As a kid of the early 90's, I grew up listening to The Pixies and I liked them, but didn't love them. What I did love about them was Kim Deal, I could listen to her voice all day and it wouldn't matter what she said. Alternatively, Frank Black / Black Frank put a lot of meanings into what he said and what he sang about and for me it was easy to gravitate to KD's work and neglect FB/BF's solo career. And that's the difference, music vs. lyrics. I do remember listening to this in the store when they were promoting it on one of those 'CD listening stations' - where you could try before you buy... and I remember it not being exciting by it ... because again, I wasn't listening to the poetry, only the music. Nothing much has changed since then, I was still hearing the music, not the lyrics. I wasn't impressed. However, after hearing this album, Spotify launched me into his self-titled album which was more enjoyable than Teenager of the Year. For me, TOTY isn't musically balanced. Yes, there is something here, but just seems like too much work for me to fully appreciate.