My mom still has the little medallion that I received framed.
My brother got the same award the following year.
There was a kind of indulgence woven into it, Thompson says, looking back.
Frank Black.Liam Maxwell*
He decided to give the record an honorific worthy of his ambition:Teenager of the Year.
He feels his label at the time didnt know what to do with him.
Oh, my God: 30 years, Thompson, 59, sputters.
How many more years are we even going to be able to tour?
If were going to do an anniversary tour, we need to do it and lets just do it.
So Im not going to fight it.
If people see it as my grand statement, great.
Eight years ago,you said you were donewith your solo career.
Why is it now back on?I have a big family.
Ive got a lot of kids.
It felt too selfish or something as far as my family were concerned.
But now its not quite so important to bring home the bacon, if you will.
We can relax into our artistry a little more than maybe we were a few seasons ago.
Aside from the anniversary, what makesTeenager of the Yearspecial to you?
Its the big, pompous one.
Its the one we spent a little too much money on.
Its the one that we went down the rabbit hole with.
They go, Oh, yeah.
This has a deep, funky flavor thats, like, the real essence of Charles.
Ive gone back and forth between New England and California my whole life.
And this was at one of those seasons where I was living in California.
It has a lot of wildfires and earthquakes in it.
We had to stop recording at one point because of earthquakes.
I was living in Boston.
My first wife wanted to move to California.
So we go to California, even though I resisted it.
Once you accept something, then you start to get into it.
That whole state is just full of stuff: people and history and long roads.
And I was in a space where I was really accepting it.
I had my big old Cadillac out there.
I lived in L.A., and I just hung out.
I could stay up as late as I wanted.
If I wanted to do some fucking lame-ass reggae song, then Im going to do that.
Theres a song on there called Freedom Rock.
That really spells it out: [the album] was freedom rock.
When I read that, I was like, Yeah.
Thats exactly how it is for me, too.
I knew thats where the song had to go.
I dont know why.
With Ole Mulholland, I was worried that it sounded geeky, mostly because thinking about the libretto.
I was thinking aboutWilliam Mulholland and the water.
Who do I think I am?
I read it and enjoyed it.
The lyrics onTeenager of the Yearare all over the place.
I was coming up with lots of music, but I was going through some writers block.
We were a month deep into this record, and there are barely any words from me.
You could use them if you want.
I was like, Oh, OK. All right.
And I opened up this thing they typed up for me, and I was completely horrified.
I was just like, What?
You think Im some kind of a UFO nut weirdo?
You just kind of dumbed me down and reduced me to this cliche of myself.
I was so offended.
… Not really, but that was my visceral reaction to it.
I was just like, Oh, my God.
I wont sing a single syllable of this crap.
I was just like, Fine.
Ill be there tonight with the fucking lyrics.
I drove up into the Malibu Hills and pulled over in my car and pulled out my notebook.
Its now or never, do or die.
I was under some pressure because I was moved by my hurt feelings.
We were the first kids to playPongever in a bar in Cape Cod.
And what does the concept ofthalassocracymean to you?I had a dictionary of obscure and odd words.
I loved the word so I said, Well, that shall be the title of my next ditty.
I can do it and fuck you all.
The Pixies broke up, but its OK.
I still have something to say.
I still am valid.
It feels really embarrassing, and it feels like, No, I lost it.
We did one tour opening up for the Ramones for about six weeks.
