For the first half-decade plus of their existence, Fountains of Wayne were a quintessential “if you know, you know” band – critically adored architects of wry power-pop gems who flew under the commercial radar; and were perfectly fine with it.
It was almost a side outlet for co-founder and bassist Adam Schlesinger, who was one of the industry's most sought-after songwriters for screen and stage. Within months of the release of the band's self-titled 1996 debut album, Schlesinger was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for That Thing You Do!, his razor-sharp salute to Beatles-indebted '60s pop that featured prominently in the movie of the same name.
It was that incredible resumé that sprung to the mind of Fountains of Wayne co-founder and guitarist Chris Collingwood when Schlesinger brought him the song that would become his, and the band's, calling card, Stacy's Mom.
It's probably stuck in your head now. You may very well be cursing me for that. Good luck getting it out!
Led off by an unforgettable refrain, with a bone-simple, under-your-skin riff so Cars-esque that Ric Ocasek thought it was a straight-up sample of Just What I Needed, Stacy's Mom – for the uninitiated – is the first-person tale of a teenage boy who's disinterested in his classmate, and lusts instead after her single mother. It was boundary pushing enough to be an immediate attention-grabber, but not so risqué as to offend mainstream radio, which immediately grabbed hold of it.
The lead single from the band's third album, 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers, it was destined to be a hit. Though it didn't burn up the charts, per se – it just missed the Billboard Top 20 – Stacy's Mom heralded a new era upon its release. Aggro was (sort of) on its way out, the guitar music that would blast out of suburban mall speakers would become snooty, taught, and sharp again. And in the minds of many, the song would be Fountains of Wayne's only lasting contribution to the world.
Collingwood saw the one-hit wonder status coming, and tried in vain to stop it.
“I tried to talk him out of Stacy’s Mom,” the guitarist told Rolling Stone in 2020, shortly after Schlesinger's death. “I could see exactly what was going to happen, and when it started happening in slow motion it just felt inevitable.
“He was too good a writer to have that be his calling card, and the success of a novelty song means that’s just what you are to the public, from that moment on forever. It’s sad to me that people reading his obituary will all know that song, and only a very tiny percentage of them will ever hear I-95 or The Girl I Can’t Forget.
“I was reluctant to [record] it at all, but in the moment you don’t want to kill the session by not being a good sport,” he continued. “There were other things we did, kind of joking around, that we would put out as a B-side or whatever. When it was done, I didn’t think it belonged on the album. Even on a record that was stylistically all over the place, that song didn’t fit in. It sounded like a different band.
“I knew it would be a single, and I knew it would be a hit, and everyone else knew it, too. But I was the only one who didn’t think a novelty hit was a good thing.”
Fountains of Wayne indeed never came close to matching the success of Stacy’s Mom before their dissolution in 2013, though they never really tried to – their two post-Welcome Interstate Managers albums were as idiosyncratic as ever, going self-consciously against pop-rock trends if anything.
If this writer may preach for a moment, the inclusion of Fountains of Wayne amongst the ranks of one-hit-wonders is absolutely tragic. Interstate Managers in particular is about as good as guitar-driven power pop has gotten in the 21st century – earworm riffs, melodies, and choruses, one after the other.
If you're only familiar with them through Stacy's Mom, bump up that small percentage of people, as referenced by Collingwood, who know more of the band's work – you'll receive a masterclass in songwriting.
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