studio band to put in a movie because they couldn't afford real songs people recognize, so you try to kind of knock off the sound of bands people do know? A long- and generic-feeling 42 minutes.

4/10

uh yeah cool album name

Reviewing my reviews, I was reminded that I hadn't been able to listen to this album in its entirety the first time around. So, I tracked down a full copy, and now I can safely say that my partial listen was just as good as the full - as in not very good at all.

Sure why not. This was relatively fine. Didnt care too much for the vocals. And some of the tracks felt like they dragged too long with unnecessary guitar riffs. This wasn’t bad really, just a lame choice to be on this list.

[3.5]

Takes me back. So many great songs. The final instrumental track is my favorite but I like guiding star, the concept and what you do to me a lot as well

A bit culty and of its time, but not bad. I would probably put this on again if the mood took me for something under-polished and raw, but not too hard.

Just in case you thought Buzzfed invented bad lists, Spin magazine famously (infamously, wrongly, stupidly?) voted this as album of the year over Nirvana’s Nevermind. It’s pretty good but not that good.

A lot like the last one, some British pop rock. Not too offensive.

I didn’t really need to listen to this before I die.

it's really quite boring and meh. nothing that really grabs my attention and makes me want to repeat it. the first track was probably the track i enjoyed the most.

It's good, but not great. The band has better. Plus... someone (Spin Magazine) thought this was better than Nirvana's Nevermind? Fail. 3 stars.

Boring

Alternative band since the 90’s. Music ok. No real hits.

I agree that this is better than Nirvana's first album and I'm glad it nudged it out in 91. It's pretty melodic and a little sophisticated, but has some of that 90s one-hit wonder stuff (think Deep Blue Something, Rembrandts). Solid effort from top to bottom.

Hadn't heard this before, even though I was aware it was highly rated.

Strong lyrics

picks: star sign, concept, what you do to me

A la belle époque de teenager, c'est exactement le genre de groupe qui m'a fait découvrir le doux son noisy du rock indé, le cousin du grunge américain. Teenage fanclub en première partie de Nirvana au Zénith en 1992 ... j'y étais !!!

Hey Teenage Fanclub, what you do to me ? except this nod to the Beatles in the MV...nothing...really nothing inspiring. Supposedly one of the famous 1991 album (what a year for music !)...sorry I am not into the club.

The Beatles! "get out of this band! I summon you". Iwas expecting to hear "number 9" spoken in the mliddle of "SATAN" and could have sworn hearing Paul Mc Cartney in "what you do to me", so I particulary liked the harmonies and the fact that they married well with distorded guitars.

Vraiment pas mon style,

Interesting album that had more fun then I expected after the first two songs.

Drowned in the early ‘90s alternative rock wave, Teenage Fanclub only popped onto my radar when I first heard “Fallin’” (a cool collab with De La Soul) in ‘93. I’m now diving into this album that’s jam-packed with all the retro goodies I love from that era—including this touch of melancholy and even plaid shirts. It’s straightforward, heartfelt rock with some pretty neat vocal harmonies. That said, it doesn’t hit me quite as hard as it might have back when I was into bands like Pavement or Dinosaur Jr. Still, despite the album being a bit inconsistent, I kind of dig it! Alcoholiday yeah!

Een mix van 60s pop en 90s alternative rock, ik heb er wel een soft spot voor. Het volgt de traditie van powerpop-acts als Big Star. Die vergelijking is zo obvious dat het soms bijna een karikatuur lijkt, maar het is wel dermate professioneel uitgevoerd dat ze er mee weg komen. Wel is het een recept dat naarmate de plaat vordert z'n verfrissende smaak verliest, en lijken ze op enige momenten na (de sublieme shoegaze-achtige outro van 'The Concept') op deze plaat een beetje een one-trick pony. Maar zoals ik al zei, het raakte een soft spot, en mijn eerste volledige kennismaking - in de vorm van een compleet album - met de band was toch wel aangenaam. 7,5/10 Highlights: The Concept Star Sign Alcoholiday

Lekker plaatje. Heel erg geinig die mix tussen 60's beatle-rock en de britpop en alternative rock uit de 90's. Het refrein kan het één zijn, de coupletten uit het andere tijdperk. En een muzikaal begin en eind; the Concept vond ik bijna Rush-achtig, Is This Music? deed me dan juist weer aan Ride (o.i.d.) denken. Goeie mix, ik ging er wel lekker op. 7,5/10 Highlights What You Do To Me Is This Music?

I really liked this. Can’t believe I never listened to it. It does sound a lot like Big Star is some places. Also heard some Sweet and some REM here too

This is some bland soulless music. Reminds me of a pretend TV band, like the Partridge Family. It didn’t offend, so I will probably give it three stars, unless I decide to deduct a star because this was made in 1991 and not 1975 when that kind of music was expected.

if you stick it out to the end you will hear an awesome instumental track

Not bad. Really liked the opening track.

Ugh

Blah

Always been partial to power pop. TfC are a little more on the indie rock side of their spectrum on this album with the muted in the mix vocals, personally prefer them when they lean into more folk rock on follow up records, but this is still a great little record that has somewhat been lost over time, 4 Stars, nice to hear it all the way through again.

I suspect sarcastic elbows will prefer the noisy feedback parts. I actually like the poppy stuff better. They do Beatlesque stuff. They do that post pixies pop. They do sonic youth. Or maybe they’d say velvet underground. But I can’t help but feel the pixies did this approach better. To be fair comparing nearly any band of this type to the pixies is going to fall heavily in the pixies favour. This isn’t teenage fanclubs fault. This album isn’t terrible at all. Quite good really. 3 while I work out if it’s a must listen. Wouldn’t it just be better to listen to the pixies and work your way towards this?

Triple J, Australia's public 'yoof' radio network, playlisted some Teenage Fanclub songs very early. But, as a record store clerk in a small alternative record store, they were the bane of my life. Just because Triple J were playing Everything Flows every hour, doesn't mean that it is available as a single. In fact, it was only available in Australia on imported copies of A Catholic Education LP, and truth be told, none of the rest of that album was nearly as good as Everything Flows. Worse yet, Triple J then started playing God Knows It's True, which was a UK single only, and you couldn't source for love or money. Both pretty good songs -- noisy but tuneful -- and an indication of what was about to come. Bandwagonesque was released locally in Australia, and we sold a stack of copies in the store, despite the memorably rubbish cover. I saw them play the Big Day Out festival in 1994. Bandwagonesque is, in my mind, Teenage Fanclub's masterwork. Full of trainspotter influences (Big Star, the Byrds, British invasion, Dinosaur Jr), it was noisy power pop with great tunes, terrific harmonies and a big heart. I think those references, beloved of record nerds and white boy critics everywhere, are the reason that Spin rated this as the best album of 1991 (above Nevermind!). It was a critics' darling, but here's what I really like about the album: the band themselves did not fall into that cult of rock critic cool. They embraced an everyday, slightly nostalgic, and definitely uncool sensibility; "She wears denim wherever she goes, she's gonna get some records by the Status Quo, oh yeah!" They are a band uninterested in cred. As Norman Blake said in the NME: "We write honest tunes, man… Songs." There is a workman-like quality to this record. It's rough-hewn and noisy (as was the vogue at the time). They tidied up a bit later in their career, but I really like this inflection point between their earlier noisier records and the mature songcraft they developed. This is best of both worlds, and a bit out of step in its time; catchy melodies and sweet harmonies were not generally a common feature of guitar rock in 1991, but they age really well. I've listened to this through four times today and enjoy it more each time. The Concept is one of my favourite songs of the decade, and my 7" copy is a prized possession.

I’m hearing a little Dandy Warhols, a little Hoodoo Gurus, a little Magnetic Fields too. I’m quite the fan especially of the first two listed, but Teenage Fanclub seems like a watered down version of the three. They’d probably grow on me if I spun the album 3 or 4 times, but I don’t have the inclination for this at the moment, so they’ll have to settle with a 2.

"I Don't Know" was alright, and I enjoyed some of "What You Do To Me" but I did not like "Metal Baby", "Pet Rock" is ok. Overall I'm not a huge fan, it was alright but I don't think I can give this a 3 and a 2 instead.

It was fine. Not my thing.

Fun 90s rocky album.

Noisy guitar-pop with a real lean into the harmonic side of rock. Plenty of dreamy guitars washing over melodic bass lines, and lyrics that could only come from one wonderfully sweary place. It was once interrupted by a burst of punk riffage, and I got my hopes up that this album was about to take off - alas. Maybe the best pub rock album I've heard? Favourite tracks: December, Star Sign, Is This Music?, The Wildhearts and Dinosaur Jr

This is much better than "Nevermind", honestly. I love the dumb pink cover to death. I'm afraid the top reviews are on the wrong side with this one.

Empire Records, huh? This album feels like it was made in a lab for the mall. "Put the Beach Boys in a blender with Alice in Chains". As trendy as frosted tips and doomed to be as short-lived.

Great year ! The album is not bad and feel like an average Oasis but somehow quite forgettable. Some nice riffs here and there and I will revisit this sometimes The concept and Alcoholiday 3.5

Very good

Jangly 90's indie rock. It's not bad, but it's not great. Meh.

Lidt alternativ tidlig indierock, skotsk, det er ok, heller ikke noget vildt

Not bad but not great either

Too average for me...no standouts...Would certainly not be in my 1001 list...

Pretty good!

I guess? Nothing stood out with this one

hauskahko..

Teenage “ Not Really Part Of The “ Fanclub. Didn’t really do anything for me.

Mone

I immediately thought "why" when I saw this one pop up. I remember their name and the fact that they were being pushed on us in the early 90's. They were on all kinds of Up & Comers and compilation discs at the time but it's so vanilla that it never took root or connected with me because there were better options. "The Concept" has 6.3M listens and if I've ever heard it I don't remember it, it's that memorable. 6 minutes long? "What You Do To Me" was the other "hit" on this album at 6.1M listens. Again, never heard it, and I was a certified music junkie living in record stores & spending all my money on discs, tickets & weed at the time. They sound like a band you hear at any bar on any night and you think, "not bad", but you forget their name by Monday morning. This album has nothing compelling on it, I'd never give it a second listen. I was bored from the start & longing for it to end. It's the 90's at their most generic. 2 stars for having a following, but zero radio hits you hear today and no long lasting influence on music.

A huge disappointment. I’ve been very excited for this album for many years, as so many artists I respect have rated it so highly. There is some artistry in its construction, but the result is extremely flat. The jangly sound is banal, and the vocal harmonies are unpleasant. I suppose there was some desire to evoke catchy ‘60s/‘70s pop à la The Beach Boys or Big Star, and in doing so, to sound original for its time, but the effect is downright cornball and inessential. There are a lot of mediocre ‘90s indie rock records, but this is something worse.

Nice.

That riff on the closing tune is magic. It sounds like 87ish Cure Opener is a corker Guiding star, another good one A delightful listen. This album should be on rotation

pretty good. a little twee

I’m surprised they got a label, not to mention beating out Nirvana album sales. You’d think I would have heard of this before if that were the case.

Wanted to like it more than I did. P boring, dnf.

No offense, but this was one of if not the most boring, literally repetitive (like the same sentence over and over again for the entirety of a song) and just plain stupid albums that I’ve heard lately. Not good at all. It may be music, but either way bad music.

been meaning to listen to this album for a while. thanks, generator!! loved it

Okay enough but I've already forgotten it

I liked it. Esp for it's time.

It's a genre I can often enjoy but this album felt noisy, dissonant, and listless. Not my thing.

Overall: 6/10 Honestly, this didn't do much for me. It has a lot of elements of rock music that I love but the energy and enthusiasm doesn't translate through the production. Not bad but not my thing. Fav Song: What You Do to Me Least Fav Song: Guiding Star

This was good

Pretty good, I’ve definitely become a lot more familiar with britpop with all the albums on the list.

fun

7/10 - It had some decent production. I thought it was enjoyable but nothing insanely good.

Coming across an album that’s right up my alley that I’ve never heard of before doesn’t happen that much anymore. Loved this album, thank you list

I rather enjoy this record and have taken a shine to this band in general

Something for the 90s. Some good, some ok.

Not really moving the needle one or another for me on this one. Perfectly acceptably fine performances but not really adventurous enough for me to pay any close attention to it.

skipping the detailed notes because this is an absolute nothingburger of an album. its not bad music per se i just fundamentally reject the idea that this has anything to do with an albums to listen to before you die list

I listened to this album twice yesterday and remember nothing about it.

While it doesn’t do a whole lot to differentiate itself from much of the other British alt-rock of the late 80s and early 90s, it’s still an enjoyable listen. I kind of giggled when the 2nd track came on and sounded more metal and I looked and saw the title was “Satan” Going in the only song I was familiar with was “What You Do To Me” which is a good song but also blends in with the era and could pass as a Lemonheads song or something. Good but unremarkable. I would probably listen again and maybe certain songs would grow on me. Probably somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me

Teenage Fanclub dares to ask “what if Big Star had shoegaze guitar tones” and does it near flawlessly. Power pop of the highest order with slacker lyrics and vibes. These guys walked so Blur and Oasis could run, but there’s something about these songs that feels totally outside of time. Some of the tunes can hang around a bit too long for sure. There’s some tunes that feel a bit like filler when we could have made a perfect 10 song record. But songs like “The Concept”, “December”, “What You Do To Me”, “Star Sign”, “Alcoholiday” and the shoegaze perfection of “Is This Music?” are triumphs. Maybe not for everyone but this was a delight to listen to the first time. 4/5.

pleasant rock songwriting in that this could have come out any year from like 1972 onward. never gonna argue with some fun power pop influenced stuff even if it isn’t doing much to stand out my reviews will not be as detailed while i’m in school :(

An album that was not all that relevant, even in 1991, and is definitely not relevant to this list at all anymore. Fine album, but not all time great. That said, I did enjoy the track "Is This Music?" and added it to my collection.

Every song was the same song.

I loved this album as a college student in 1991. I was a DJ at WVGS, Georgia Southern, and this CD was in a stack of new releases, I gave it a listen and feel in love with the album. This album kicked off my love of alternative British bands.

Falls in to PAIR (Perfectly Acceptable Indie Rock) territory. It feels very Oasis-y. But the fact that it precedes Oasis and the whole Birt Pop exlosion is quite interesting. Not as mad as Spin making it the 1991 album of the year. (Ahead on Nevermind and countless others)

It's not bad. Better than Britpop which is basically unlistenable. At least they sing well.

Feels like Arcade Fire, but good!

Bog standard indie 2/5

Quite an easy listen. Points for nostalgia and how much it sounds like it would be used in a 90s film.

Its OK. Listenable, but not outstanding IMO. Sounds like Toad the Wet Sporket meets the Smithereens, but not as good as either.

2*

This was surprisingly good for an album I still don’t know why it’s on the list. I could listen to this more regularly. 3.25

Quality album.

Wow, going through the popular songs from these guys and I gotta say, “Fallin’” with De La Soul off the Judgement Night soundtrack is still a bop. That album was a game changer. As for the rest of the band’s catalog, I vaguely remember “The Concept” from some moderate radio play? Maybe? “What You Do To Me” sounds familiar too. Maybe I’ve listened to this album before? I know the band name more than the music is what I’m getting at here. At times they remind me of Matthew Sweet. Lots of 70’s vibes mixed with early 90’s faster tempos and song structures. “Guided Star” almost had a My Bloody Valentine - early Shoegaze quality to it which I really liked. Overall it’s a great record that did about what I expected while delivering some fun 90’s pop rock. 3.5

Straightforward pop rock. It isn't bad, but it isn't inspiring either. I don't hear anything that sets them apart from any other run-of-the-mill pop rock band, except maybe better guitar than most. Star Sign was my favorite, mainly because of the opening spacey guitar. The last track asks, Is This Music? Yes it is. This gets a 3.

An infectious, melody-led, light-rock pop album sometimes akin to R.E.M., Bends-era Radiohead, or Big Star. Easy, standard, but oh so catchy.

I'll be honest. I listened to this album for this project sometime ago and made the mistake of not reviewing it right away. Days passed, then weeks. I saw it here on my list with no review but the thing is, I cannot summon any memory of this album in order to describe it. As I recall, it was neither offensive to my ears nor memorably pleasing. It was just sort of there. Good enough. Satisfactory. Perfunctory, like these listening notes I'm writing now. I could go back and give it another listen to jog my memory, but I've got a backlog of like 80 albums at this point, so ain't nobody got time for that.

This was a lukewarm feel-good album for me. Nothing too extreme one way or the other. Decent Brit pop sound that really took me back to the 90s and how music sounded.back then.

Didn't get enough listen time, but fairly solid from what I gleaned

Dead average. Am I tripping or was it oddly quiet when the music itself felt like it shouldve been loud?

Made me feel nostalgic, even though I had never heard it before. Interesting feeling.

I enjoyed December a lot. The rest, didn't do all that much for me.

Nothing special. Yet another one of those UK inclusions that leave me shaking my head.

Nice enough, but didn't really do anything for me.

Not feeling confident after seeing the MS Paint cover. I could have gotten Nevermind or Loveless or Screamadelica or Low End Theory but noooo, the RNG had to give me this gen x sludge. The Concept opens the album with a by the numbers indie rock number with some truly atrocious lyrics although some nice harmonisation in the chorus. They add insult to injury with a few minutes of prog guitar noodling at the end. Last 20 seconds of Satan rocks but only increases my concern that the rest of the album is going to be ponderous and frustrating. December confirms my suspicions. What You Do to Me recovers a bit with an acceptable glam number (although the lyrics remain vapid). I Don't Know occasionally has some My Bloody Valentine style dissonance but otherwise remains in the comfortably mediocre depths. Star Sign continues the primary school level rhyming (why do they sing with American accents?). Metal Baby has some nice jangly moments but is let down by a forgettable chorus and would have had more impact at half the length. Pet Rock as a title and as a track perfectly encapsulates what this album is. Tenor sax in a rock song tells you all you need to know about their sensibilities. By the time we get to Sidewinder I'm ready to hit the eject button. The final track Is This Music is actually pretty alright, the fact that it's an instrumental should clue you in to what's wrong with the album. The drums sound like they were recorded inside a sofa. There are occasional noisy bits at the start and end of all their songs. They would have had much better effect stringing those together and releasing it as a single than wasting my time with this nonsense.

3.5

boring as hell

not bad, some fun songs, some a bit boring

To be so for real, The Concept sounds like the music on a Saved By the Bell dance. To the extent that I’m pretty sure it was featured on Saved by the Bell. Perfectly fine tunes.

This is the kind of “mostly sterile but also just gritty enough to feel gritty” kind of stuff that would fit right in to the soundtrack of a Tony Hawk video game. I liked it just fine, but, fully embracing my naivety, I couldn’t tell you what separates this from any other alternative stuff coming out of the early 90s. IF they were the ones to pioneer this sound that would become pretty ubiquitous, then I guess that’s cool.

Yeah, i didnt warm to this. Its just before my teenage years started so maybe i dont like it as i saw it as too close to the stuff i love and i want to differentiate myself. I can see the start of britpop in this but there is too much shoegaze, american college rock and noise rock for me. The occasional tune does lift it but it didnt get me.

Boring, derivative, each songs sounds like the other. Glad it is over.

idk i really like this

Enjoyed it, but after a while felt it kind of blended into the background so as to become less memorable.

sucks

Wish I would have heard this when I was 18.

Slightly earlier version of sound I grew up on once branching out from what siblings played. Early alternative rock. Light, goes by quick.

Nice alternative music

An album that hangs somewhere between jam and vibe, each song seesawing in each direction. Super cool

Rating: 8/10 Surprisingly great indie rock, very catchy and fun to listen to.

So 90s

Catchy fun

Another album that's been a long time favorite. I bought this in 1991 when it first came out, loved it. Still do.

Great sound. Like a 90s band studied 60s soft rock, maybe the Who or the Byrds maybe, and brought it into the 90s. I feel like this was overshadowed by the grunge rock of the time. Holds up well for a more chill, four man folkish rock band

Fine. Some good stuff here.

It's music 2.5

Pretty seminal alternative rock album of the 90s

1. concept - 0 2. zatan - 0 3. me - 1 4. knouu - 1 5. ztar - 1 6. baby - 1 7. rock - 1 8. zide - 1 9. holiday - 1 10. muzic - 0

Really, really great sound. Some sweet shredding on The Concept and Is This Music? Especially loved the proto-Wilco vibes on Alcoholiday. ✅✅✅✅ Alcoholiday ✅✅ Is This Music?

I liked it

Must keep my Scottish bias in check! Good but not exceptional album. Has some interesting moments and I like the vocals but nothing that makes me go wow!

# Album Name: Bandwagonesque # Artist: Teenage Fanclub # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: Wow, this album beat nevermind to the "best album of 1991". That is a massive statement for any band. So im super intrigued to see what this album has got. Unfortunately this was pretty much dog shit to me. How the fuck did someone think this was better than nevermind is beyond me. Maybe im a simpleton. # Top Tunes: None # Would I listen to it again? No

4.7 - Never really listened to them but my goodness, just solid great music. Sounds like some mates just making music they like, could listen to this all day.

Didn’t expect much from this. I only know Teenage Fanclub from the fantastic Everything Flows (which isn’t on here), but I thought this was a very solid experience. 3.8/5

I like a lot on this album. The rock sound and the mellow singing are highlights. A lot of the songs become samey to me though. It feels like a lot of the album from 1991 and the comparison to Nirvana seems fitting even if the vibe of the songs are different.

Sounds like it might have been an inspiration for Britpop, but generally found this very forgettable.

Sounds like it helped shape the Brit pop sound of the 90s. Nothing exciting, nothing awful. Struggling to pick out a real highlight - probably I Don’t Know at a push? Probably more of a 2.5 than a 3 for me.

Musically pretty good if a bit predictable but couldn’t decide whether that’s because it preceded other bands of similar genres

Is This Music? The final track of the album asks. Well, yes, it is, by pretty much any standard. While I can't quite understand the accolades it received (better than Nevermind or Out Of Time? that's a hard sell), I do think this is one of the better alternative rock albums this list has thrown our way. The grittiness of the guitars and the smooth vocal hooks proved an interesting contrast and songwriting was tight enough. But the album doesn't feel captivating enough to consider it a masterpiece.

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Heard of Teenage Fan Club but never listened to them so didn’t know what to expect. The album opens with high gain guitars and feedback and the launches into a mid tempo pop rock song which is a little underwhelming. The rest of the album sits at that middle of the road level with the occasional increase in urgency/grit. It’s not bad but it’s not great either.

Decent, better on the second listen

Somehow never heard this band. Pretty decent.

Never heard of this, since I spent this era watching Yo MTV Raps. I was surprised by the overwhelming impression that I'd heard every song before. The music is good and goes down easy, but it tastes like a mayonnaise and lettuce sandwich on Wonderbread.

this was not the best album of 1991

What you do to meeee, what you do to me, What you do to meeee, what you do to me, What you do to meeee, what you do to me, What you do to meeee, what you do to me, Alcoholiday and Is This Music are the best songs on the album. I enjoyed the instrumentals overall but some songs were too repetitive for me. Overall, I liked it. 3/5

The opening intro was too long. The singer is way too soft spoken for me. This whole album feels boring. Not sure how it beat Nirvana

This singer reminds me of Wilco, or Elliot Smith, but the band is pop punk. Not bad. Some enjoyable stuff here.

It’s like proto Weezer mixed with Phish in the best way possible way. I loved it

it was fine, didnt really stick

Cool rock album, consistently good and doesn't overstay its welcome

I never travel far, without a 90s Big Star

After the first listen I kinda hated it, thought it was generic and found the lyrics to be repetitive. I want to be clear that repetition in song can be awesome but I’m not sure the delivery really worked on Bandwagonesque. I did end up listening thru a second time and what did hook me was the opening track, which is a solid slacker rock jam. So anyway, I went thru it again and this is far from awful, reminds of Sloan a bit if Sloan was lazy as fuck, ok maybe i should ease up. There were some decent tracks here for sure. 3 stars

This is exactly the type of record I would have read an article about in Spin magazine circa 2007, in which some Gen X writer referred to it as a Certified Classic™️, before turning the page to a review of the latest !!! record. Then, about 3 years later, I would find it used for $2.50 in Newbury Comics, so I would’ve bought it, remembering it was supposedly a Certified Classic™️, and after the first listen, I would’ve found it to be okay, but very much not my thing. Still, I’d proceed to force myself to listen to it every day for the next 3 months, concerned that I was Uncool™️ and confused what exactly I was missing from an album that, to my Millennial Emo ears, sounded like pretty standard-fare ‘90s post-Nirvana indie hipster shit, until one day I moved on and loaned the CD to one of my more pretentious high school hipster friends. It’s pretty fine for what it is, but I don’t find it to be ✨magical✨ in any sense of the word. It’s got some high points of solid power pop songwriting, and it’s got some low points of 2cool4skool eye-rolling pretense. Taken as a whole, the good sandwiches the hipsterness, but the balance is iffy as a result. In some ways, I can see how this is seen as influential, but that influence is on an entire group of artists I personally find annoying. More annoyingly, it feels too try-hard with its punk and art rock attempts, and I think I’d respect this a lot more if it was more focused on fun, fuzzy power pop songwriting. One of the better records on this list to represent the early ‘90s indie rock boom, and while I do like it, I never love it. Probably a taste issue, to be honest.

Punk Beach Boys. Fav Track: What You Do To Me

It's alright. I liked the instrumentals more than the vocals, who seem to be run of the mill. There's a bit of experimentation here and there, but far too little to make this album stand out as influential.

Sounds like every indie-pop band of the 2000's, which doesn't do much to me. Being first in that style of music will onpy give you the same grade which is: ok, not offensive.

Alright

Has a nice sound, but the songs soun way too similar for me.

I would classify this as "cool kids" 90's music. It's good, but not great, and some hipster will have some reason this is the greatest 90's rock album.

One of those "I don't understand the high praise" albums for me. The instruments blur to the background and the vocals and lyrics are bland.

The safest 90s album I have ever heard. Every song is very simple in that they are formatted the same way, guitar riff with like 3 progressions, the same tempo for vocals, very basic drumline, the bassist does his job and then the song is done. Just really not for me. 2/10

2.5, almost a 3 but not quite

#67 Kinda boring, don't remember it after listening.

Fun shoegaze indie pop.

Day307 - they’re a good indie rock band. they might not be popular but they have put out some good stuff. even though it’s not on this album counting crows covers “start again” and it’s a good one

I enjoyed this album for the most part, and may give it another listen; hadn’t heard of the band before. 3 solid stars for me.

Wel echt nog coole plaat en ga ik vaker luisteren

Wat doet dit in deze lijst? Irrelevant

Ok pretty much

A decent album of very unoriginal sounding original music. 3 stars or C+ for me.

Already listened last week. Don't rate this, 2/5?

"What you do to me" was the only track I recall from this era. I do remember them doing a kickass version of Madonna's "Like a Virgin," which is musically superior to the original.

A warm blend of jangly guitars and gentle harmonies. It feels like power-pop filtered through a layer of fuzz. Hints of Big Star linger in the melodies, echoing that bittersweet brightness. The lyrics are simple but stick just enough, quietly connecting. It’s catchy, but not in a way that tries too hard. Each track rolls into the next, like flipping through a well-worn photo album.

Nah. Boring.

Controlled and noise-like, I wanna say. That's just what I'm left with here. And it's not as bad as I feared from the first few tracks.

The Fannies here, just tossing out brilliant, brilliant, brilliant proto-Britpop that was never equalled (except arguably by them on Grand Prix) for the rest of the decade. The Concept is such a brilliantly strong opener, it's hard to believe that What You Do To Me packs so much into two minutes, and Metal Baby is a mental sort of glam stomper that sticks in your heard for hours. All in all, I'm putting them out there as the best Britpop band (I reserve the right to argue that B&S do not fit into the genre).

I like Teenage Fanclub but for me Grand Prix is a far better album. This one is pleasant of course but a wee bit lacking in melody and hooks. Two Scottish albums in a row though 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Not completely terrible

4/5

Alt rock that had a decent sound but nothing that broke though for me. Released 1991

A good album that really seems to have set the tone for much of what came out of the UK in the 90s

Nope. This is not an album that anyone needs to hear before they die, and its kind of shit. 1/5

So bland I almost didn't notice it

Pleasant but really nothing special. How it's classed as one of the best ever is beyond me.

meh, trying too hard to be something its not but not horrible. 4/10

A few too many sad beach boys songs, but overall a good album. I'd listen again.

I wouldn't be mad if somebody put this on but it just didn't click with me

It’s fine

This is one of those "All we do is write catchy pop songs" albums (and that's a good thing). They remind me of Big Star, Cheap Trick, Paul Westerberg, etc. This was a pretty good collection of tunes!

Classic garage rock, Teenage Fanclub has a good sound. Not too grungy, not too heavy, not too Dinosaur Jr., it's a sound that I enjoyed throughout. The Concept and What You Do To Me are awesome songs that I still hear on indie stations today and it certainly feels influential. I also liked December and Sidewinder. The album does suffer a little from being a little too samesy, but it's a solid sound they locked into.

It was okay

Boring background rock album, album of the year 1991 when Nevermind came out? What? 2/5

Not great but not awful.

I thought it was fine, nothing that really made me groove along.

Nothing makes me feel like the old man yells at cloud meme like feeling nostalgic for guitar driven pop music but here we are again. I didn’t think I’d heard of these guys until I recognized “what you do to me”, just classic early 90s 3-chord formulaic pop, but dammit I like it. The album wore increasingly thin for me as it went on but I had a good time for the first 20 mins.

1.7 Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I was listening to this but I found this album excessively bland. Overly simplified Beatlesque songs with a hint of Alternative stylings. The one song I thought I liked (Alcoholiday) wasn't anything special on the 2nd listen. But at the end of the day I couldn't do any better

Will come back to it and keep listening. Some tracks I really like, others kind of blend in to one. 3.5.

I only had a passing familiarity with Teenage Fanclub before. This is right up my street, some cool guitar effects and instrumental sections in the vein of Sonic Youth, but they don't get in the way of good songs and melodies. It's a little lo-fi and the vocals won't be to everyone's taste but I like them. Listened again immediately after finishing

An album that could have been released by any of a 1000 bands in any of the last 30+ years.

Blandwagon.

said bandwagon being full of shite

Imagine. The patient is nearing the end. Doctors say it's time to unhook the life support but someone says, 'Wait! He hasn't heard Bandwagoneseque by Teenage Fanclub yet. So the inevitable is delayed for an hour longer. At the end of it all, the patient jerks into life and utters his final words. "Well that was a waste of fucking time then". A fun record of guitar based fun but NOT one of the albums you must hear before you die.

For a band I have never heard of, they completely transported me back to the 90's. Loved every track on this album!!!!

Wow. What an album. Sad i didn't know about teenage fan club before, this is great!

definitely not my style

This is fine

Listened to about half...I think it influenced future bands that were popular in the 90s but it still was not, good

decent! I liked “Metal Baby” for its goth gf yearning

Meh. But I didn’t hate it.

Spin magazine named this Album of the Year over Nevermind, and Kurt Cobain once called Teenage Fanclub “the best band in the world.” Meanwhile, I’d never even heard of them—though to be fair, I was 12, in peak mullet mode, and deep into my ’80s hair metal phase. Lofty title or not, I’m not sure I’d crown them world’s best off this album alone.

I listen to two songs to determine this was drivel.

The Concept is a monster song.

I'm a fan of these 90s pop rock bands. This isn't the best example however.

Very enjoyable and albums like these are precisely why I like this project.

Indie-90's meh. Kinda like the Strokes without any catchy pop tunes.

Did not like this much. Why is it making me anxious?

Not too bad, definitely didn't hate.

Ok

is good

Het doet me heel erg denken aan de band Plain White T's met een vleugje Beach Boys. Ik vind dit lekkere muziek, maar tegelijkertijd doet dit album me niet heel veel. Er staat geen track op waar ik extra enthousiast van word. Ik mis iets maar weet niet precies wat. Een 3,5.

This did almost nothing for me. First, I had no idea they were Scottish. Second, how did Spin magazine ever rank this higher than Nirvana's Nevermind in 1991? I could see this having a heavy influence (or being heavily influenced?) by some of the Seattle sounds, but this isn't my cup of that Pennyroyal tea. The vocals are too mellow. The rock doesn't rock me. It just didn't do much for me overall.

It took a couple of listens, but I ended up really liking this album, especially The Concept, Star Sign, and Is This Music? I’d never heard of Teenage Fanclub before, but I’ll definitely give more of their stuff a listen after this.

Very enjoyable. Definitely worth another listen. Simpsons: No

Enjoyed this. Never heard of them before, will listen again.

it was easy to listen to

I just didn’t get much out of this at all. It wasn’t bad I just didn’t get what I was supposed to enjoy about it.

Rock, 1991 -> 2

Hard no. Some feedback guitars followed by sugary sweet, unengaging melodies and lyrics.

Meh

Never heard this before. In theory I should be all over a hooky band with jangly guitars and Alex Chilton copycat syndrome, but this seems "just okay". It all seems quite derivative, which isn't bad if they were great songwriters. "And say, there's a black cat on the floor. Big deal."

An interesting discovery. This is what I wanted when I joined this group. Not sure that I'll ever listen to them again, but I might.

I've never heard this before. Our maybe I have and forgot.

I didn't dislike this, but it seems like the most generic form of this style. It's like a collection of the most boring Beach Boys. It's consistent and inoffensive, but a little soft and saccharine for my preference, so it's getting a 2 because I won't object to hearing it, but I won't be seeking it out either.

Had never heard of them. Liked a few of the songs, but didn't find anything really memorable.

Not bad, pretty mediocre.

2.5

You hear a lot of people talking about bands like Drive Like Jehu, American Football and Cap'n Jazz being the founders of emo music by way of the midwest emo scene, but I'd argue it was the early 90s indie rock/power pop bands that came shortly after 80s new wave and during the rise of grunge that set the tone with heartfelt lyrics sung softly over a wall of guitar and drums. This album/band helped form my own music over the years along with the likes of Big Star, The Posies and Superdrag. Listen to "What You Do To Me", "I Don't Know", "Metal Baby"

Well, that was terrible. Okay then, moving on.

Some people that play their instruments at an intermediate level found a guy that can kind of sing and wrote an album with no interesting ideas and spent three minutes designing the cover

Never heard of them, so based on the name only I thought they would have a younger sound and angsty. They have been angsty but in a good way with an older vibe sound. The sound had something 50'sish about it (For some reason I thought of the Wonders from That Thing you Do) but more rock and roll less pop. I Don't Know and Metal Baby were my favs, but all was really good. Going to find more by them!

This was super fun! It was catchy and rockin’ and I was already singing along to some of the songs on first listen. Great vibes, really liked it.

3.5/5. Last track is titled "Is This Music?" and I am happy to say yes it is, pretty decent too.

So I am already a fan of Teenage Fanclub. Grand Prix, Songs From Northern Britain and Here are the only albums of theirs that I have, but I did have their greatest hits collection 365 days (I've just checked the actual title and it's Four Thousand Seven Hundred And Sixty-Six Seconds) so I have heard the hits from this album before. I'm pretty sure I've listened to this in full and maybe wasn't as impressed by some of the less memorable tracks (Satan?) and this hasn't changed much on the re-listen. The start of The Concept is great and love the jangly, noodly guitars they do so well. I think I first heard What You Do To Me (and I guess therefore of Teenage Fanclub) in the film The World's End, and I still love it here. The extended intro to Star Sign (compared to the shortened intro on single) makes this version extra special and probably my favourite on the album. December is classic TF, and Guiding Light was a beautiful stringed surprise to (almost) close the album with. It's an objective 3 but I love TF (and so did Kurt Cobain!!!) so it gets a 4 x

really enjoyed this one as well. fun music, really easy to listen to. listened while extremely sleepy but brought up my mood while finishing up my travels to the usa (🫡)! will be listening to more of their stuff !!

There is a lot to like about this album but I think that mainly comes down to how accessible it is. It’s just some good ‘90s rock that is definitely NOT better than Nevermind.

I never heard these at the time as I was a straight ahead metal head. This is OK, probably as good as any of the Brit Pop fare that followed it, but it really is not memorable.

Awful

Super mellow for the most part but I liked this a lot.

Teenage Fanclub is as Teenage Fanclub does, musically stuck somewhere at the precipice of 90s rock'n'roll and britpop, deliberately never embracing either fully.

Why do I look at other people's reviews?

This was a relatively bland early 90s attempt to be an "alternative" album. It was sub par. Was it bad enough to be ranked a 2? Probably not, but it's nothing memorable in any way. And they almost deserve to get a 1 just for how terrible their album artwork is for this record. It screams, "Hey! I made this with my ClipArt Program. What do you think?"

As popular as the book and Wikipedia make this album sound, I never heard this growing up. I'm guessing this was due to the overwhelming scope of Nirvana's Nevermind. Listening to it now, it's just very pedestrian '90s alt rock.

Think it’s quite one paced and don’t remember a single chorus.

Never got going on this

It's aight

Didn’t do much for me but its relation to Creation records is pretty cool. I was even getting a Weezer vibe every now and then which is cool since this would’ve predated it Rating: 3.1

OK, the album art ain't great but the songs are pretty good. Favorite tracks: "I Don't Know" and "Is This Music?"

3.5/5

Not a fan of the guy's voice, but I liked it! Love the Walls of Sound.

Seemed alright but I'm not that into it.

Solid stuff, closing track the one track I’ll regularly listen to again (I thought it had rolled into auto play when that baseline kicked in)

Now this one is a surprise. Did not expect to like this as much as I did. Great early nineties alt-rock with some excellent melodies. I will be revisiting. Strong candidate for worst album cover of all-time though.

Love the album art, didn’t love the tunes

Who knew!

Tolles Album der 90er Jahre, das eine perfekte Mischung aus dem melodischen Rock von R.E.M. und der rohen Energie von Nirvana bietet. Das Album beginnt mit dem kraftvollen “The Concept”, das sofort die Aufmerksamkeit auf sich zieht. Die Gitarrenriffs sind eingängig und die Harmonien erinnern an die besten Momente von R.E.M. Songs wie “What You Do to Me” und “Star Sign” zeigen die Fähigkeit der Band, eingängige Melodien mit einer gewissen Grunge-Attitüde zu kombinieren, die an Nirvana erinnert. Ein Highlight des Albums ist “Alcoholiday”, ein Song, der sowohl melancholisch als auch erhebend ist und die Vielseitigkeit der Band unterstreicht. Die Texte sind introspektiv und emotional, was dem Album eine tiefere Ebene verleiht. Gerne nochmal Wiederhören.

Probably a good example of this sort of thing, but not to my taste. A bit twee for me.

I love the way the songs seems to be dragged over the line. This is an album that sounds like it was recorded in slow motion. The extra space allows for the soul to come through. It still kicks shit. It's till a five star album.

This was right in my wheelhouse and seems very ahead of its time for 1991. I will happily return to this one.

Amazing! I really liked this. Lots of guitar and very much in tbe same vein as Oasis, but less confrontational.

3/5

2/5

Pretty good for something I’ve never heard of.

I like this type of music

Very moody 90’s teen movie vibes. I liked what you do to me, but the rest of them didn’t quite grab me tbh

Nice indie record, love the fuzzy guitars.

Thoughts before listening: There are a couple songs on this album that I really like, but I'm not sure I've heard the whole thing. In general though their sound is everything I love about 90s alt rock so I'm sure this will be right up my alley. Review: Definitely up my alley. This is very good indie rock with loud guitars (including guitar solos!) and catchy melodies. Pretty reminiscent of other bands I enjoy like Archers of Loaf and Superchunk. These were all bands that I missed at the time, but that I have grown to enjoy more than the bands I was actually into back in high school. My favorite songs were the ones I already knew (especially "The Concept"....awesome song) but it was an overall enjoyable album. 4-stars

I didn’t like this at all and I’m not sure why, since it sounded like a lot of other stuff I like.

Great album!

Weak melodic wanna be's. Wanted to stop about track 7. Too poppy for me.

Whiny boring album that I hope to never suffer through again.

Dude. I loved this so much and I will not apologize for it.

Nada remarcable supongo.

It started strong but afterwards it blended in. I liked it though

Dull

Was a two start, but I loved the last song enough to go to 3.

No sale

Aside from a few standout tracks this was a pretty meh to average rock album. 3/5

Bara hört en låt tidigare men här finns många finfina låtar.

Bandwagonedque is a softer, a time more melodic version of grunge. When the melody hits, it’s very good, when it doesn’t it’s mediocre. Alcoholicday is an example of it working 6.8/10