In Memoriam: Adam Schlesinger - Our Favorite Songs

Published: May 12, 2020, 8 a.m.

We usually take a week off between comps, but one of our favorite songwriters, Adam Schlesinger, passed away in April from complications related to COVID-19, and we wanted to do his career justice. Schlesinger is most famous for the retro soundtrack cut "That Thing You Do" and Fountains of Wayne's 2003 Cars pastiche "Stacy's Mom," but the songwriter was a workhorse, and his career had a truly wild level of variety. Ben, Rich, and Will know Fountains of Wayne the best, so most of the episode is focused on their songs, but we hit on the full kaleidoscope of Schlesinger's career, from his work for the CW sitcom Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to an oddball power pop supergroup fronted by Taylor Hanson.