| Teenage Fanclub |
Teenage
Fanclub Live in 2003 (Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia)
|
| Background information |
| Years active |
1989–Present |
| Label(s) |
Creation
Records
Sony
Records
PeMa Records |
| Members |
Norman Blake
Raymond McGinley
Gerard
Love
Francis MacDonald |
Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative
rock band from Bellshill, near Glasgow, formed
in 1989.
|
Contents
- 1 Overview
- 2 Background
- 3 Trivia
- 4 Discography
- 5 External
links
|
Overview
Teenage Fanclub are revered by power-pop fans for their
devotion to chiming, Byrds-esque
guitars and harmony
vocals.
They are also known affectionately as "The Fannies" and "The Bellshill
Beach Boys"
Songwriting duties are shared between the three permanent
members of the group:
In concert, they usually alternate between the three
songwriters (who all sing lead vocals on their own songs) giving equal
playing time to each one's songs. The prevalence of harmonies on the
album versions of songs is strongly demonstrated in their live
concerts. In concert, Love will sing the harmony vocals on the songs
where Blake sings the melody, with Blake providing the harmonies when
McGinley and Love sing lead.
In 2006, the band held two special concerts (in London and
Glasgow) playing their 1991 masterpiece Bandwangonesque in its entirety.
There have been a succession of drummers, including:
- Francis MacDonald (a prime-mover
in the C86
scene, later of the BMX Bandits), the drummer in the
original lineup, and in a later period
- Brendan O’Hare (later of Telstar
Ponies, Mogwai and Macrocosmica)
and
- Paul Quinn, who was later
replaced by the returning Francis MacDonald.
Keyboardist Finlay MacDonald (no
relation to Francis MacDonald) has also been a member.
Background
Teenage Fanclub emerged from the Glasgow C86
scene. Their sound is reminiscent of West Coast bands
like the Beach
Boys and Byrds,
and their seventies
counterparts Big Star. Originally a noisy and
chaotic band, their first album A
Catholic Education is largely atypical of their
later sound, with the possible exception of "Everything Flows". The
King, their next album, was widely panned; it
consists of a number of self-confessedly shambolic guitar thrashes and
an ironic cover
of Madonna's "Like a Virgin"
(also demolished by Sonic Youth in their Ciccone
Youth guise). The album was produced at great speed in order
to fulfil the terms of an existing American record deal with Matador
Records.
Their next album Bandwagonesque,
released on Geffen in the US and Creation
Records in the UK, brought Teenage Fanclub commercial success. The
album 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
hugely successful Out of Time
The follow-up, Thirteen,
is more grungy than Bandwagonesque in style; it suffered scathing
reviews at the time of release, possibly motivated by a backlash
against the critical praise heaped on Bandwagonesque
and also instigated in part by the group who with typical honesty (and
probably fatigued by the protracted recording process) did not hide
their disappointment with the album from interviewers. Brendan O'Hare
left Teenage Fanclub during this period due to "musical differences"
and was replaced by Paul Quinn (formerly of the Soup
Dragons).
Grand Prix,
Teenage Fanclub's fifth album, was both a critical and commercial
success in Britain becoming their first top ten album. It was released
at the height of britpop and almost certainly benefitted from being
released on Creation records. In America they failed to regain the
ground that Thirteen had lost them. Around this time Liam
Gallagher of Britpop giants (and labelmates) Oasis
called the band "the second best band in the world"—second, of course,
only to his own outfit. The album was demoed with Duncan Cameron (Producer)
at Riverside Studios (2) in Busby. This must
have been some success, as they recorded both versions of the single
Neil Jung with him, along with many singles from their back catalogue.
Songs From Northern
Britain followed Grand Prix
and built on the former's success. The album's folky, acoustic sound
resonated with listeners, as it is their highest charting release in
the UK and contains their biggest hit single to date (Ain't That
Enough).
Their next album Howdy! (released on Columbia
Records in the UK after the demise of Creation) continued the sound of
Songs from Northern Britain. The album, however, was poorly marketed
and was a commercial failure. Francis MacDonald rejoined as the drummer
for the tour supporting the album.
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).
A new album, Man-Made, was
released on May
2, 2005 on
the band's own PeMa label. Man-Made
was recorded in Chicago
in 2004, and
produced by John McEntire of Tortoise.
Trivia
- A Teenage Fanclub cover of "Take the Skinheads Bowling" by Camper
Van Beethoven is featured in the Michael Moore documentary Bowling
for Columbine.
Discography
Albums
- A Catholic Education
(1990)
- The King
(1991) #53 UK
- Bandwagonesque
(1991) #22 UK, #137 US
- Thirteen
(1993) #14 UK
- Deep Fried Fanclub
(1995) [B-Sides Compilation]
- Grand Prix
(1995) #7 UK
- Songs From Northern
Britain (1997) #3 UK
- Howdy!
(2000) #33 UK
- Words of Wisdom and Hope
(2002) [With Jad
Fair]
- Four
Thousand Seven Hundred And Sixty-Six Seconds - A Shortcut To Teenage
Fanclub (2003) [Compilation] #47 UK
- Man-Made - (2005)
#34 UK
Singles
- "Everything Flows" - (7" UK 1990, CDS US 1991)
- "Everybody's Fool" (7") - (1990)
- "The Ballad of John & Yoko" - (1990)
- "God Knows It's True" - (1990) #99 UK
- "Star Sign" - (August 18, 1991) #44 UK
- "The Concept" - (October 27, 1991) #51 UK
- "The Peel Sessions" - (1991)
- "What You Do To Me" (EP) - (Feb 2,(1992) #31 UK
- "Free Again / Bad Seeds" (7") - (1992)
- "Radio" - (June 17, 1993) #31 UK
- "Norman 3" - (August 12, (1993) #50 UK
- "Hang On" - (February 14, 1994)
- "Fallin'" - (March 28, 1994) #59 UK
- "Mellow Doubt" - (April 7, 1995) #34 UK
- "Sparky's Dream" - (May 15, 1995) #39 UK
- "Neil Jung" - (August 21, 1995) #62 UK
- "Ain't That Enough" - (June 30, 1997) #17 UK
- "I Don't Want Control Of You" - (August 11,
1997) #43 UK
- "Start Again" - (November 17, 1997) #54 UK
- "I Need Direction" - (October 9, 2000) #68 UK
- "Dumb Dumb Dumb" - (June 18, 2001)
- "Association" - (August 29, 2004) #75 UK
- "Fallen Leaves" - (May 30, 2005) {Limited to 2,000 copies}
- "It's All In My Mind" - (November 22. 2005)
External links
