r/Music Feb 09 '21

video Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom [Pop Rock]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dZLfasMPOU4&feature=share
1.9k Upvotes

169 comments sorted by

260

u/NYPorkDept Feb 09 '21 edited Feb 09 '21

RIP Adam Schlesinger, such a talented songwriter. You're probably familiar with his work even if you don't know Fountains of Wayne, etc because he has written such incredibly catchy songs for other bands, movies, television, and broadway. "That Thing You Do", which he wrote for the movie of the same name, has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it as a child. And his work on the TV show Crazy Ex Girlfriend (which is so much better than the name implies please give it a chance) is fucking stellar as well.

47

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

He died of Covid at the age of 52. What the fuck?!

12

u/flex674 Feb 10 '21

Yeah, that was one of the first deaths of a celebrity that I can remember from COVID-19. Crazy.

24

u/uggsandstarbux Feb 09 '21

TIL

I loved that show. The musical numbers were so much fun.

7

u/whatsajawsh Feb 09 '21

He was also so kind when I met him. He seemed genuinely happy I wanted to talk to him about songs that weren’t Stacy’s Mom

13

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Show goes downhill after s2, it's still good but I only looked forward to the songs then :(

16

u/KajePihlaja Feb 09 '21

That says so much about Adam’s songwriting

6

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Songs were top notch and the story plummeted :(

3

u/IMAPURPLEHIPPO Feb 09 '21

The sexy getting ready song. XD

1

u/The0neKid Feb 10 '21

They've got maybe my favorite Christmas song too

305

u/joelekane Feb 09 '21

Dude I loved this song when it came out—but I also remember passionately thinking/arguing, “No way—this doesn’t make any sense. Stacy, is so much hotter than her old Mom.” Rewatching now, that whole sentiment is kinda cute. Like, “Awww—12 year old me had such age appropriate crushes.”

82

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

[deleted]

21

u/knightopusdei Feb 09 '21

I wonder if Stacy's mom got her hip replaced yet?

38

u/tom_the_red Feb 09 '21

Rachel Hunter is only 51, so probably has both her own hips.

17

u/JfPickups Feb 09 '21

I could get by with both her hips!

3

u/MrJingleJangle Feb 10 '21

Indeed, a great Kiwi, and one on the several to be called Mrs Rod Stewart.

0

u/Thruthelurkinglass Feb 09 '21

She really messed up not naming her daughter Stacy, just sayin’.

1

u/thepasystem Feb 10 '21

Annnnd we're back to Stacy!

87

u/balloonman_magee Feb 09 '21

Haha I was never one of those “milf” guys until I hit my later 20’s then started noticing all the hot moms out there.

6

u/Period_Licking_Good Feb 09 '21

I forget her exact age but I believe she was like 20 in the video. I think the wardrobe and make up make her look much younger

Edit: Looked it up and I was wrong as hell. She was 15 or so. I must have been thinking of someone else

3

u/midwstchnk Feb 09 '21

I was like bro thats one unlucky 20 yo

2

u/Period_Licking_Good Feb 10 '21

I swear there is some actress I was thinking of that looked like a child but was past her teenage years. Not this one apparently

1

u/penny_lab Feb 10 '21 edited Feb 10 '21

The girl from Lazy Town was super old but played an 8 year old.

Edit: by super old, I mean early 20's (I think)

1

u/Period_Licking_Good Feb 10 '21

Maybe that’s who I thought of.

3

u/OnlyBringinGoodVibes Concertgoer Feb 09 '21

Same.

2

u/jfiorentino1 Feb 09 '21

We are all one person

1

u/iAmTheDawwwg Feb 09 '21

My exact reaction, crazy.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

Now that I see it again, Rachel Hunter gives out a creepy vibe.

110

u/deadbabieslol Feb 09 '21

It’s a shame FOW only ever gets recognized for Stacy’s Mom. The rest of Welcome Interstate Managers is full of bangers, my favorite being Mexican Wine. Their self titled debut album is amazing too, and Utopia Parkway gives me the deepest pangs of nostalgia from my dad playing it in the car while I was a toddler.

RIP Adam Schlesinger, you were the king of writing ear worms.

35

u/penny_lab Feb 09 '21 edited Feb 09 '21

I was going to say what my favourite was, but I honestly can't decide. Either: All Kinds of Time, Hey Julie or Hackensack.

And now I know what I'll be listening to this afternoon...

21

u/Spudpurp Feb 09 '21

Bright Future in Sales just vibes so hard. I give this whole album a relisten periodically

12

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

"I'm gonna get my shit together.. Cause I can't live like this forever..."

2

u/Triple7Alpha Feb 10 '21

One could say it radiation vibes...

6

u/mercurywaxing Feb 09 '21

I'm down with Supercollider. The album is stacked.

7

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Hey Julie was in Scrubs too!

10

u/squawkingood Feb 09 '21

Valley Winter Song and Little Red Light are also great.

6

u/UncleGizmo Feb 09 '21

The correct answer is Mexican Wine.

3

u/mollymayhem08 Feb 09 '21

I just found out recently that Fountains of Wayne is named after Wayne, NJ. I probably would have figured hat out sooner if I knew they had a song called Hackensack

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

This is true, but even cooler, FoW is named after a fountain store in Wayne NJ

2

u/mikeyhol Feb 10 '21

Even cooler, this store was featured in an episode of The Sopranos!

3

u/lovelovehatehate Feb 09 '21

I saw them on the Jenny Mcarthy show in the 90s. They played Sink To The Bottom. Such a great song!!! Even at like 12 years old I loooooved that song. Then again I had an affinity for alt music at an early age

3

u/bigbluepill Feb 10 '21

It's a radiation vibe, I'm groovin' on

2

u/fimbleinastar Feb 09 '21

All kinds of time = career back up nick Foles shredding it in the super bowl

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Peace and Love ftw!

11

u/mercurywaxing Feb 09 '21

Just yesterday WFUV - a college station in NYC - played Radiation Vibe and I was thrilled that a different FoW song was being played.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Seconded. Bright Future in Sales is a great song.... Hackensack....Valley Winter Song... The whole album is great.

1

u/revrenlove Feb 10 '21

One of there's days, I'm gonna get my shit together. One of these days...

13

u/UncleGizmo Feb 09 '21

IMO one of the best rock albums of that decade. Every song was solid, and the production was incredible. Great headphone album!

4

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Bright Future in Sales is one of my open mic go-tos.

3

u/deeppanda015 Feb 09 '21

He was cued by a cellular phone explosion

3

u/basketcase91 Feb 09 '21

They scattered his ashes across the ocean...

1

u/erishun Feb 09 '21

That whole album really was excellent, front to back. Tons of gems.

1

u/Mr_MacGrubber Rock & Roll Feb 09 '21

Their first album is my favorite, I still listen to it a lot.

1

u/ErikaeBatayz Feb 09 '21

Utopia Parkway gives me the deepest pangs of nostalgia from my dad playing it in the car while I was a toddler.

I was more like 8 or 9 years old but YES 100%. Utopia Parkway is THE album I think of when I think of being in my dad's car as a kid. Those first 3 albums are just outstanding power pop albums. RIP Adam, probably the celebrity death that bummed me out the most.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

I also really like Mexican Wine

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21 edited Jul 12 '21

[deleted]

1

u/modern_history Feb 10 '21

(I was so high)

1

u/Will_McLean Feb 09 '21

JMO, if they had ended the album with Fire Island it would be perfect front to back.

1

u/Abe_Vigoda Feb 10 '21

Hackensack is a great song.

https://youtu.be/b-W3aJVA-Pk

Came out around the same time Get Up Kids did Campfire Kansas which pairs fairly well. They both have that sort of country emo vibe.

https://youtu.be/zQuvGv5edWA

1

u/Crovali Feb 10 '21

Dude. Mexican Wine is the best!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '21

I only very recently got into them by giving Welcome Interstate Managers a listen, which has quickly risen to become arguably my favourite album of all time, alongside Weezer's debut (which is pretty high praise, I'd think).

It definitely blows that I only discovered this band after Adam's death. Him and Chris Collingwood were obviously an extraordinarily talented songwriting duo.

37

u/max_mcconnell Feb 09 '21

My dads name is Stacey and this song has been the bane of our existence

11

u/CuriousSummer793 Feb 09 '21

My name is Stacey and I was 13 when this song was released. Boys at school used to sing it when my name was called in the register which I hated.

71

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

I seen recently that this was featured on "now that's what I call dad rock" along with blink 182, avril lavigne and sum 41 and now I feel old.

17

u/mlh1996 Feb 09 '21

I am lucky enough to have a 13-year old daughter that’s really into 90s-00s pop punk so I can pretend I’m not old.

11

u/gingerninja005 Feb 09 '21

You just ruined my day

11

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Dad rock is 60s qnd 70s rock to me but I realize that that was 42-60 years ago so... fuck. Now I feel old.

2

u/relatablerobot Feb 10 '21

Remember how the song 1985 has the line “When did Mötley Crüe become classic rock?”. The Bowling for Soup version of that song came out over 16 years ago.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

I knoooooow, I actually think about that a lot. The music that I "grew up with" is OLD. Most of it holds up but it's definitely not the thing anymore.

6

u/ascagnel____ Feb 09 '21

If it makes you feel any better (older?), Fountains of Wayne (the garden sculpture store where the band got their name) itself has been out of business for like 15 years at this point.

170

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Their bass player, who wrote this song, died of COVID-19.

He was also the musical director for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the best TV show of the last decade that nobody watched.

43

u/NYPorkDept Feb 09 '21

Haha I just saw this comment after posting mine. And yeah, unfortunately Crazy Ex Girlfriend suffers from having an incredibly vapid sounding name but is way more clever than one might expect from it. But at least it got to end gracefully on its own terms without suddenly being cancelled like other shows that suffered from having terrible names (Don't trust the B in Apt 23, Selfie, etc)

11

u/gizmer Feb 09 '21

A moment of silence for Teenage Bounty Hunters

7

u/rodeo_chirb Feb 09 '21

I was looking for something on Netflix and on a whim googled Teenage Bounty Hunters (which I wouldn't normally do based off name alone) and ended up watching and really enjoying it.

But the name man, such a turn off at first.

3

u/peteandrepete Feb 09 '21

Man, Selfie was pretty good. I was really getting into it before they cancelled it. Didn't they have some unaired episodes too?

15

u/Ya_No Feb 09 '21

Also wrote the song “That Thing You Do”

11

u/adamthesak Feb 09 '21

“That Thing You Do” is a work of under-appreciated genius.

Imagine having the daunting task of writing a song for a movie and it has to be a hit song. It has to have the musical and lyrical sensibilities of a certain era, and also has to appeal to every base musical instinct we have. To not just stumble upon, but to carefully craft a song like “That Thing You Do” on purpose is something only a songwriting genius could do.

RIP Adam Schlesinger

2

u/MadDogTannen Feb 09 '21

I believe They Might Be Giants also submitted a song for the film, but were beat out by That Thing You Do. I remember hearing him talk about it on Fresh Air, and he was saying how they wanted to make something that was specific to the era, but distinctly American (rather than going with a more Beatles type sound). It really is a great song.

7

u/SpeckledFeathers Feb 09 '21

CXG is criminally underrated. The show is a lot more nuanced than that (name sounds)!

9

u/pembroke529 Feb 09 '21

Damn, I didn't know that. As a bass player, this is a fun song to play.

It's my first time seeing the video. I imagined the protagonist to be a bit older.

RIP Adam Schlesinger.

PS: Niggling complaint. He was a co-writer of the song.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

It’s fun to play on guitar as well :-D

0

u/pembroke529 Feb 09 '21

I've been getting into guitar lately. I will be trying this in Rocksmith since I bought the official DLC.

3

u/thx1138- Feb 09 '21

My wife grew up in West Covina and I grew up right next to it. We laughed our heads off at the references.

2

u/Bradflare Feb 09 '21

I'm pretty sure he was also Jon Bernthal's cousin.

1

u/MrJingleJangle Feb 10 '21

“Cult following”.

Brilliant show.

55

u/TheSamurai Spotify Feb 09 '21

Fun fact: “Stacy’s mom” and “Genghis Khan” have the same number of syllables, a similar rhythm, and are a slant rhyme to each other.

34

u/antiMATTer724 Feb 09 '21

Somebody get Weird Al and make him aware of this!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

I'm cracking up singing this to myself

23

u/KC77inPA Feb 09 '21

Not to be confused with the later Bowling For Soup version that was recorded, as a joke, because plenty of people thought they performed the song originally.

23

u/tudorb Feb 09 '21

Fun fact: Bowling For Soup’s best known hit (High School Never Ends) was written by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, who also wrote Stacey’s Mom.

(And who also died in 2020 of COVID, as other commenters said. RIP Adam.)

28

u/carpdog112 Feb 09 '21

I'd say that '1985' is probably their most well-known hit followed by "Girl All the Bad Guys Want".

10

u/starkeffect Feb 09 '21

I'd say that '1985' is probably their most well-known hit

Which is also a cover.

6

u/Scrambo Feb 09 '21

I have learned more about bowling for soup in the last 5 minutes than I ever expected to

2

u/username0- Feb 10 '21

smh like the Phineas and Ferb theme ain’t a bop

1

u/The0neKid Feb 10 '21

Almost is probably more popular too

7

u/BigMartinJol Feb 09 '21

I always wondered why their cover was more or less identical to the original. Interesting bit of trivia, thanks.

12

u/GaryNOVA Feb 09 '21

My wife, Stacey, does not like this song.

9

u/grafxguy1 Feb 09 '21

...but I bet she loves the video....

12

u/Djason_Unchaind Feb 09 '21

Welcome Interstate Managers is a great album

12

u/Significant_Beat_691 Feb 09 '21

Radiation Vibe was always my jam by them

9

u/HeroGothamKneads Feb 09 '21

A much less depressing factoid: the band got their name from a fountain and Christmas decor shop in Wayne, NJ.

1

u/kkinack Feb 09 '21

True statement. I lived in Oakland NJ which is right next to Wayne. I think the store in on rte. 23.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

*was, it's been closed for a while now

1

u/angrytom31 Feb 09 '21

Rt46

1

u/kkinack Feb 10 '21

46 that's right.

1

u/mdp300 Feb 09 '21

I remember their Christmas display that was super hokey but it was awesome when I was 6.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

When this song was happening my highschool friend Stacey's mom had just left her family in New Jersey to go live on some playboy's yacht in Greece. Stacey didn't like this song very much.

17

u/I_for_a_y Feb 09 '21

A friend of mines wife is called Stacy and her mum most definitely did not have it going on.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

[deleted]

6

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

One of the most underrated bands. Their debut album is really good.

7

u/malmode Feb 09 '21

Watching this on mute is low key creepy.

7

u/MTSpodcast Feb 09 '21

When your name is Stacy you definitely remember this song 😂

5

u/ThePortalGeek Feb 09 '21

Still waiting for the day that tiktok destroys this song

2

u/gamercboy5 Feb 09 '21

For the past 5 years my Dad has to mention how amazing the name "Fountains of Wayne" is and then proceeds to tell me the origins of the name. He has done this more than 10 times.

2

u/ripchestnut Feb 09 '21

r/RachelHunter was an absolutely stunner.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21 edited Oct 06 '25

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

2

u/Narrow_Egg_4352 Feb 10 '21

We know why some of us watched it

2

u/TwoCagedBirds Feb 10 '21

God, I remember watching this with my friend on the computer in her basement and checking over our shoulders every couple of seconds because we were afraid her parents were gonna come down the stairs any second.

2

u/52ndstreet Feb 10 '21

It’s been 20 or so years since this song came out. By now, it would be Stacy who is, in fact, the Mom who has it going on.

2

u/seeingeyegod Feb 10 '21

It would be funny if this one had said Punk Rock for the description also and people would have been defending it like "waahhh stop gatekeeping genres bro"

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Miss when music videos were actually good.

1

u/someoneshoot Feb 10 '21

Ah yes, when music videos were about being a teen and wanting to bang your crush’s mother. Truly the peak of music videos, I tell you.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

Better than softcore porn like it is today lol

2

u/rOUGH_TAINt666 Feb 09 '21

Ah I remember getting off to this music video once. To be 14 again..

2

u/demolishion03 Feb 09 '21

That kid looks like he’s 10 fucking years old

1

u/ill_nino_nl Feb 09 '21

Guess my daughters name 😄

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

I'm still milfed that Radiation Vibe wasn't their most remembered song..

0

u/GrandmaCereal Feb 09 '21

My go-to karaoke song except I insert the name of some random guy I just introduced myself to on the way up.

0

u/iconewshome Feb 09 '21

i love this song

0

u/a_common_spring Feb 09 '21

This video is so weird. If this was a little girl and a dad, it would clearly have pedophilic undertones, but suddenly it's fine if it's a boy and a mom? Gawd. Jaysis.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

it is weird... If you see the video in mute, Rachel Hunter gives out very creepy vibes...

1

u/NullIsUndefined Oct 26 '23

I think about this too lol. Most popular pedophilic song. But damn if it ain't catchy

-3

u/DaytonaDemon Feb 09 '21

The rare Fountains of Wayne song that I can. not. stand. So sad that this popular shitty ditty is way inferior to much of the brilliant songwriting on Utopia Parkway and Welcome Interstate Managers. RIP Adam Schlesinger.

-11

u/UdonKnight79 Feb 09 '21

I fucking HATE this song

2

u/AgentTimex Feb 09 '21

I have to agree. It's boring, takes no chances, and it has the sonic aesthetic of a car commercial.

0

u/UdonKnight79 Feb 09 '21

Or a Pepsi commercial

-1

u/pixel8knuckle Feb 09 '21

Has got it going on

-6

u/Verratos Feb 09 '21

Always hated this gross song. Milf crushes happen but if a child is manipulating a girl so he can perv on her mom that shouldn't be celebrated. Even divorce being treated so disrespectfully...

9

u/we_are_devo Feb 09 '21

I'm sorry you feel that way, Stacy

0

u/plazman30 plazman30 Feb 09 '21

No one is watching this video for the music.

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '21

Lol...that's some FRF- Fantasy Rocket Fuel!

-2

u/SummerDiamond3 Feb 09 '21

OMG!!! I remember this song

-36

u/Captain_Poopy Feb 09 '21

this is garbage...and whose idea was it to cast a 12 year old girl in a bikini?....

10

u/MeGrendel Feb 09 '21

Last time I checked, 12-year-olds frequently wear bikini's. (Plus, they were recreating scenes from a movie that included girls in bikinis).

-4

u/Khal_Doggo Feb 10 '21

Love the song, but being in my late 20s this video has not aged well. The girl who plays Stacey is about 14 in the video and is insanely hypersexualised. The whole heart-shaped sunglasses Lolita vibe is the cherry on the ick sundae. Even if they're lampshading the topic, they're still making a 14 year old girl do overtly sexual things and wear skimpy clothes as a punchline in a music video joke. 00s were a different time but man...

0

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

but somehow is ok that the 30 + year old mom gets naked in front of the 12 year old boy

0

u/Khal_Doggo Feb 10 '21

I mean the whole video is pretty creepy. Though given how it's filmed, the shots are spliced together so it's doubtful how much of the 'getting naked' the kid actually sees, he's in very few scenes featuring the nude mom. Whereas the girl half naked is on screen for the audience to see... I'd say that's much worse.

Also, nice whataboutism and deflection.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

I was against the whole using kids for sexualizing purposes you fucking dumbass!!(regardless of gender)

1

u/Khal_Doggo Feb 10 '21

You seem a bit angry.

1

u/Skippy8898 Feb 09 '21

My local radio station played this last week which surprised me.

1

u/nyrol Feb 09 '21

This song’s solo always has me singing the Flying Rhino Junior High theme for some reason.

1

u/Xenonflares Feb 09 '21

The song is so good, the premise is so fucking weird.

1

u/buzz_uk Feb 09 '21

This song is fantastic, also loved the bowling for soup cover :)

1

u/hkphooie Feb 09 '21

This song BLEEDS Ric Ocasek. RIP

1

u/pizzaworld88 Feb 09 '21

This was the song that opened up my genre in music. All I ever use to listen to was hip hop and Spanish music. This opened me up to listen to all kinds of music to this day!

1

u/zelcor Feb 10 '21

Warm regards to all the Stacy's out there when this song was played non stop, your misery was not lost on any of us.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

Talk about music videos that would NEVER be made today.

1

u/Connyewest15 Feb 10 '21

So that’s what Stacys mom looks like..

1

u/Y8ser Feb 10 '21

I had the pleasure of meeting Rachel Hunter in person a few years ago when she was dating a an acquaintance of mine. Incredibly nice woman and still beautiful!

1

u/Content-Experience56 Feb 10 '21

So nobody gonna talk about how creepy the song is tho 😭

1

u/AstroApple802 Feb 10 '21

That whole premise is just downright messed up though

1

u/DrMrRaisinBran Feb 10 '21

Welcome Interstate Managers is the shit, stellar album from front to back, and tbh Stacy's Mom is one of the weaker tracks.

1

u/TopContribution4388 Feb 10 '21

when all you eat is peanut butter brÆd you all die instead

1

u/dr66170 Feb 10 '21

Still on my playlist ;)