Matthew Sweet – 100% Fun – Zoo Records – 1995

Matthew Sweet got a lot of attention back in the early 90s for the song “Girlfriend” and the album of the same name, which nowadays can be also found on likes of Guitar Hero II (great song). He also has some notoriety in the fact that he wrote all the psychedelic scene breaks in the Austin Powers movies, in addition to the songs with the on screen band “Ming Tea”. Anyway, after the success of that album and single he released quite a few albums that never really were as popular or garnered as much attention as that album. Despite not having the same success and wide acclaim, they are some incredibly solid albums and today I wanted to focus on one of my personal faves, “100% Fun“.

Matthew Sweet’s sound is very poppy and catchy, with a lot of pretty hooks and sweet vocals, but I think the real appeal is that it also has a nice edge and sense of humor to it. It is a self-depricating humor, but not just in content. He has a great sense of musical self-deprication with his sometimes goofy solos and shouting things like “dig it!” right before launching into the solo. It is a great marriage of the fun side of music with some really great songs and I think it works really well on this album. This album features a darker tone in material than previous releases, but despite some real downer kinds of lyrics at times the album is always really upbeat and just hits you with great hook after great hook. This is one of those albums I always remember fondly from back in the day, and there really is not a bad track on here.

Matthew Sweet – Sick of Myself – From 100% Fun

This was the single from the album, and I remember him playing this song on the talk shows (Letterman and the like) and that it was always funny when they played it because the false ending that keeps faking you out with the sense of “it’s over, no wait, no, now it’s over, wait…no it’s not”. The line “sick of myself” is taken from a line in Kurt Cobain’s suicide note, which had happened just the year before and obviously had shook the whole scene up. Wikipedia also notes that Death Cab For Cutie, The Posies and Bowling for Soup have all covered this song, though I haven’t heard any of the covers myself. It is a really great song with an trademark perfect hook and a great rhythm to it. And the false endings are pretty funny.

Matthew Sweet – We’re The Same – From 100% Fun

Some great hooks, some falsetto vocals, a catchy chorus, and a nice little solo thrown in there to keep the groove going, this is a very typical song for this album, and there are at least 4 other songs in this same vein. It keeps the album as having a really upbeat tone, and really help it contrast against the more minor key/subdued songs on the album like “I Almost Forgot”. It’s a good contrast against those songs, and it is just good ole toe-tapping licks all over the place. Great song.