THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

972-Fountains of Wayne-Stacy’s Mom.

2003-Number 11 single.

Best Bit-At 1.05. They say that if you want to know what you’re girlfriend will look like in 30 years time, take a look at her mother.

The Fountans of Wayne were formed in New York, New York, United States, in 1995, by Adam Schlesinger, (1967-2020) (bass, keyboards, and rhythm guitar) and Chris Collingwood (lead vocals.) The pair had first met as freshmen at ‘Williams College,’ Massachusetts, in the early 1990’s, and had both gone their separate ways, before teaming up again. After signing with ‘Atlantic Records’ they recruited Jody Porter, (guitar) and Brian Young, (drums) the quartet would remain active until 2013. After the death of Adam Schlesinger from complications from COVID-19 on April 1, 2020, the surviving members of Fountains of Wayne performed together for the first time in around seven years, as part of a charity live stream event to raise funding for the ‘New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund.’ The performance was a tribute to Adam Schlesinger, and featured the American singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten taking Schlesinger’s place on bass guitar.

The Fountains of Wayne who took their name from a ‘lawn ornament store’ in Wayne, New Jersey, that closed in 2009, released five studio Albums between 1996-2011, and 17 singles also in that same time period, there is also a compilation Album of ‘B’ sides, and previously unreleased material, which was issued as a two disc release in 2005 called ‘Out-of-State Plates.’ In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, only ‘Stacy’s Mom’ has charted, when reaching Number 21, while in the UK, they have charted on three occasions, with the other two hits being ‘Radiation Vibe,’ (1996-Number 32) and ‘I Want an Alien for Christmas’ (1997-Number 36.)

‘Stacy’s Mom’ was the first of three singles released from the Fountains of Wayne’s third studio Album ‘Welcome Interstate Managers,’ from June 2003. As with all of the bands original material it was always credited to Adam Schlesinger, and Chris Collingwood, as the pair didn’t want any arguments about what percentage of each song they wrote, although in interviews Schlesinger has claimed authorship of this one. This single and it’s parent Album was co-produced by Schlesinger, Collingwood, and Mike Denneen.

‘Stacy’s Mom’ tells the tale of an adolescent boy who has developed a huge crush on his girlfriends (Stacy) very attractive mother. Adam Schlesinger has said that part of the inspiration for the song came from a friend with whom he had grown up with who thought that his grandmother was attractive,’One of my best friends, when we were maybe 11 or 12, came to me and announced that he thought my grandmother was hot, and I said, ‘Hey, you’re stepping over the line,’ but at that point in life, I wouldn’t put it past anyone,’ Schlesinger has also said that he had the Simon & Garfunkel hit ‘Mrs Robinson’ in mind when writing the song, and musically he admits taking influence from the genres of ‘New Wave,’ and ‘Power Pop,’ he has said,’I was thinking about the ‘Cars,’ a ‘Rick Springfield’ (see also best songs 929) sort of thing.” The song ‘owes a debt’ to the ‘Cars’ ‘Just What I Needed,’ its opening guitar riff is similar.’ The ‘Cars’ frontman Ric Ocasek (1944-2019) thought that the intro was a sample from ‘Just What I Needed,’ but Schlesinger says they performed it in the studio and just ‘Got it right.’

‘Stacy’s Mom’ has a very memorable video that features the New Zealand model Rachel Hunter as the object of the adolescent boy’s desire as ‘Stacy’s mom.’ There are several references to the American Rock band the ‘Cars’ in the video, a license plate reads ‘I LOVE RIC,’ which is a reference to Rik Ocasek, and one of the boys in the opening scene has dark hair, sunglasses, and clothes, that make him look like an adolescent version of Ocasek. The final clip in the video is a re-creation of a scene from the 1982 coming of-age comedy ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High,’ where one of the that films main characters is also called ‘Stacy.’ The ‘Cars’ 1978 song ‘Moving in Stereo’ is also featured on that films soundtrack. Although the video has several light-hearted comedic moments, I personally find the video a little ‘creepy’ due to how young the boys appear, but I might just be being a prude.

‘Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn? Your mom came out with just a towel on. I could tell she liked me from the way she stared, and the way she said, “You missed a spot over there”