I can sum up my favorite musical genre in two words. Power Pop. I like a few chords, hand claps, sing-along choruses and layered vocal. Power Pop provides me with all these things wrapped up in a glossy package of sunshine.
Fountains of Wayne are among the best of the modern Power Poppers. They craft pop gems that are insanely catchy and infectious. The band is primarily Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, two pals who met in college, played together, separated and eventually reformed in the mid-90s to bring us FoW. Collingwood has some ties to MA as he was in the Mercy Buckets in Boston. I have no idea who they are…
FoW came to my attention in 1996 with their first single “Radiation Vibe”; most likely via Alternative Nation on MTV and/or WHFS. I immediately picked up their self-titled debut and have been a fan ever since. Even if you think you don;t know the band chances are you do. Their biggest hit “Stacy’s Mom” most likely led people to believe that FoW were one-hit-wonders but their catalog begs to differ. If, somehow, you never heard that maybe you saw That Thing You Do. If so you heard Adam’s work in the song of the same title. It got him an Oscar nomination.
Picking my 3 favorite FoW tunes feels like picking my favorite child (even though I have none). It was tough but I went with the 3 that resonated with me for one reason or another.
Radiation Vibe – How could I not pick the song that made me fall in love with the band in the first place? Vibe has that great guitar riff to kick things off, a great chorus and that great moment of distortion before kicking in. This song is a must for any summer mix-tape. Or mix cd. Or mp3 playlist. Whatever you kids call it these days…
Red Dragon Tattoo – A song about one man’s dedication to earning a lady’s affection by getting a bitchin’ tattoo. While some us might not have gone to this extreme I feel that anyone can relate to desperately trying to garner the attention of your object of desire.
Someone To Love – From their last record (2007) this is a song for those of us who are (or were) owned by our jobs and are (were) struggling to find someone at the same time. When you are getting your career started it can be hard to find the time to foster new relationships and even harder to take them to an intimate level. Sometimes fate intervenes but you just miss it.
#1 – Survival Car