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Fountains of Wayne: Sly Pop for Everyday People

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Fountains of Wayne's immensely catchy pop-rock songs come with a powerful undercurrent of sly cynicism, but also a keen understanding of everyday people and the way they live. The band's first albums were more critically praised than commercially successful, but that changed with 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers and its song "Stacy's Mom." Though the band had been on the national radar for nearly a decade, Fountains of Wayne was even nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy.

The band takes its name from a lawn-ornament store in Wayne, N.J., close to where founding member Adam Schlesinger grew up. Schlesinger received an Oscar nomination — for the theme song to That Thing You Do! — right around the time Fountains of Wayne first toured the world with the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins and The Lemonheads. The band's new album is titled Traffic and Weather.

This segment originally aired on Apr. 12, 2007.

Copyright 2007 XPN

David Dye is a longtime Philadelphia radio personality whose music enthusiasm has captivated listeners of World Cafe® since 1991. World Cafe is produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania.