Adam Schlesinger

Mr Schlesinger died yesterday of Covid-19 at the age of 52. The news was a gut-kick to me, because if there is a single songwriter who made my world sing over the past 25 years it was he. He amazed me with songs (usually co-written with Chris Collingwood) that were in essence tiny perfect short stories (in the vein of Ambrose Bierce or O Henry) about complete losers who somehow managed to be charming anyhow, or at least for three minutes they were.

I first heard about Fountains of Wayne from Stephen King, in an article he wrote for Entertainment Weekly. Immediately went out and bought Utopia Parkway, and within a couple of weeks of that bought everything else Fountains of Wayne had recorded to that time. And then bought everything else as it came out. I even bought Tinted Windows, the eponymous only album of the supergroup he formed with members of Cheap Trick, Smashing Pumpkins, and Hanson. Not his best work but still worth listening to.

And I'm pretty sure most of you have heard something he wrote, because the guy was a machine. His first hit record was actually a song recorded by a band that didn't exist: "That Thing You Do" by the Wonders, from the Tom Hanks movie of the same name.

He also wrote a lot of material for TV, which I've been discovering today and laughing with through the tears. "It's Not Just For Gays Anymore," for example, as sung by Neil Patrick Harris at the Tony Awards. Or the 150-odd songs he co-wrote for "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend."

Rolling Stone is a pretty good place to start if you want to learn more about this guy. Then go out and buy Fountains of Wayne albums. Welcome Interstate Managers is best, but buy them all.