The Teenagers, Reality Check

by Andre Gallant
03/17/2008

Quelle Surprise.

A band of Frenchmen are making fun of the United States and our vacuous youth-driven culture. Luckily, they’ve remembered to shake some derriere while they’re at it.

Reality Check, the debut album from French indie group the Teenagers, arrives this March via the XL label and delivers enough three-chorded hummable electro-pop for a dozen Urban Outfitters commercials.

Their songs are thematically based around the American teenage stereotype, using “as if” vernacular and naïve sexual imagery to complete the task. The Teenagers sing about the SUV driving cheerleader who’s “really tan” and has great breasts (“Homecoming”); celebrity worship in a Wikipedia-cribbed ode (“Starlett Johansson”); and unhealthy physical and emotional habits (“Love No”).

It’s important to note that the Teenagers began as a fake band. Lead singer Quentin Delafon, guitarist Dorian Dumont and bassist Michael Szpiner wrote songs based on jokey lyrics posted on a Myspace page written purely to elicit responses from visitors.

And this history defines the band: the comic conceit tends to override creative songwriting.

The songs rarely stray from a verse-chorus-structure and they keep the arrangements strict, relying on upbeat dance-ability to keep the listener’s attention. Vocal harmonies are unnoticeable if not absent, the lyrics are often spoken to exaggerate the French pronunciation of English words and the music doesn’t attempt to outdo any of the song’s central jokes.

The mockery works best in “French Kiss,” a love song describing all the ways a young man is going to steal smooches from his beau. “It’s only that ‘nobody puts baby in the corner’ moment,” Delafon sings while watching “Dirty Dancing” on his date. “Perfect timing for a French kiss.”

Reality Check is most successful with serious songs like “Streets of Paris,” a galloping disco-punk tale of late night urban exploration with faces covered by kitten masks. The protagonists’ promenade becomes a foot chase when they come upon a group of Nike wearing thug types.

Ultimately, and like adolescence itself, Reality Check is about having a good time, and what the Teenagers mock is exactly what makes them listenable: the youthful ability to dance all night long, gleefully unaware of the impending responsibilities of adulthood.

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