Adam and Fountains of Wayne were so huge to me. My old drummer Jason Vick turned me on to their first album when it came out in 1996. We had just played a gig in the desert and we stayed up all night in his VW van playing it over and over, marveling at how good the songs were and singing along all night. That first album was perfect and the follow up was pretty much just as good, if not better.
He went on to write the title track to That Thing You Do! Which instantly became one of my all time favorite songs and movies. I've watched it many times over the years (especially the new extended edition that adds 40 minutes) - I knew he was sick and watched it again last night, trying to send out positive vibes...
The video below isn’t my best performance, but it’s the song that hooked me on the band the first time I heard it. It's called Barbara H. I used to play Leave the Biker in my acoustic set a lot in the 90’s, but I’ve never tried this one before. I recorded it in my garage today when I heard the news.
That F# gets me every time.
If you think FOW were just about Stacy’s Mom, I implore you to dig deeper. A generation of songwriters just lost a true hero.
Ps My wife and I almost accidentally ran down his guitar player when he was jaywalking at Viejas before their gig with Squeeze about 10 years ago. Good times.
Adam Schlesinger - Rest in Paradise. I never knew you, but you were a fucking legend.
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