Earlier this week, I posted a Robbie Fulks song over at Star Maker Machine. In the comments of that post, I was reminded about another Robbie Fulks song that I hadn’t listened to in a while… “Fountains of Wayne Hotline.”
Robbie Fulks: Fountains of Wayne Hotline (Buy Single)
This week’s theme at Star Maker Machine is “The Music Biz,” and this song certainly deals with one aspect of the biz… how to write a hit. In this song, Fulks plays a struggling songwriter who must call on the help of experienced professionals to pen his first hit. When he runs into trouble, he calls on the Fountains of Wayne Hotline.
Fountains of Wayne is a power-pop band from New York with a penchant for putting together the perfect pop song. I’ll admit to being largely unfamiliar with their work. My wife, however, had one of their albums on our itunes. After listening to the Robbie Fulks song offered above, I decided to give their album a shot to see if Mr. Fulks was accurate in his assessment of their style.
What I heard was a lot of hooks and some damn catchy pop songs. It seems that Fountains of Wayne have found a formula… and it works. Why mess with that?
Here is a track from Fountains of Wayne’s 2003 album Welcome Interstate Managers that shows off the dynamic shifts and slightly distorted melodic guitar solos that helped the band make their name. You’ll notice that Robbie Fulks referenced this exact song in “Fountains of Wayne Hotline.”
A Fifty Cent Lighter and a Whiskey Buzz 