But What's Up With That Name?

Fountains of Wayne is now officially one of my favortite bands.

A couple of years ago, I saw the famous video for Stacy's Mom on a VH-1 Top 20 Countdown and liked the song, so i cashed in some bonus points with the CD club, figuring that even if Stacy's Mom was the only good song on the album, it was wowrth it because all i had to pay was shipping.

Well, not only is Stacy's Mom not the only good song, its not even the best song on Welcome Interstate Managers. Competing for that honor are such gems as Mexican Wine, Bright Future In Sales, Hey Julie and Peace And Love.

Later, I listened to an earlier FoW release, Utopia Parkway and that is when I became a true fan. Parkway demonstrated to me that FoW was capable of producing not just one hit single or a solitary great album, but of churning out a consistent level of high quality, clever, witty, catchy pop music song after song, album after album. What I really like about this band is how much their sound resembles the early 80's "New Wave" music that I loved in high school.

I don't know why (besides the fact that I listen almost exclusively to NPR news and talk radio) I didn't hear of these guys earlier. Now, that I have, however, I'm hooked.