Teenager of the Year

It's a fine mix of post punk. He tries a little to hard on a few, but still listenable. You can hear some of the influences (The Cars, etc.) and somewhat of a desperation to be different. It woks on some, but not as much on others. 3.

Nothing offensive about this but nothing all that special either. Nothing that makes me want to come back to this with any urgency.

2.5

Really fun album with a lot of variety. Really dig the punkier songs. The album is very long, but all of the songs are short.

3.5/5.0: Very Good

lots of cool ideas that he decided not to do any work on before recording. if he had polished these it couldve been five stars

For as much as I love the Pixies, I really should’ve listened to this a lot sooner. I’ve tried a couple times in the past but never made it more than a song or two. Giving the full album a go now, I feel that the first two songs are the worst and it picks up a lot and remains great until the end. Not quite as good as the Pixies best but still leagues ahead of the band’s worst stuff

As much alt rock as I listened to in the 90's it's pretty amazing that I never heard of this until now. Good stuff. Favorite track: Thalassocracy

Good to see Frans Bauer made it onto this list. Fine album, bit long but pretty enjoyable. The songs don't really rise above what the Pixies did though. It's all good, but it doesn't really feel great to me. Just a bit CD of alternative rock songs.

yo Mr. White, I think I heard your name in here somewhere

This is a blast; bit of a mess and overlong but always interesting. Not as good as the Pixies but not much is.

Liked the song Speedy Marie.

Didn't know what to expect from the cover... it wasn't that. Why was it a double album, just noise, that was done much better before

On paper this is a tough sell for me:

❌not a grunge fan
❌don't enjoy the Pixie's music
❌double album. Leave people wanting more!
✔️best album cover

But this album zipped through, and held my attention much more that I expected it to. Not in love with it, but it was more varied in style than I had anticipated.

Also, I find it hilarious that this album with *this* cover was released a month after Hole's Live Through This, given their history. What a weird coincidence

Nice sound - blurry genre, but it was interesting and luckily didn't feel too long. Big 3 !

Doesn't have Los Angeles on it but Francis is cool

What are you doing to me random album generator? In the past week I've had two records, this and Crowded House, that I used to argue about with a now deceased pal. I didn't like either, especially Crowded House, while he loved both, especially Crowded House. Melancholic listens both because I miss those arguments. Of course time and the context has dulled my ire and I've enjoyed both, especially Frank Black ;)

A heaping dose of post-Pixies alt rock, none of which raises quite to those heights, but the album is still full of exciting guitars, driving propulsive rhythms, and catchy melodies. Plus the odd alt-country twand. It doesn’t have the loud/quiet dynamics of the Pixies best songs, but that trick had been copied to death and diffused across the radio by the mid 90s anyway. Lots of short songs, mostly built out of the signature of combo of clean and dirty guitars and surf, punk, and classic rock roots, but with added pianos and synths to flesh out the arrangements and more of a power pop indie orientation (and in one cringey case, reggae). Drags on a bit, would be best curated down to 16 tracks/45 minutes.

I had never heard of Frank Black or his album Teenager of the Year before today, and honestly, I could have happily kept it that way.

The album is long, meandering, and often dull. There are a couple of moments worth noting—“Freedom Rock” stands out as a genuinely strong track, and “Headache” is well-titled, as that’s exactly what I was left with after sitting through the rest.

I can’t quite understand how this record made the list, and it’s not one I’ll be revisiting anytime soon.

Favourite track: Freedom Rock
Least favourite track: Pretty much the rest of the album
Album artwork: A terrible cover that does nothing to improve things.

Perhaps not as good as the best Pixies material, but pretty damn good nonetheless.

4/5

I’m one who thinks the 90s produced the best music in history.

Not this.

It’s fine, even pretty decent, but it sounds 90s in the worst possible way. I don’t know how to explain that, but I just don’t think it aged very well. Again, it’s a totally ok album — but it isn’t greatness.

Fun album, but no way I’d go back to it over Doolittle or surfer rosa.