Fountains of Wayne
Adam Schlesinger wrote "Stacy's Mom" in about five minutes. His bandmate Chris Collingwood actively tried to stop him from including it on the album, correctly predicting it would become a novelty hit that overshadowed everything else Fountains of Wayne would ever make. Despite peaking at only number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song became a cultural fixture the band never fully escaped. The original inspiration: when Schlesinger was twelve, his best friend told him his grandmother was attractive.
In our deep dive into Stacy's Mom, we trace the song from a childhood observation to the novelty hit that outran its own band, and what it reveals about the gap between the song an artist wants to be known for and the one the world decides for them.
