Adam Schlesinger (1967 - 2020)
Apr. 4th, 2020 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cjlasky7One of the sadder stories of this pandemic was the premature death of musician Adam Schlesinger from coronavirus complications at the age of 52.
Schlesinger was not what you would call a superstar. Schlesinger and his band, Fountains of Wayne, entered the general pop music consciousness only once, when "Stacy's Mom"--a power pop earworm about misplaced adolescent lust--scraped the top 20.
But Schlesinger and Fountains of Wayne were so much more than "Stacy's Mom." Their specialty was the three or four-minute story-song about the ordinary lives of average people in American suburbia: the young quarterback living his peak moment in the big game ("All Kinds of Time"); bored kids drifting through the "Valley of Malls" or driving out to the "Laser Show"; and the girls and the places left behind in the dim glow of memory. The title of their third album--"Welcome Interstate Managers"--tells you everything you need to know about their subject matter and audience.
Schlesinger, though, might have been an even bigger influence behind the scenes. He wrote the title song of the Tom Hanks-directed "That Thing You Do!"; contributed to the sound track for the sadly underappreciated Josie and the Pussycats movie in 2001; wrote songs for classic rock legends America and the Monkees; and--most impressive of all--produced and wrote (or co-wrote) the music and lyrics for every song for the TV series "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." (He won two Emmys for CxG.)
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I only saw Fountains of Wayne once, for their Welcome Interstate Managers tour. To be honest, they didn't bowl me over as a live act. But when they used "Radiation Vibe" (from their first album) as a launching pad for a medley of their favorite rock and pop tunes, that's when they tapped into their power onstage. The medley demonstrated Schlesinger and co-founder Chris Collingwood's effortless grasp of all styles of pop music without ever losing the feelings behind the songs.
Recommended:
Fountains of Wayne, Utopia Parkway
Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers
Josie and the Pussycats (original soundtrack)
Music and Lyrics (original soundtrack)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (vol.1&2)
Schlesinger was not what you would call a superstar. Schlesinger and his band, Fountains of Wayne, entered the general pop music consciousness only once, when "Stacy's Mom"--a power pop earworm about misplaced adolescent lust--scraped the top 20.
But Schlesinger and Fountains of Wayne were so much more than "Stacy's Mom." Their specialty was the three or four-minute story-song about the ordinary lives of average people in American suburbia: the young quarterback living his peak moment in the big game ("All Kinds of Time"); bored kids drifting through the "Valley of Malls" or driving out to the "Laser Show"; and the girls and the places left behind in the dim glow of memory. The title of their third album--"Welcome Interstate Managers"--tells you everything you need to know about their subject matter and audience.
Schlesinger, though, might have been an even bigger influence behind the scenes. He wrote the title song of the Tom Hanks-directed "That Thing You Do!"; contributed to the sound track for the sadly underappreciated Josie and the Pussycats movie in 2001; wrote songs for classic rock legends America and the Monkees; and--most impressive of all--produced and wrote (or co-wrote) the music and lyrics for every song for the TV series "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." (He won two Emmys for CxG.)
**********************
I only saw Fountains of Wayne once, for their Welcome Interstate Managers tour. To be honest, they didn't bowl me over as a live act. But when they used "Radiation Vibe" (from their first album) as a launching pad for a medley of their favorite rock and pop tunes, that's when they tapped into their power onstage. The medley demonstrated Schlesinger and co-founder Chris Collingwood's effortless grasp of all styles of pop music without ever losing the feelings behind the songs.
Recommended:
Fountains of Wayne, Utopia Parkway
Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers
Josie and the Pussycats (original soundtrack)
Music and Lyrics (original soundtrack)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (vol.1&2)
