Fountains of Wayne - 1990s

1990s

After Montclair, New Jersey-based Adam Schlesinger and Sellersville, Pennsylvania-based Chris Collingwood first met as freshmen at Williams College, they played music in various bands and eventually went their separate ways, with Collingwood forming the Mercy Buckets in Boston and Schlesinger forming Ivy in New York City. In the mid-1990s, they came together to form Fountains of Wayne, named after a lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey, located at the intersection of U.S. Route 46 and New Jersey Route 23,; previous bandnames included Woolly Mammoth, Are You My Mother?, and Three Men Who When Standing Side By Side Have A Wingspan Of Over Twelve Feet. Recruiting guitarist Jody Porter and still active Posies drummer Brian Young, the band cut a demo and signed with Atlantic Records.

In 1996, the band released its self-titled debut, which spawned the singles "Radiation Vibe" and "Sink to the Bottom" and, the band toured the world extensively behind their debut album, playing alongside bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Sloan and The Lemonheads. That same year, Schlesinger wrote the Academy Award-nominated, RIAA gold certified title song for the film That Thing You Do!.

In 1999, the band released Utopia Parkway, an album named after a road in Queens, New York. The album was a concept record that dealt with life in modern suburbia. Utopia Parkway was received well by critics, garnering many favorable reviews, and was album of the week in People magazine. The group once again toured extensively behind the album, but frustrations grew between the band and the label. The band was later dropped by Atlantic in late 1999.