Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (1991)

Teenage Fanclub are a fine example of power pop in all of its sickening glory- set right in the crossroads of old and new and owing as much to earlier 1970's bands like Big Star as well as the illustrious work of Todd Rundgren and the jangly sensibilities of 80's mainstays The Smiths and R.E.M., not to mention the influence they've had on an entire generation of indie popsters (Belle & Sebastian, et. al.) 

Fans and critics alike seem to point to their 1995 record Grand Prix as their finest moment; I think it doesn't have the same urgency as Bandwagonesque and plus; I got this one on a whim when I was in high school- the album cover art coupled with the fact that the CD was $1.99 (the main impetus being that awesome track they did with De La Soul on the Judgment Night Soundtrack).

Anyway; this is something I listen to when I want to remember my senior year of high school; it's inextricably wedged in between going stoned out of my 16-year old mind to football games on Friday night, then awful golf course keg parties on Saturday night to staying up late on Sunday nights to watch 120 Minutes...

Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (1991; Creation Records)

R.E.M. - Chronic Town (1982)

This is the third-best EP of all-time, right after Mission Of Burma's Signals, Calls & Marches and Pavement's Watery, Domestic. Well, that's just my opinion- but hey, who's blog is this now?

That's right.

R.E.M. hails from Athens, Georgia- you probably already know all this. I'll skip the intros and niceties then.

I always thought this band could be split into two distinct halves, the first half (which runs from 1981's Radio Free Europe single up until around the mid-90's Monster/New Adventures in Hi-Fi albums) and the second half (the four albums since original drummer Bill Berry left the band). It's funny to trace their arc of trajectory; about an album a year until '94, then an album every 3 years or so. Michael Stipe could get away with the argument that everything he ever needed to say he said by Automatic For The People; the scope of their work could've concluded with that record and their legacy would remain forever unblemished by their more-or-less subpar work as of late.

Anyway; here's one of my favorite things they've ever done, an early snippet of the band they used to be, all jangly guitars and mumbled vocals...

R.E.M. - Chronic Town (1982; I.R.S. Records)

NME C86 - A Rough Trade Records Compilation (1986)

C86-style pop music has been making a bit of a resurgence as of late, all thanks to bands like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and The Raveonettes. Which is a good thing- because at some point fans of those bands will have to stumble upon this gem, (once) a cassette that I picked up at House Of Music (Manoa Shopping Center, Havertown, PA) sometime in the late '80s and (now) a digital file somewhere in the recesses of my hard drive. I wonder what the original tape would be worth if I still had it? (I just did an eBay search, couldn't find this actual cassette but some of its contemporaries; going for anywhere from $1.50 to $8.00; which sadly, isn't as much as I thought...)

Anyway, if you're a fan of fuzzed out and jangly twee indie pop, here's where it started- the following bands owe as much a debt to both The Jesus & Mary Chain and The Smiths for their impetus as the two bands I mentioned above owe to the entire movement in general...

1. Primal Scream - Velocity Girl
2. The Mighty Lemon Drops - Happy Head
3. The Soup Dragons - Pleasantly Surprised
4. The Wolfhounds - Feeling So Strange Again
5. The Bodines - Therese
6. Mighty Mighty - Law
7. Stump - Buffalo
8. Bogshed - Run to the Temple
9. A Witness - Sharpened Sticks
10. The Pastels - Breaking Lines
11. Age of Chance - From Now On, This Will Be Your God
12. The Shop Assistants - It's Up to You
13. Close Lobsters - Firestation Towers
14. Miaow - Sport Most Royal
15. Half Man Half Biscuit - I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart)
16. The Servants - Transparent
17. The Mackenzies - Big Jim (There's no pubs in Heaven)
18. Big Flame - New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)
19. Fuzzbox - Console Me
20. McCarthy - Celestial City
11. The Shrubs - Bullfighter's Bones
22. The Wedding Present - This Boy Can Wait

Various Artists - NME C86 (1986; NME Magazine/Rough Trade Records)
-link opens to YouTube video-