A debut guest posting by Marc Goldstein
Fountains of Wayne were a New York band, but not Frank Sinatra’s “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere” New York, nor Lou Reed’s “Hey white boy, what you doing uptown?” New York. Not the New York of CBGB or Birdland or Gerde’s Folk City. Theirs was the New York of the bridge and tunnel crowd: those who live in the outer boroughs, and Long Island, and New Jersey. Their songs were populated by hustlers and strivers and young guys on the make, but also by the lonely, the bored, the frustrated, stuck in a dead-end job or a long-distance relationship or just stuck in New York traffic.
If you’re thinking that’s encroaching on Springsteen territory, it really isn’t: FoW had no sprawling 9-minute epics like Jungleland, or rousing anthems like Badlands. They specialized in 3-4 minute vignettes about the real lives of recognizable types of people, with humor and catchy melodies, and in that respect somewhat resemble the Kinks, even though their music doesn’t sound at all like the Kinks. I’ve been a fan since the beginning: track 1 of the debut album. And I would start the ICA with that one (Radiation Vibe) except that JC just recently featured it here, so I get to use my 10 precious slots for other songs. I’ll go in chronological order.
At the beginning, FoW was just college friends Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger. Their self-titled debut album came out in 1996. It was not a happy time for me, as I was working insane hours in a small law office for a boss who – true story – sued his own mother. You can imagine how he treated his employees. Listening to FoW was one of the rare bright spots in my life that year.
A plea to a beautiful woman in a bar to ditch the Neanderthal she’s with, a sentiment to which many guys can relate. (See also “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” by Joe Jackson.)
FoW’s second album, Utopia Parkway, came out in 1999, by which time I had moved on to a much better job, at the company where I still work today. The band was now a proper four-piece, with the addition of Jody Porter and Brian Young. For me, the standout tracks are
2. Red Dragon Tattoo
3. Denise
In the former, our narrator is about to get the titular tattoo, in an effort to impress a girl who hasn’t previously shown any interest. One gets the distinct impression that he will not be successful. The latter song became famous due to the perfectly-placed handclap/snare crack, right after the line “she’s got a heart made of gravel.” Or more likely due to the video, starring Jolene Blalock in a car wash.
2003 brought FoW’s breakthrough album, Welcome Interstate Managers. I was living in Tokyo at that point and observing their success from afar, but I was aware that Stacy’s Mom was a hit back in the States. If someone has heard only one FoW song, it’s probably that one, so I’m not going to feature it here.
4. Bright Future In Sales
5. Mexican Wine
Bright Future in Sales is about a young guy who could have what the title promises – if he can only get his drinking under control. (Warning: this one contains a naughty word, in case you or someone within earshot is easily offended.) The narrator of Mexican Wine, on the other hand, has given up on trying to better himself: “I tried to change but I changed my mind/Think I’ll have another glass of Mexican wine.”
The proper follow-up to Welcome Interstate Managers wouldn’t arrive for another couple of years, but in 2005 the band released a compilation of b-sides and rarities called Out-of-State Plates. Along with the various gathered tracks there were two new songs, both of which are power-pop gems.
6. Maureen
7. The Girl I Can’t Forget
The titular Maureen has placed our narrator firmly in the friend zone. Either because she’s clueless about his feelings for her, or maybe because she’s well aware of them and likes toying with him, she gives him too much information about the guys she’s dating, and he has had just about enough. The narrator of The Girl I Can’t Forget, on the other hand, gets the girl – but he’ll be damned if he can remember anything about the night it happened.
The band’s next studio album, Traffic and Weather, was released in 2007. It opens with a banger:-
It’s about two lonely Brooklynites, Seth and Beth. The chorus leads us to believe the two will find each other, but those hopes are cruelly dashed in the last verse.
Meanwhile,
9. New Routine
acknowledges that it’s not just New Yorkers who get sick of the same old same-old and think there must be something more exciting out there somewhere.
The band’s swan song, Sky Full of Holes, arrived in 2011. It’s the FoW album I’ve listened to the least, and I was really surprised to learn it was actually their highest-charting album in the US. It’s not that any of the songs are bad, but none of them stuck with me the way so many of their earlier songs did. But maybe it’s just me: when this one came out, I was back in the US, recently married, searching for a house with a baby on the way, and just wasn’t going to spend as much time with a new record as I once would have. Cemetery Guns is Fountains of Wayne in a more serious vein, and a nice way to close out their final record.
10. Cemetery Guns
Chris and Adam were not getting along when this album was recorded, and FoW called it quits not long after. Sadly, any hope of a proper reunion was lost when Schlesinger became an early casualty of COVID, dying in April 2020 at only 52.
Like many bands, FoW had a few “go-to” stylistic elements that they frequently used over their career. Alt-country smartass Robbie Fulks (who deserves his own ICA) took notice, and dreamed up the Fountains of Wayne Hotline, a telephone helpline dispensing songwriting tips. The perfect bonus track to close out this ICA on a happy note.
Robbie Fulks – Fountains Of Wayne Hotline
Marc
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 