I had read earlier Adam was put into a medical coma because he was one of the unlucky few to come down with the full-blown illness caused by CV-19. It totally sucks he passed away. He was such a talented guy.
When Fountains of Wayne debuted in 1996, I was completely hooked and shocked that 101X played “Radiation Vibe”! Rarely did this station air anything good when they opened the floodgates to allow Metallica into rotation. (For the record, I like Metallica’s earlier work but it doesn’t have a place on “Alternative” stations, they pair better with AOR.) I remember the plugs for his work on Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do! Afterwards, I was usually alert to finding his name on other works.
- Josie & the Pussycats soundtrack
- Mink Car by They Might be Giants – “It’s So Loud In Here” single
- Tinted Windows – a “Supergroup” with him on bass, James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) on guitar, Taylor Hanson (yes, the “Mmm Bop!” singer) on vocals and Bun E Carlos (Cheap Trick) on drums
- The theme song to Crank Yankers
- The Great Burrito Case by Bowling for Soup – Producer
I knew he was often a go-to songwriter to craft stuff for movies and TV since he had the talent to tailor what the writers/producers were looking for. I feel dumb for never knowing about his other act Ivy; need to fix the situation by hunting down the whole catalog when Waterloo Records re-opens. Hell, he wrote one of the best Christmas songs ever made, “I Want an Alien for Christmas,” which Dr. Demento played often.
Although I never ever got to see Fountains of Wayne in a proper concert, either I was unlucky or they never came to Austin, probably a bit of both; I did have the rare opportunity to see them for a taping of Austin City Limits. My great friend Ethan was generous enough to help me get tickets.
Quick explanation on how much effort getting into ACL is.
ACL is a TV show shot in Austin obviously. But like all TV shows, tickets are free. The difficulty is getting them. Usually when an act is going to be taping, KLRU doesn’t announce this very publicly and the only times I’ve known was via KUT/KUTX mentioning, “Hey, tickets go up for grabs today at 10 AM and you have to go blah blah blah.” Few Austinites have jobs with the flexibility to take off work, get in queue and succeed. Thankfully Ethan did.
Back then, the show was still shot in its original location, the sixth floor of UT’s Communication Building (it’s now downtown at the Moody Theater). Despite having a ticket, it’s first-come, first-in until the studio floor/seats are filled. Ethan also saved us seats so we didn’t have to be on the floor and get caught on tape rocking out.
What a show! I wish concerts had the bands play at the more audible level FoW did. I’ve never been a fan of being deafened.
FoW did mostly stuff from their current album Welcome Interstate Managers with a little from their previous two. They perform for roughly over an hour. At the time, “Stacy’s Mom” was being played to death on the radio, including Top 40. So when the director asked them to perform it again (like another take), I could hear Adam and Chris (lead singer) roll their eyes from as far back to where I was sitting, imagining them thinking, “This is not the song I want on my tombstone!”
I was pretty excited to finally see the finished episode on TV. Unfortunately, KLRU trimmed it down to 30 minutes to pair the hour with Jason Mraz (ugh!). Well, at justify I saw the unedited experience. Thanks again Ethan!!!
Adam, I’m distraught to see you pass too soon and I will lament all the great work you had in the pipe and were going to do! Thanks for everything. Based upon the phenomenal outpouring of your peers, Tom Hanks and comedians, you touched numerous lives besides mine with your incredible music. Namely my personal fave, “All Kinds of Time,” which I argue is the greatest example of your talent. Getting a song to re-enact a football game in slow motion as the QB’s mind is racing. I could just visualize that scene perfectly.