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In the early 1990s, Teenage Fanclub managed to bridge the gap between aging rock critics and the indie kids who'd never heard Neil Young or Big Star. Coveted by both groups of music aficionados, Bandwagonesque (1991) was a landmark record that fused achingly brilliant melodies with loud, ringing guitars. Marked by simple lyrics and lines such as "Saw you there with long, blonde hair / Eyes of blue / Oh baby, I love you," it brought the band major attention and was a far cry from the J Mascis-inspired sludge of their debut. After losing drummer Brendan O' Hare to his own Telstar Ponies, the band recruited Paul Quinn for Grand Prix (1995), a record which found them abandoning distortion for clear, twin lead guitars and an emphasis on Country Rock (a direction they perfected on Songs from Northern Britain in 1997). Although the band have yet to climb into the pantheon from which they so liberally borrow, they have released a series of confident, pop-worshipping records that will only become more inspired with age.
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