Teenage Fanclub

All Music Guide:

After first gaining acclaim for a dense, melodic sound that anticipated the coming emergence of grunge, Scotland's Teenage Fanclub spent the remainder of their career as torch-bearers for the power pop revival, unparalleled among their generation for both their unwavering adherence to and brilliant reinvention of the classic guitar pop of vintage acts like Big Star and Badfinger. Blessed with the talents of three formidable singers and songwriters (Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley, all sharing an unerring knack for crafting immediately infectious melodies), Teenage Fanclub's radiant brand of pop classicism enjoyed only a brief moment of commercial and critical vogue, and over time, the band's devotion to its unapologetically old-fashioned sensibility yielded a dwindling fan base and virtually non-existent record sales. Nevertheless, almost none of their contemporaries can claim either Teenage Fanclub's consistency or longevity -- though never groundbreaking or hip, their music possesses a timelessness and accessibility matched by few.

Singers/guitarists Blake and McGinley first teamed up with singer/bassist Love in 1987 as members of Glasgow's short-lived Boy Hairdressers. The group issued a single, "Golden Shower," on the famed Scottish indie label 53rd and 3rd before disbanding. After a brief stint with the BMX Bandits, Blake reunited with Love and McGinley to form Teenage Fanclub in 1989; drummer Francis McDonald, a fellow BMX Bandit, completed the original lineup, although McDonald was replaced by fan Brendan O'Hare during sessions for the group's debut album, 1990's A Catholic Education. Released on the Creation label overseas and on the fledgling Matador imprint in the U.S., the album's thick, murky squall staked out sonic territory subsequently occupied by the nascent grunge movement. It also made Teenage Fanclub an instant critical favorite.

The God Knows Its True EP soon followed, but although American major labels came courting, the band still owed Matador one more record. They submitted The King, a ramshackle collection of instrumentals capped off by a tongue-in-cheek rendition of Madonna's "Like a Virgin." Instead, the record was summarily rejected by Matador honcho Gerard Cosloy, and after paying Cosloy what they felt the remainder of their contract was worth, Teenage Fanclub signed to Geffen.

Never shy about celebrating their inspirations -- covers of the Beatles' "The Ballad of John and Yoko," the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Older Guys," and Phil Ochs' "Chords of Fame" are scattered across various singles and EPs -- Teenage Fanclub's 1991 Geffen debut, Bandwagonesque, gloriously evoked the raggedly radiant pop manna of Big Star, the famed 1970s cult band led by ex-Box Tops frontman Alex Chilton and his singing/songwriting partner Chris Bell. With its newfound melodic ingenuity, brash guitar sound, and gorgeous harmonies, the record became a massive critical success, and although mainstream pop radio failed to bite, the group found a warm welcome on collegiate airwaves. Although somewhat hard to believe in retrospect, Bandwagonesque topped Spin magazine's best-of-1991 year-end list in the face of staggering competition including Nirvana's Nevermind, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, and R.E.M.'s Out of Time. A few months later, they were tapped as Rolling Stone's Hot Band for 1992, and at the peak of their success, the Fannies even performed on Saturday Night Live, that same year also opening for Nirvana.

Although the title of the 1993 follow-up Thirteen served immediate notice that Teenage Fanclub's Big Star fetish continued unabated, the album's bitter lyrical outlook and heavier guitar sound owed much to Neil Young, while the epic closer, "Gene Clark," honored the pioneering Byrds co-founder. Critical reception was decidedly icy, however, and in 1994, O'Hare was dismissed from the lineup, briefly resurfacing in Mogwai before mounting his own project, the Telstar Ponies. Ex-Soup Dragon Paul Quinn assumed drumming duties for the 1995 follow-up, the shimmering Grand Prix; by now, however, whatever critical cachet the Fannies had amassed was long gone, and after the disc sold poorly on both sides of the Atlantic, Geffen dropped the group from its roster. Sony picked up their contract just long enough for a U.S. release of 1997's Songs From Northern Britain, which again made few waves outside of the power pop faithful. Quinn left Teenage Fanclub in the midst of completing 2000's Howdy! More setbacks were to follow as Sony refused to release Howdy in the United States. The album eventually recieved distribution via Thirsty Ear in 2001, a year after its original release.

A year later, the band brought a relationship they'd developed with spoken word artist Jad Fair to fruition by backing him on the album Words of Wisdom and Hope. They also began assembling the retrospective anthology Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds: A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub, which appeared in 2006. It took three more years for Teenage Fanclub to return to the studio, which they eventually did by working with post-rock icon John McEntire at his Soma recording studio. After forming their own label, Pema, the Fanclub released Man-Made in 2005 and Shadows in 2010.

Wikipedia:

Teenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar), Gerard Love (vocals, bass) and Francis MacDonald (drums), with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love. In concert, the band usually alternate among the three songwriters (who all sing lead vocals on their own songs) giving equal playing time to each one's songs.

The band's sound relies heavily on chiming, Byrds-esque guitars and harmony vocals. As well as being compared to the Byrds, Teenage Fanclub have also been compared to Big Star, Neil Young, and Dinosaur Jr. Although often pegged as alternative rock, the group has incorporated a wide variety of elements from various music styles in its songs.

Teenage Fanclub has had a succession of drummers, including Francis MacDonald, Brendan O’Hare and Paul Quinn, who was later replaced by the returning Francis MacDonald. Keyboardist Finlay MacDonald (no relation) has also been a member.

As of July 2010, the band have released nine studio albums and two compilation albums.

History

Teenage Fanclub emerged from the Glasgow C86 scene. Their sound is reminiscent of West Coast bands like the Beach Boys and the Byrds, and their seventies counterparts Big Star. Originally a noisy and chaotic band, their first album A Catholic Education, released in 1990 on Paperhouse, is largely atypical of their later sound, with the possible exception of "Everything Flows". The King, their next album, received critical reviews; it consisted of a number of self-confessedly shambolic guitar thrashes and a cover of Madonna's "Like a Virgin".

Their next album, Bandwagonesque, released on Creation Records in the UK, and Geffen in the US, brought Teenage Fanclub a measure of commercial success. Bandwagonesque was more deliberately constructed, the hooks became stronger, the guitar riffs were brought under control, and the harmony vocals took shape. Bandwagonesque won Spin magazine's 1991 end-of-year poll for best album, beating Nirvana's Nevermind, their Creation stablemates My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless, and R.E.M.'s Out of Time.

The subsequent, Thirteen, suffered scathing reviews on release. Brendan O'Hare left Teenage Fanclub during this period due to "musical differences" to be replaced by Paul Quinn (formerly of the Soup Dragons).

Grand Prix, Teenage Fanclub's fifth album, was both a critical and commercial success in the UK, becoming their first top ten album. Released at the height of Britpop it almost certainly benefited from being released on the Creation records label. In the United States however the band failed to regain the ground that Thirteen had lost them. Around this time Liam Gallagher of labelmates Oasis called the band "the second best band in the world" — second only to Oasis.

Songs from Northern Britain followed Grand Prix and built on the former's success. It became their highest charting release in the UK and contained their biggest hit single to date, "Ain't That Enough".

The follow-up album, Howdy!, released on Columbia Records in the UK after the demise of Creation, continued the sound of Songs from Northern Britain. Francis Macdonald rejoined as the drummer for the tour supporting the album after Quinn left the band. Quinn went on to form The Primary 5.

In 2002, they released Words of Wisdom and Hope with cult icon Jad Fair of Half Japanese.

Their final release on a Sony label, Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds - A Shortcut to Teenage Fanclub, collected the Fanclub's best songs along with three new songs (one from each member).

Their next album, Man-Made, was released on 2 May 2005, on the band's own PeMa label. Man-Made was recorded in Chicago in 2004, and produced by John McEntire of Tortoise.

In 2006, the band held two special concerts (in London and Glasgow) playing their 1991 album Bandwagonesque in its entirety.

The band began work on their ninth album in August 2008, booking an initial three weeks at Leeders Farm recording studio in Norfolk. The album is called Shadows and is released on the band's own PeMa label. It became available in Europe, Australasia and Japan on 31 May 2010, and will be available from Merge Records in North America on 8 June 2010. Gerard Love is also working on a solo album for release on Geographic backed by musicians including Bob Kildea, Tom Crossley, Dave McGowan and Brendan O'Hare.

Teenage Fanclub are influenced by Big Star and Orange Juice. They performed a cover of Orange Juice's "Rip It Up" with Edwyn Collins. In December 2010, at the ATP Bowlie 2 music festival, they performed as the backing band for Edwyn Collins. Teenage Fanclub were regularly name-checked by Kurt Cobain in interviews and described by him as "the best band in the world".

Other projects

Norman Blake formed the two-person band Jonny with Euros Childs. Bassist Dave McGowan, who has also played with Teenage Fanclub, also plays on the 2011 eponymous debut album.

Gerard Love released his own solo album Electric Cables in 2012 using the alias Lightships.

Raymond McGinley joined Dave McGowan's folk group Snowgoose, whose debut album Harmony Springs was released in 2012.