Not quite a case of teenage kicks
Fountains of Wayne are not your archetypal whiskey band. And, says Lew Guthrie III, they’re all the better for it
If youâve been reading this music page for the last three issues or so youâve probably spotted a trend. Lots of songs about sad lonely guys sitting in depressing bars crying in to their whiskey, reminiscing over what might have been and dreaming fruitlessly of making a fresh start.
And as Hunter might have put, thatâs all too damn serious! Only with expletives.
So hereâs a surprise: a band who sing about whiskey a lot and are having loads of fun with it.
First things first in these days of responsible drinking, they might sound like a bunch of teenagers but they are all of legal drinking age.
This is important because on the classic Welcome Interstate Managers album the two words that leap out at you are âteenagersâ and âAmericanâ. The youthful image was enhanced by the very clever and very catchy Stacyâs Mom, in which our heroes ask Stacy to invite them over so they can fantasise over her mother. After school.
Great stuff, of course, but weâre here for the whiskey â and thereâs lots of it once you get past the opening track, which happens to be called Mexican Wine.
What we have here are two songwriters â Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger â who have identified that whisky and whiskey are both the perfect lubricants to deal with having to become proper and responsible adults. This is brave stuff for an American band in an era when hard liquor is frowned upon.
And frankly Fountains of Wayne just donât care.
Take track two, for instance.....
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By Lew Guthrie III
Section : Whisky and Music
Page number : 25
