My Top 1000 Songs #328: Star Sign

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

When Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque came out in 1991, it was all I could talk about. Here was some Big Star-styled chiming power pop, with the harmonies and hooks and jangle intact, but given a fresh coating of fizzy distortion, a post-punk reinterpretation of early 70s feel-good vibes. "Star Sign" was the song that roped me in, hum-along melodies and joyous harmonizing and some sticky wording you find yourself muttering after the song has faded. "Seen it all before... given time these things will change."

The band has continued recording great music for 30 years and counting, gradually sanding off the distortion; plenty of great songs, but there's something magical about that first impression.

Live 2000:

Acoustic version (audio only), 1995:

From Benjamin Gibbard's (Death Cab For Cutie) tribute to Bandwagonesque: