The band's name was taken from the name of a lawn-ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey, not far from Montclair, New Jersey. That city is the hometown of the band's bassist and cofounder Adam Schlesinger (the store has since gone out of business). According to Songfacts, there were prominent fountains there.
The concept of the band was formed by Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood. The two first met as freshmen at Williams College and began playing music together in various groups. The two eventually went their separate ways with Collingwood forming the Mercy Buckets in Boston and Schlesinger forming Ivy in New York City. The duo initially set out to work together in the early 90s under various band monikers (including ones named "Pinwheel" and "The Wallflowers"), and recorded a full album's worth of demos in 1993. Although never released, the "Pinwheel" demos are widely bootlegged by fans and display a very different (yet still earnest) version of the pair's songwriting, though several songs from this period would be re-tooled and appear on later releases.
After failing to get their project off the ground, the two met up once again during the mid-90s and formed Fountains of Wayne. A demo eventually landed the two a deal with Atlantic Records and in 1996 they released their self titled debut. The album spawned the singles Radiation Vibe and Sink To The Bottom which received airplay, but it was Schlesinger's song entitled That Thing You Do! which became a hit being used as the lead track for the Tom Hanks film of the same name. "That Thing You Do!" also brought Schlesinger an Oscar nomination and an RIAA gold certification for the hit soundtrack.
Along with guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian Young, the band toured the world extensively behind the album playing alongside bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins and The Lemonheads.
In 1999, the band returned with their second album, Utopia Parkway, a loosely-based concept album about life in the American suburbs in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, a much-changed radio climate left little room in playlists for Fountains of Wayne's snarky power-pop, and the album, along with its three singles Denise, Red Dragon Tattoo, and Troubled Times, sank without much notice. The following year, the band was mostly quiet, contributing a song each to a soundtrack and a compilation (Too Cool for School to the "Scary Movie" soundtrack and California Sex Lawyer to the third installment of the International Pop Overthrow series). They were dropped by Atlantic soon thereafter.
The band spent much of the early 2000s in seclusion, occasionally rejoining to record or play an occasional gig, but mostly Schlessinger was focusing on work with Ivy and Collingwood founded an alt.country band near his Western Massachusetts home called The Gay Potatoes. In addition, the band wrote and performed the theme song to the popular Comedy Central program "Crank Yankers," and contributed a cover of The Kinks "Better Days" to a tribute album. The song was also later featured prominently in a scene of the 2004 remake of "The Manchurian Candidate." During this time, the band's stature only grew in indie pop circles, raising expectations high for the release of their next album.
Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne's third record and first for Virgin, was released in June of 2003. Preceeded by the single and video for the Cars-ish Stacy's Mom, the song became a surprise top 20 hit on the strength of its video--a send-up of 1980s teen comedies like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"--which starred Rachel Hunter as Stacy's Mom. The video went into heavy rotation on MTV, pushing the album to become Fountains of Wayne's most successful with sales exceeding 400,000 units.
Like most bands who have a major hit driven by a clever video, follow-up singles did not fare as well. Despite a similarly-clever video for Mexican Wine, the single failed to take off after MTV banned the video due to a scene where two underage girls lip-synch the words to the chorus, a reference to drinking tequila. Third single Hey Julie initially made only a minor dent on AAA and Hot AC format stations, but it was later featured in "Scrubs" and other TV shows and grew in stature over time, becoming something of a sleeper hit. During this time, the band also wrote a series of short, almost They Might Be Giants-styled songs for a short-lived VH1 TV series titled "Hey Joel!," which was written by critic Joel Stein. The show was canceled before it aired in the United States and the songs were never released.
The song named "Red Dragon Tattoo" was also featured in the 2004 series "Kingdom Hospital", based on a novel by Stephen King, that aired on BBC.
In 2005, the band issued the 2-disc Out-of-State Plates, a compilation rounding up the band's various import-only B-sides as well as several new songs. Maureen was released as a single yet received little attention.
The band's fourth proper album, titled Traffic and Weather, was released April 3, 2007. One abandoned track from these sessions, a novelty throwaway titled Monster House that was written for the movie of the same name but not used, was leaked in advance of the album's release via the band's MySpace page. "Traffic and Weather" met with typically strong reviews but fewer sales than its predecessor, although the single and video for Someone to Love made a minor impact.
In early 2009, the band embarked on a small tour where they began to debut some new songs from an as-yet-untitled fifth album. Progress was slow, however, and other than some scattered shows the band dropped almost entirely out of view for two years. In late 2010, the band announced that they were now without a label but that they had completed their as-yet-untitled fifth album, which they were hoping to release sometime in 2011 once they found a new label. During this time they gave away one new free song via their website. Song of the Passaic was written for an NPR segment using a poem about New Jersey's famed, industrial Passaic River.
In May 2011, the band has announced that their fifth album, Sky Full of Holes will be released on August 1st, 2011 on Lojinx in Europe, August 2nd, 2011 on YepRoc in North America and on Warner in Japan. Two singles were released in advance of the album itself: Richie and Ruben in May 2011, followed by Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart the following month. Like their previous releases, the album garnered critical praise from a variety of publications. Jill Menze of 'Billboard' called the release "excellent", describing it as "a new minimal sound with a poppy, folk-leaning flair."
After a six-month tour in support of the album, the band quietly went defunct in favor of side projects. Although they never officially broke up, the band has been completely inactive since sometime in 2012.
On April 1st, 2020, co-founder Adam Schlessinger passed away due to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 52.
Little Red Light
Fountains of Wayne Lyrics
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Fifty million people out in front of me
Trying to cross the water but it just might be a while
Rain's coming down I can't see a thing
Radio's broken so I'm whistling
New York to Nyack feels like a hundred miles
It's not right
I'm still a mess
And you still don't care
I go to work
I come back home
But you're still gone
And I'm still alone
And the little red light's not blinking
No, no the little red light's not blinking
No, no the little red light's not blinking
On my big black plastic Japanese cordless phone
Oh no
Stuck in a meeting on Monday night
Trying to get the numbers to come out right
I'm getting tired, I think I just might need a drink
And as I'm reaching in the bottom drawer
I'm dreaming 'bout the way it was before
Life was so easy I never really had to think
It's not right
It's not fair
I'm still a mess
And you still don't care
I go to sleep
When I wake up
The pain sets in
And it never stops
And the little red light's not blinking
No, no the little red light's not blinking
No, no the little red light's not blinking
On the desktop mailbox of my big black laptop
Oh no
It's not right
It's not fair
I'm still a mess
And you still don't care
I go to work
I come back home
But you're still gone
And I'm still alone
And the little red light's not blinking
No, no the little red light's not blinking
No, no the little red light's not blinking
On my big black Radio Shack digital portable phone
Oh no
The lyrics to Fountains of Wayne's song "Little Red Light" are a poignant illustration of the mundane frustrations of everyday life. The song begins with the singer stuck in traffic on the Tappan Zee Bridge, a notoriously congested thoroughfare connecting Westchester and Rockland counties in New York State. As the rain pours down, the singer muses on the futility of his situation, noting that he is just one of "fifty million people out in front of me" trying to cross the water. To pass the time, he whistles, since his radio is broken. But he can't shake the feeling of desolation, and he fixates on the "little red light" on his Japanese cordless phone, which is not blinking, a sign that he has no messages or missed calls. The repetition of this phrase, "the little red light's not blinking," underscores the singer's sense of isolation and abandonment.
The second verse finds the singer at work, in a meeting on a Monday night, trying to balance the books. He's tired and thirsty, and he reaches into his bottom drawer for a drink. But as he does so, he begins to daydream about the way things used to be, when "life was so easy I never really had to think." The contrast between his current state of drudgery and the ease of his nostalgia further emphasizes his loneliness and sadness. And once again, he fixates on the little red light, this time on his desktop mailbox of his laptop, which is also not blinking.
Throughout the song, the singer bemoans his current state of affairs - "It's not right, it's not fair / I'm still a mess and you still don't care" - and fixates on the little red light, a symbol of his lack of connection to the world around him. The song speaks to the feelings of isolation and displacement that many people experience in modern society, where technology has made it possible to be "connected" to others 24/7, but has not necessarily made us any less lonely.
Line by Line Meaning
Sitting in traffic on the Tappan Zee
I am currently stuck in traffic on the Tappan Zee bridge.
Fifty million people out in front of me
There are a lot of cars on the road ahead of me, making my commute even longer.
Trying to cross the water but it just might be a while
I am trying to get across the water but there seems to be a delay.
Rain's coming down I can't see a thing
It is currently raining so heavily that it is difficult to see the road ahead.
Radio's broken so I'm whistling
My car radio is not working so I have resorted to whistling to pass the time.
New York to Nyack feels like a hundred miles
The drive from New York to Nyack seems like an extremely long distance right now.
It's not right
The situation I am in is not fair or just.
It's not fair
I feel that the situation I am in is unjust and I do not deserve this treatment.
I'm still a mess
I am still struggling to cope with the difficulties in my life.
And you still don't care
The person I am addressing does not seem to care about my problems or the distress that I am feeling.
I go to work
I leave my home to go to my job.
I come back home
I return to my home after finishing my work for the day.
But you're still gone
The person I am addressing is still not present in my life, despite me returning home.
And I'm still alone
I still feel lonely and isolated even though I have returned to my home.
And the little red light's not blinking
The indicator light on my phone is not flashing, indicating that there are no new messages or notifications.
On my big black plastic Japanese cordless phone
The phone I am referring to is a cordless phone, of Japanese make, with a black plastic casing.
Stuck in a meeting on Monday night
I am currently in a meeting on a Monday night and cannot leave.
Trying to get the numbers to come out right
I am struggling to complete the task at hand, which requires precise calculations.
I'm getting tired, I think I just might need a drink
I am becoming fatigued and feel that alcohol might help me relax.
And as I'm reaching in the bottom drawer
I am searching through my desk drawer to find the drink I am looking for.
I'm dreaming 'bout the way it was before
I am reminiscing about how things used to be before I had to face the current challenges in my life.
Life was so easy I never really had to think
In the past, my life was much simpler, and I did not have to worry or think about such difficult things.
On the desktop mailbox of my big black laptop
The little red light is not blinking on my laptop's desktop mailbox.
Oh no
I am feeling a sense of despair about my situation.
On my big black Radio Shack digital portable phone
The phone I am referring to is a portable digital phone sold by the Radio Shack retail chain. It is also of black color.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., NAVARR ENTERPRISES, INC.
Written by: Adam Schlesinger, Christopher Brendan Collingwood
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind