Bandwagonesque (1991)

For Teenage Fanclub, rock truly lives. More than most alternative records, Bandwagonesque, the Scottish quartet's second album and major-label debut, is steeped in an old-fashioned love of the music and its culture — it's a primer on rock coolness. The album delivers grunge-guitar encounters of the Neil Young kind, songs about '70s rock excess and falling in love with a female drummer, along with riffs strongly reminiscent of the Beatles and the Velvet Underground. Yet you don't have to get the references to enjoy the record. In the tradition of the Ramones and the Jesus and Mary Chain, the band piles layers of guitar fuzz and ethereal harmonies atop what is basically bubble-gummy pop, with bits of postmodern rock sarcasm for good measure (''There are things I want to do/But I don't know if they will be with you'' goes the refrain of one of the love songs). These guys may not be teenage, but they're definitely fans — and the utterly likable Bandwagonesque never lets you forget it. B