The King (Teenage Fanclub album)

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox album

| name = The King

| type = Album

| artist = Teenage Fanclub

| cover = thekingfanclubalbum.jpg

| alt =

| released = 27 August 1991[http://folk.uio.no/terjelyn/albums/theking.htm Teenage Fanclub Discography]

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Alternative rock

| length = 32:38

| label = Creation

| producer = Don Fleming, Paul Chisholm, Teenage Fanclub

| prev_title = A Catholic Education

| prev_year = 1990

| next_title = Bandwagonesque

| next_year = 1991

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|last1=Larkin|first1=Colin|date= 2011|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Concise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&q=teenage+fanclub+paperhouse&pg=RA12-PA1963 |publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9780857125958|accessdate=23 December 2018|edition=5th}}

|rev2 = The Great Rock Discography

|rev2score = 4/10{{cite web|last1=Strong|first1=Martin C.|title=Teenage Fanclub Biography|url=http://thegreatrockbible.com/portfolio-item/teenage-fanclub-biography/|website=The Great Rock Bible|accessdate=23 December 2018}}

}}

The King is the second studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub, deleted on its day of release in 1991.

The album is often derided as a hastily assembled contractual obligation to US label Matador (allowing the group to sign to Geffen without penalty). In 2020, Matador co-owner Gerard Cosloy confirms that The King was pitched to the label as the second release, but passed, saying it felt more like a contractual obligation fulfillment than a real album.{{Cite news |last=Davidson |first=Eric |date=June 3, 2020 |title=Critical Mass: A Catholic Education at 30 |work=Rock & Roll Globe |url=https://rockandrollglobe.com/indie-rock/critical-mass-a-catholic-education-at-30/ |access-date=October 21, 2022}} However the group have denied this, claiming that the shambolic, spontaneous nature of the contents was a direct influence of producer Don Fleming, whose music was often improvised. "One night we all got completely wasted. ... and we said, "Let’s make a LP overnight. We’ll just improvise some songs and do some covers and cobble it all together", Norman Blake said in 2016.{{cite web|last=Lindsay |first=Cam |url=https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/bnmw3v/rank-your-records-teenage-fanclub-norman-blake |title=Rank Your Records: Norman Blake Merrily Rates the Ten Teenage Fanclub Albums |publisher=Noisey.vice.com |date= 6 September 2016|accessdate=23 December 2018}} In a 2006 interview, Blake and Brendan O'Hare confirmed that the album had been recorded immediately after completing Bandwagonesque using pre-booked studio time that became available when the aforementioned album was finished sooner than anticipated. They also claimed that the album was intended to be a mid-price edition of 1,000 but their then UK label Creation Records pressed 20,000 and sold them at full price {{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}.

The album was rereleased on vinyl for Record Store Day 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/record-store-day-2019-releases-full-list-vinyl-2455143|title = Here's the full list of Record Store Day 2019 releases|website = NME|date = 12 April 2019}}