Favorite Albums: 2000-2004
36. Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia
Original position in my Stylus ballot: n/a
Though I was into these poser jerks from the second they hit 120 Minutes with “TV Theme Song” and thrilled at the promotional push for Come Down in high school (there were radio ads! In central PA!), I stand with the poser jerk consensus that the Dandys peaked with this third album, which made something of the “more of the same” vibe by solidifying their game in all markets - to the delight of young alt-rock fans who didn’t care how silly their Exploding Plastic Inevitable Y2K Sponsored By Norelco shtick was.
Not that their improvement was obvious. Rather than gradually descending into clothing-store psychedelia after the would-be hits, Thirteen kicks off with three five-minute-plus chunks to scare off the wary, just as the video for “Godless” scared off those who fear skinny men wearing vests and hair products. Goofy faux-country novelty numbers follow - including the theme for Undeclared (these guys got a lot of TV theme work) - and we’re in the last quarter before finally getting around to “Bohemian Like You”. Despite the bold pacing, advertising execs got behind this rather than self-respecting hipsters. But as under-21ers who didn’t know better became older hipsters themselves, the Dandys’ pro hooks earned some retroactive respect; reviews of recent albums imply the band used to be good.
