''My Way or the Highway'' is an album by the American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Tuscadero Tuscadero was an American indie rock band from Washington, D.C., one of the most prominent on the TeenBeat Records roster. Biography Melissa Farris and Margaret McCartney met while working at the Zig Zag Cafe in Washington, D.C. They founded Tus ...

, released in 1998. The first single was "Paper Dolls". The band supported the album with a North American tour.

Production

The album was produced by Keith Cleversley. Tuscadero devoted more time to constructing the songs, while also attempting to avoid creating an overly slick record. Guitar players Melissa Farris and Margaret McCartney employed fuzz tones on the album and also made use of technically inferior, "trashy" sound equipment. "Tickled Pink" is about binge drinking.

Critical reception

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' thought that "the band's appeal does get lost in the ornate production of a few of these tracks, notably the over-orchestrated 'Dr. Doom' and the anti-super model 'Paper Dolls', which rides its funky sax sound to the six-minute mark."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

praised the "songcraft as end-in-itself." ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' noted that the album "abandons some of the kitsch of its previous effort for stern, often angry lyrics." ''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is the daily newspaper for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. Tulsa World Media Company is part of Lee Enterprises. The new owners announced in January 202 ...

'' called the album "fun, gritty pop," noting Farris's "reverence for the Pretenders/Blondie ethos." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' opined that "sonic departures like the slinky antifashion anthem 'Paper Dolls' and the flamboyantly James Bondish 'Dr. Doom' neatly transcend alt-guitar-rock limitations." The ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'' wrote: "Meaty hooks and solid crunch back up songs that mostly pick on campus rock-band preptiles who overindulge in, um, passably clever pop-cultural strip mining."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that the "heady concoction of fizzy pop hooks, teen melodrama, slamming punk, and misfit glee makes ''My Way or the Highway'' an intoxicating punk-pop rush."

Track listing

References

{{authority control 1998 albums Tuscadero albums Elektra Records albums