There are perhaps too many songs with the word ‘teenage’ in them, including such notables as Bowie’s Teenage Wildlife, T-Rex’s Teenage Dream, Teenage Rampage (Sweet), The Ramones’ Teenage Lobotomy and of course The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks.
So in that sense it is a dangerous game to play, some folk may feel we’ve had enough of teenagers.
But to be fair to Swedish duo Kite they nailed it with this song, ‘Teenage Bliss’. It’s built around a memorable central synth riff, the power of which builds towards a climax that could be generated by a nuclear power plant.
The PR mentions bands like Chairlift and Superorganism, neither of which I know much about and also New Order, of which I do. I thought the analogy might be laughable but it isn’t. The bass line for sure has Peter Hook written all over it, along with the chord structure in the keys. There is a distinct 1990s feel to it and I would say there are some elements of Erasure in there as well.
The lyrics are quite cute, too. “Teenage Bliss, Life is not like a first kiss; it’s a war.”
They have a lean approach to song writing – a methodology of ‘cut the fat’ - and it is evident here. There is no bridge, it just progresses relentlessly towards the end.
Kite is made up of singer Nicklas Stenemo and keyboard player Christian Berg.