#welcome interstate managers

[madspecific]

i saw you talking to Christopher Walken

[static-and-noise]

Album Chat

I'm introducing a new segment! I have a bad habit of finding one song from a band and never listening to anything else they've created-- and there are a lot of these one-offs on my playlist. So I'm going to make an effort to, once a week, listen to and talk about one new-to-me album here as sort of a companion series to Radio Static.

So without further adieu, here's my thoughts on something I listened to this morning-- "Welcome Interstate Managers" by Fountains of Wayne, released in 2003.

Welcome Interstate Managers is sort of considered to be Fountains of Wayne's 'hit' album, inasmuch as they had one, because it includes one very specific song-- Stacy's Mom, which still holds up as a fun, iconic rock song about only hanging out with your friend so that you can ogle her mom.

Outside of Stacy's Mom, Welcome Interstate Managers stands out as an album built on slower tracks built on a core of very interesting yearning. I was particularly caught by Hackensack and Valley Winter Song, the fourth and sixth tracks respectively. They showcase this sense of yearning really well, but it's not just a romantic yearning that the narrator keeps-- instead, it's also the yearning of wanting to do anything but stay in the same town and work the same dead-end job forever and ever. There's this motif of people moving away and getting to do interesting things while the narrator remains in both songs. I think 'desperate, heartsick boredom' could be considered a core thesis of this album, and I know that I personally respond well to those ideas and concepts!

However, I wouldn't call this a no-skip album. I didn't enjoy Hey Julie or Halley's Waitress, to an extent that I considered finding something else to listen to. Hey Julie was one of the singles off of this album, and it feels like that may have been a mistake-- it's once again another song about a dead-end job, but this time the narrator takes comfort in the fact that his (girlfriend?) is always there when he comes home. That early line about "But when I get back home, you're always there to rub my back" struck me as a little weird, and as the song continues, it just felt . . . icky after that. I wasn't sure I totally trusted that this narrator felt like his girlfriend was a person, if that makes sense, and it kind of ruined the song for me.

Halley's Waitress, my other song that I'm not sure I would ever listen to again, comes immediately after Hey Julie and is entirely based around the fact that the waitress at this restaurant takes so long she may as well be Halley's Comet. While it didn't feel as misogynistic to me as Hey Julie, it was just . . . kind of dumb? It wasn't even dumb in a fun way, like how sometimes songs are kind of stupid but they've got a good rhythm. It was just a stupid, slow song about waiting for coffee.

Overall, I would suggest you give a listen to Welcome Interstate Managers! I enjoyed most of the songs, and Fountains of Wayne has a very relaxed feeling that I was not expecting from their music. There's a desperation to this album that's really well-hidden in upbeat music, looking to run away from dead-end jobs and finally find that dream girl. At its core, Welcome Interstate Managers is about looking for something that will finally make you happy, and I think that it reflects that well.

Static's Recs:

Mexican Wine Bright Future in Sales Stacy's Mom Hackensack Valley Winter Song Fire Island Peace and Love

[static-and-noise]

Today on Radio Static

Another great, dancing track, Bright Future in Sales by Fountains of Wayne-- who had more good music outside of their best-known hit, Stacy's Mom.

[michaelwwaah]

please, lets have another glass

[bestofmidi]

Visit Original Link

Stacy's mom has got it going on She's all I want and I've waited for so long Stacy, can't you see? You're just not the girl for me I know it might be wrong, but I'm in love with Stacy's mom

original midi at https://freemidi.org/getter-3216

[animasmusicdiary]

[married-to-a-redhead]

And the snow is coming down

On our New England town

And it's been falling all day long

What else is new

What could I do

I wrote a valley winter song

To play for you

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

What’s your drink of choice to start the weekend? I’m going with the Fountains of Wayne recommendation and kicking off the weekend with some Mexican Wine.