Adam Schlesinger wrote one of the best 'fake' songs in film history
. “That was in a lot of ways my first professional contract of any kind. I had some friends there who knew that I liked writing ’60s-style, melodic sort of pop stuff. They heard about this movie that was happening, and they said, ‘You should take a crack at this. This is up your alley.’”
Schlesinger rolled with the assignment, which was to write a song that “should sound like an American band that was blown away by The Beatles right after they arrived and was trying to imitate them.” He recorded the demo with friend and producer Mike Viola and sang back-up, and a few months later, their voices were what moviegoers heard when the Wonders played “That Thing You Do!” for screaming girls at state fairs across the country.
Schlesinger would move on from the hit he wrote for a fictional band with an illustrious career all his own. Fountains of Wayne reached No. 21 on the Hot 100 with their 2003 smash “Stacy’s Mom.” That song -- whose infectious, handclap-commanding chorus is an inherited quality from its Hollywood predecessor -- netted a Grammy nomination for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals in 2004, and its Rachel Hunter co-starring music video reached No.
There would be no Playtone without Adam Schlesinger, without his That Thing You Do! He was a One-der. Lost him to Covid-19. Terribly sad today. Hanx
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