Album: Bandwagonesque
Year: 1991
. . .
The opening track of Spin’s album of the year for 1991 — a choice that was so ludicrous and so right at the same time — was an instant classic tongue-in-cheek bit of metaness (metatude?) that had the second most instantly iconic opening moment of any record released at that insanely great moment for rock and roll.
There’s a guitar squealing, not quite in or out of tune, and then you hear Norman Blake intone one of the most immortal couplets ever to start any record.
She wears denim wherever she goes
Says she’s gonna get some records by the Status Quo
Oh yeah
On yeah
In the U.S., Status Quo is quintessential one-hit wonder, said hit being “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” which peaked at #12 in 1968. But in the U.K., they were far from one-hit wonders, with their singles consistently making the U.K. top ten as late as 1990. Not even punk could stop them, as 1977’s “Rockin All Over The World,” made #3, and their Wikipedia page claims that they have had more chart hits than any other band — more than 60! — and that they’ve sold 118 million albums worldwide. Which, to be honest, is probably 117 million more than Teenage Fanclub have sold.
As for your humble correspondent, I bought their first live album — helpfully called Live! — hoping to get some of the some hit I got from Foghat’s Live! album, but no go, and really only think about them when I hear this song. Which, honestly, over the last 30 years, is a lot. Because I fucking love love love this record. Have I mentioned that yet?
This is all a roundabout way of saying that the Status Quo reference might not have been as snarky as their U.S. audience — who were familiar with “Pictures of Matchstick Men” primarily via the Camper Van Beethoven cover a couple of years prior (and speaking of which, Teenage Fanclub & CVB also both covered “Interstellar Overdrive”) — definitely took it.
In any event, the first half of the song centers around what might be described as a Indie Pixie Dream Girl, who Blake clearly admires:
Still, she won’t be forced against her will
Says she don’t do drugs, but she does the pill
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
This leads directly into the chorus, where the first thing you notice is that Teenage Fanclub sing well together. Like really well together, as the harmonies from bassist Gerald Love and guitarist Raymond McGinley are utterly exquisite, especially because they’re happening over fuzzed-out guitars. Either they realized that they could sing or they stopped hiding the fact they could sing, and the way they all hold out “ooooooooo yeahh” kills me every time.
I didn’t want to hurt you, oh yeah
I didn’t want to hurt you, oh yeah
Also, even though the music is noisy — they famously wanted to combine Sonic Youth, Neil Young and Big Star on this record — it’s not out of control, which is definitely a concept that Blake’s protagonist digs.
Says she likes my hair ’cause it’s down my back
Says she likes the group ’cause we pull in the slack
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
When she’s at the gig, she takes her car
And she’ll drive us home if there isn’t a bar
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
After the second chorus, McGinley takes a long, lovely and noisy guitar solo, backed by Blake, while Love and drummer Brendan O’Hare pull in the slack and keep the mid-tempo Crazy Horse stomp going. But then, after one more chorus, something extraordinary happens: “The Concept” dies, and is somehow reborn as a big, slow singalong, with the only lyrics being a long, moan of “ooooooooh-ooooooooooooh-oooooooooooh.” Because that’s how you feel when you hurt an indie pixie dream girl.
And when I mean slow, I mean “Danger Bird” slow, everybody taking it down a notch or seven, tempo-wise, while Blake continues to moan with what sounds like a keyboard and what is definitely a violin accompanying him.
Eventually, the guitars come back, and McGinley takes another long, melodic solo bringing the song to it’s end, 6:00+ minutes of pure indie rock bliss, definitely whetting my appetite for more, please. One of the more interesting things about that outro is that they didn’t even bother to play it love, instead opting to end “The Concept” with a quick run through of a portion of “Satan,” the song which follows it on Bandwagonesque. Which, confusingly enough, is also what they do on the single version of “What You Do To Me.”
“The Concept” was released as a single on both sides of the pond, and made #51 on the U.K. pop charts and #12 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart.
“The Concept”
“The Concept” Official Music Video
“The Concept” Live on MTV, 1992
“The Concept” Live at Reading, 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFz_8RltNLY&t=5m0s
“The Concept” Live in Japan, 1994
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