Here's why Fountains Of Wayne regret releasing "Stacy's Mom"

After passing away due to complications from the COVID-19 coronavirusFountains Of Wayne‘s Adam Schlesinger was praised by several musicians and entertainers for his accomplishments in the music industry but his bandmate Chris Collingwood is revealing some regret they had about the band’s biggest hit, “Stacy’s Mom.”

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Collingwood says he attempted to dissuade his bandmates from releasing the track as it would overshadow the rest of their work.

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In the interview, Collingwood says Schlesinger was “too good of a writer” to be remembered for the novelty track.

“[Schlesinger] 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,” says Collingwood.

Further in the interview, the musician says he’s disappointed Schlesinger’s obituaries will be highlighting this as his big career moment.

“I tried to talk him out of “Stacy’s Mom.” 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. 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.”

Beyond the smash hit track, Schlesinger did accomplish a lot in the music world.

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He was also a prolific songwriter, having won three Emmy’s and a Grammy for his work in film and theater. 

His music has also appeared in films such as There’s Something About Mary, Because Of Winn-Dixie, Scary Movie and more.  

As a producer, Schlesinger had worked with the likes of Dashboard ConfessionalMotion City Soundtrack and They Might Be Giants

He was also nominated for numerous Tony Awards as well as a 1997 Oscar nomination. The Oscar nomination came for co-writing the theme song for the Tom Hanks-directed film That Thing You Do!. This was one of his earliest musical successes following Fountains Of Wayne. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe at that time.

Collingwood also says he knew the song would be a hit. He further expresses frustrations that the band’s Britney Spears cover was held up as a single instead of their original songs.

“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. We had done a version of “…Baby One More Time” because we needed a B-side for something, and our label at the time took it to radio and tried to make it a single. I was like, “What? We wrote a bunch of songs, what about those?” Literally any other band in the world could have recorded that Britney Spears song. Then some other bands did. Probably had the same fight with their label.”

“It’s like being able to tell a really good story — like “Fire Island,” which he wrote for that album — but deciding instead to tell a joke and jump off stage. He deserves to be remembered for more than a punch line.”

What do you think of the Fountains Of Wayne member’s comments about “Stacy’s Mom”? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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