SOUNDTRACK: TEENAGE FANCLUB-Bandwagonesque (1991).
In honor of this post about an author I went to college with (go class of ’91) I’m going to mention this album from ’91. According to the movie, 1991 was the year that punk broke. And, with all of the grungey/alternative bands that got onto major labels at the time, you;d think it was true. Or, you can read it like it was the year that punk broke, meaning fell apart, which may not be far from the truth either.
But enough of that. This album was the breakthrough for Teenage Fanclub who then went on to release several even better records that nobody bought. This record has a great hit call “The Concept.” It had a great chorus, fabulous harmony vocals and a seering guitar solo. And that actually sums up much of Teenage Fanclub. They knew how to write some great songs. Their later records all grew increasingly poppy, but they always maintained an alternative edge. In fact, you really can’t go wrong with any Teenage Fanclub record. This one always holds aplace in my heart though, as the one I first heard. “What You Do to Me” will stay in your head for decades (as it has done in mine!)
In Spin magazine, readers voted Bandwagonesque album of the year, beating out Nirvana’s Nevermind. I guess they never got the memo about that though, as DGC dropped them pretty much right after the record was released. Oops.
[READ: March 2008] Fresh Kills
The opening sentence of this story was, for me, not auspicious. It starts with a gun and a naked woman. Uh oh, I thought, another “hard boiled crime story.” But after the setting and plot premise had been established, this story showed really impressive depth.
My initial concern was that it was going to be a “typical” story in which someone is shot and revenge is sought. However, Loehfelm goes in another route altogether. He brings in a very rich background for all of the characters. And, more importantly, there is a wonderful interconnectedness between them. There are great parallels between the father and son’s lives. It shows the closeness of a small Staten Island community. And all of this depth in 15 short pages.
Loehfelm’s writing style is really solid. His prose is quick and very readable. I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of this story.
I had initailly planned to post this and encourage you to vote for this story in the Amazon.com breakthrough writers contest…. But, I’m too late. Rather, I can tell you that Mr Loehfelm WON the contest! Good for him.
Bill and I went to the University of Scranton together. And, although we weren’t friends, we had several friends in common. Congratulations Bill, I’m looking forward to seeing your book in print!
You can read the breakthrough chapter from Amazon here:
And here’s the story about Bill’s winning the contest:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080407/nym091.html?.v=101
And, an interesting audio link from NPR’s Marketplace:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/07/amazon_winner
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