That thing you did: remembering Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne

I was listening to the Tom Dunne show on Newstalk when I heard that a member of one of my favourite bands was ill.

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne had been taken to hospital with Covid-19 but was responding to treatment and, at 52 years of age, should be fine.

A couple of days later, on April 1st, 2020, he was dead. The pandemic had taken one of the most influential but less-known figures in pop music in the past 20 years.

Schlesinger was the bass player with the American power-pop band but he was much more: he also played rhythm guitar, piano, drums and keyboards, and was a producer of some renown.

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But perhaps most significantly he was a writer of brilliantly perceptive and irresistibly catchy pop songs, both in collaboration with FoW frontman Chris Collingwood and others, and in his own right.

Probably the most famous song he penned is Stacy's Mom, the racy video for which features supermodel Rachel Hunter. It has had almost 140 million views on YouTube.

The band had a love-hate relationship with the hit, which provided that elusive breakthrough for FoW but became something of a millstone around their necks.

In an interview after Schlesinger’s death, Collingwood said he knew the band would be forever associated with what he described as the “novelty” hit single and not for the quality of their other songs.

“I tried to talk [Schlesinger] out of Stacy’s Mom,” Collingwood told Rolling Stone magazine. “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.”

Break-up

Despite their differences, which would eventually lead to the break-up of the band, Schlesinger seemed to agree with Collingwood on this point at least. In an interview with The Irish Times in 2003, he said: “I think what bugs us far more than if we get a negative review is if we get a positive review that terms us as a quirky, novelty comedy thing – that’s not what we’re trying to do.

“Yes, there’s humour in the songs, but calling us wacky is a turn-off. We balance humour with a sense of real emotion and we try to put songs on albums that aren’t jokey at all.”

As for the secret of his success as a songwriter, Schlesinger was less certain. “It’s an inexplicable process in a way,” he told the newspaper. “You write a few lines and they just make you smile or feel something and you know the song is okay. I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe that’s one of the best things about pop music: we shouldn’t be able to reason it all out.”

A self-confessed musical chameleon, Schlesinger wrote, co-wrote, played on and produced songs for groups such as The Monkees, indie pop band Ivy and supergroup Tinted Windows, and for film, theatre and television, including That Thing You Do!, Music and Lyrics, the Broadway musical Cry-Baby, and TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

When he died he had been collaborating with Sarah Silverman on a stage adaptation of her memoir, The Bedwetter, and he had begun working with Rachel Bloom of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on songs for a musical adaptation of the TV show The Nanny.

Schlesinger gained industry recognition for his work, winning and being nominated for numerous Emmy, Tony and Grammy awards. He was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 1997 for writing the title track of the Tom Hanks-directed That Thing You Do!.

In Fountains of Wayne, Schlesinger and Collingwood wrote songs separately, yet chose to share credits and royalties in time-honoured Lennon/McCartney fashion. It was a musical influence he readily admitted to. “I was definitely a Beatles freak as a kid, and for a long time I only listened to The Beatles,” he recalled.

Despite his prolific output, Schlesinger was relatively unknown outside of his peer group, even to fans of the bands, movies and stage shows he contributed to.

Academy

I saw FoW twice in Dublin, first in the Ambassador at Parnell Square, and then in the Academy on Abbey Street, where they were supported by Pugwash (another band with a highly underrated songwriter in Thomas Walsh).

By chance I met Schlesinger on the steps of the venue. We exchanged a few pleasantries and took a photograph – which regrettably has been lost on an ancient phone somewhere – before he disappeared to join his bandmates behind on stage.

There is a video on YouTube of a duet between FoW and Pugwash at the Academy concert of the Schlesinger-penned hit Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart. I can just about make out the back of my head as I stood in the front row. Sadly, it was to be the band's last tour. Shortly afterwards, the differences between Schlesinger and Collingwood became more pronounced and they went their separate ways.

There was to be a poignant reunion, however, when Collingwood, guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian Young, with Sharon van Etten standing in on bass, performed the Schlesinger-penned Hackensack from separate locations online in a posthumous tribute .

Fans wondering what the next FoW album would have sounded like can get some idea from Collingwood's next band, who released the eponymously titled Look Park in 2016. Although Collingwood insisted at the time that he threw out every song that sounded like it might be by FoW, Look Park features compositions that wouldn't have been out of place on the band's final release in 2011, Sky Full of Holes.

For anyone in any doubt about the depth and breadth of Schlesinger's songwriting prowess, there's a tribute covers album released soon after his death entitled Saving for a Custom Van, featuring 30 of his most memorable tracks.

Rest in peace, Adam, prolific songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. You’ve left a body of work that ensures you a place in the annals of pop music.

Scheslinger selection: From Stacy’s Mom to That Thing You Do

Fountain of Wayne:

Stacy’s Mom

Radiation Vibe

A Dip in the Ocean

Troubled Times

Hackensack

Other bands:

Without Love (Tinted Windows)

Undertow (Ivy)

Our Own World (The Monkees)

Movie soundtracks:

Way Back into Love (from Music and Lyrics)

That Thing You Do (from the movie of the same name)

Pretend to Be Nice (from Josie and the Pussycats)

Broadway shows:

I Have Faith In You (from An Act of God)

You Can’t Beat the System (from Cry-Baby)

TV series:

The Math of Love Triangles (from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)