Artist: Imperial Teen
Album: The Air The TV The Baby
Bitrate: 191kbps avg
Label: Merge Records
Genre: Rock
Size: 54.56 megs
Playtime: 0h 37min 49sec total
Rip date: 2007-06-21
Store date: 2007-09-00
Track List:
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01. Everything 3:19
02. Do It Better 3:30
03. Shim Sham 2:56
04. Baby and The Band 3:12
05. One Two 2:28
06. Room With A View 4:08
07. It's Now 2:47
08. Fallen Idol 3:35
09. Sweet Potato 2:27
10. Everyone Wants To Know 3:17
11. 21st Century 2:50
12. What You Do 3:20
Release Notes:
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The band first gained notice with their debut album, Seasick, in 1996, which was
produced by Steve McDonald (Redd Kross). Spin Magazine went on to list it as the
4th best album of the year, and in the top 50 albums of all time. Of the "queer
alt-rockers Imperial Teen",[1] one New York Times reviewer wrote that "though
every song on the album is good, the best are the ones about homosexuality
("Butch"), Kurt Cobain ("You're One"), and complete nonsense ("Imperial
Teen")".[2] "You're One" was the album's breakout single, receiving heavy radio
play on alternative stations; a promotional video was also produced for the
song.
Their sophomore album, What is Not to Love, was released in 1999, and expanded
the three-minute pop of Seasick with songs of over six minutes in length. A
Rolling Stone review of the album said that "Imperial Teen still have this turf
all to themselves, and they blast through the bubblegum riffs of "Birthday
Girl", "Year of the Tan" and "Lipstick"".[3] Its single "Yoo Hoo" appeared on
the soundtrack to "Jawbreaker", starring Rose McGowan; McGowan also appeared
alongside the band in the video for the song, which was included on the
"Jawbreaker" DVD. To add authenticity to a parody scene in "Not Another Teen
Movie", "Yoo Hoo" is heard briefly during Jaime Pressly's slow-motion entrance.
The band toured throughout these years, and their success led to opening several
dates in 1998 for Hole, who was fronted by Courtney Love, a friend and (briefly)
former Faith No More bandmate of Roddy Bottum. Imperial Teen was also slated to
be the opening act for one leg of the 1999 Marilyn Manson/Hole tour, but the
tour ended after only a few March dates when Hole dropped out and Marilyn Manson
had to postpone dates due to an ankle injury. Imperial Teen ended up headlining
a club tour instead.
A 1999 article in The Advocate said of the band, "With lyrical allusions to
wearing lipstick and male pronouns used to address love objects, Imperial Teen
serves up a gay sensibility that ordinarily surfaces only from straight bands
like Pulp or Pizzicato Five." [4] Bottum (who came out as gay in 1993) noted "I
think there's a resistance from gay artists to go that route just because it's
so predictable. But it is annoying to see bands play it as safe as they do these
days. That's why something that visually screams as loud as Marilyn Manson is
such a breath of fresh air." [4]
Due to issues with support levels and label restructuring at Universal Records,
Imperial Teen switched to Merge Records for the 2002 release of their third
album, On, which was produced by Steve McDonald (again) and Anna Waronker (of
That Dog). The lead track, "Ivanka" (which was originally released on the "Sweet
and Touching" 7") received radio play. Imperial Teen toured with The Breeders in
2002 in support of the album. On July 31, 2002, the band played a gig at
Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ, which was recorded for posterity, and released as a CD
(Live at Maxwell's) three months later.
Will Schwartz joined with Tomo Yasuda for his dance side project hey willpower.
The outfit also includes dancers Erin Rush and Justin Kelly, and released a
self-titled EP in 2005.
According to their Official website, Imperial Teen "are recording a new CD for
release on Merge Records in fall 2007". According to their MySpace, it is called
The Hair the TV the Baby and the Band. In March 2007, they played two shows at
South by Southwest.