Chris Collingwood says he always worried Fountains Of Wayne would be associated with hit tune ‘Stacy’s Mom’, a song he calls a “novelty” and a “punch line”.
Speaking with Rolling Stone following the passing of bandmate Adam Schlesinger at 52 due to complications from COVID-19, Collingwood admitted he harbors regret over releasing the single, despite how successful it became.
He says he actually tried to talk the rest of the band out of releasing the song, and that he was reluctant to even go ahead and record ‘Stacy’s Mom’ at all.
“I could see exactly what was going to happen, and when it started happening in slow motion it just felt inevitable,” Collingwood explained. “He was too good a writer to have that be his calling card, and the success of a novelty song means that’s just what you are to the public, from that moment on forever.”
“It’s sad to me that people reading his obituary will all know that song, and only a very tiny percentage of them will ever hear ‘I-95’ or ‘The Girl I Can’t Forget.’”
Watch ‘Stacy’s Mom’ by Fountains Of Wayne:
Collingwood went on to reveal he strongly felt the single didn’t fit with the rest of the record, or even very well within the discography of Fountains Of Wayne.
“When it was done, I didn’t think it belonged on the album. Even on a record that was stylistically all over the place, that song didn’t fit in. It sounded like a different band,” he said. “I knew it would be a single, and I knew it would be a hit, and everyone else knew it too. But I was the only one who didn’t think a novelty hit was a good thing.”
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
His predictions came true when, despite only recording ‘Stacy’s Mom’ as a “b-side or something”, their music label took the single to radio. “I was like, “What? We wrote a bunch of songs, what about those?”
“Literally any other band in the world could have recorded that Britney Spears song. Then some other bands did. Probably had the same fight with their label.”
Check out ‘The Girl I Can’t Forget’ by Fountains Of Wayne:
