teenage fanclub

Last night I joined a Facebook group called "Says she don't do drugs but she does the pill, oh yeah", and it led me on a very fond trip down Alex's Musical Memory Avenue to a time about ten years ago when I began to fall in love with those four wonderful Scots that call themselves Teenage Fanclub. Some bands come and go out of fashion and favour, but Teenage Fanclub will forever be one of those few bands that I can always come back to and feel at home with. This morning I pulled out their best-of, "Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds", to listen to on my drive to work and it was as though I'd never stopped listening to them for a moment. Take "The Concept" - from the opening guitar noise to those killer lyrics, it's a downright pop classic. Then there's "Star Sign" - "hey, there's a horse shoe on your door, big deal" - and "Neil Jung", and "What You Do To Me"...oh, I could keep going, but you understand.

My favourite album would have to be "Grand Prix". Released in 1994, it was the first TFC record I ever bought, back in 1999 from CC Music in Morayfield. By that time, I was well and truly in love with "Sparky's Dream" and when I took it home to listen to, I realised there was so much more to love. "About You" would have to be one of the best opening tracks to an album ever!

I've been lucky enough to see them play twice, and both times I wanted them all to be my dad. I was 18 at the first show, and was captivated by those Caledonian harmonies and the way they managed to pull that grand sound together in a live show. Second time, in 2005, I wrote a review for a local street press - I'll try to dig it out and scan it in. It was a wonderful set that proved how far ahead of their peers, both recent and old, they were. There hasn't been a new record for a few years, so I hope they're still playing together. If not, there's a whole legacy of fine music left for me to indulge in.