Wednesday 09/05/07 The Teenagers @ Korova, Liverpool

If national stereotypes are to be believed then the French are a nation of lovers, The Teenagers are doing nothing to disprove this theory with their Gallic tales of lust, sex and even more lust. Despite it being a wet and windy Wednesday in Liverpool a hearty sized crowd have turned out for tonight’s gig, perhaps due mainly to the underground hype surrounding the headline act.

Taking to the stage are the three members and a CD player playing the drum parts and the odd female vocal. It’s a little but like karaoke in parts but more often than not it works. First track up is ‘Starlett Johansson’ an ode to the ‘Lost In Translation’ actress, the crowd recognising the song from the bands Myspace page immediately scream and nod along. Up next is the delightfully titled ‘**** Nicole’ a bass driven, spooky electro pop song with the repeated refrain of “You’re just 19" as well as “Here’s the party you have been waiting for, make room for the perfect whore”.

The song the crowd really go mad for however is ‘Homecoming’. Sure it’s a nice tune, catchy and quite realistic in its lyrical content - it is however pretty damn misogynistic. That goes for much of The Teenagers short set tonight. Any song that uses the line “I ****ed my American ****” is base and unintelligent. If Jet wrote it we would say they are Neanderthal knuckleheads so why is it OK for trendy French boys to do it? Lets face it - it isn’t.

Gigwise don’t want to sound like Mary Whitehouse here, The Teenagers are OK, they have good tunes and bad lyrics much like many other bands. What really rankles is the sense of going to a gig to be seen at that gig. The Teenagers make music to adjust your fringe to, music to soundtrack your Myspace photo.

Having expected to see something pretty unique tonight all this reviewer was left with was the sense that hype has once again aped talent.