The idiosyncratic pop duo Adam Schlesinger (b. 31 October 1967, Montclair, New Jersey, USA) and Chris Collingwood (b. 1968, Pennsylvania, USA) first met on the roof of their college dorm in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in the mid-80s. The idea to collaborate came after Collingwood showed Schlesinger the chords to an R.E.M. song. They were members of a succession of college bands, including Wooly Mammoth, Are You My Mother? and the esoterically named Three Men When Stood Side By Side Have A Wingspan Of Over 12 Feet. However, when college ended Collingwood concentrated on writing one-act plays, while his partner took a number of temporary positions. They eventually reunited in Boston, but after signing a recording contract as the Wallflowers they abandoned their claim to that name (they actually sold the rights to the name to another Wallflowers, featuring Bob Dylan's son Jakob). The proposed record never appeared.
Despite problems over freedom of contract that dogged them for three years, and their geographical separation (Collingwood was now living in New York), the pair continued to play the occasional gig under the name Pinwheel, then worked together as Ivy. By the time they finally found the time to record new songs together, Schlesinger had become co-owner of Scratchie Records with D'Arcy Wretzky and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins. Taking their new recording moniker from the name of a New Jersey gift shop, the result was 1996's self-titled collection, featuring 12 brittle songs that were occasionally arch about pop music history, but still affectionate towards it: "When we came across some total cliché, we'd immediately leap right into it. If there was a bit of the melody that sounded like the Beach Boys or Cheap Trick, or a guitar riff that sounded like Blue Öyster Cult, we immediately put it in." Little wonder the duo had adopted the mocking self-description "The grunge Everly Brothers". The first single to be extracted from the album, the irritatingly catchy "Radiation Vibe", reached the UK Top 40. The band also achieved a flurry of publicity when their song "That Thing You Do!" was included in the Tom Hanks movie of the same name, and led to them being nominated for an Oscar.
By the time Fountains Of Wayne began their European tour of 1997 they had expanded their line-up to include Brian Young of the Posies on drums and former Belltower guitarist Jody Porter. Utopia Parkway, another collection of note perfect power pop classics, was released in 1999. Similarly entertaining was 2003's beautiful Welcome Interstate Managers, featuring the sublime "Fire Island" and the US Top 40 hit "Stacy's Mom". Even the double album of b-sides and outtakes Out-Of-State-Plates contained enough gems to put many major indie pop bands to shame. Fountains Of Wayne are a glorious secret awaiting mass market discovery.
