Saturday, February 26, 2011

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Matthew Sweet

Artist:Matthew Sweet
Song:Sick Of Myself
Album:Platinum & Gold Collection





After struggling in the 80s, singer songwriter Matthew Sweet emerged in the 90s as one of the leading lights of power pop. He had a lot of success in the college radio market. He was born Oct. 6, 1964 in Lincoln, NE and moved to Athens, GA in the early 80s. As you may know, Athens had a very strong music scene. In 1983, he worked with R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe as Community Trolls and then joined Lydia Stipe's band Oh-OK and also had a duo The Buzz Of Delight with Oh-OK drummer David Pierce. Sweet signed with Columbia Records in 1985 and released his debut album Inside in 1986. Though critically acclaimed, it didn't sell and Columbia dropped him. He signed with A & M Records and released Earth in 1989. It also didn't sell and A & M dropped him. But it was on this album that he started working with producer Fred Maher and veteran guitarists Richard Lloyd (Television) and Robert Quine (Lou Reed). While touring with Lloyd Cole, Sweet's demo got the attention of Zoo Entertainment owner Lou Maglia. He was former president of Island Records. Sweet's 1991 CD Girlfriend was not only critically acclaimed but a commercial success with mostly college radio play and MTV airplay. The single Girlfriend reached #4 on the Modern Rock Chart. Sick Of Myself is from Sweet's 1995 CD 100% Fun and reached #2 on the Modern Rock Chart. Sweet's songs coupled with veteran musicians like Lloyd and Quine was a solid combination. Unfortunately, Zoo was having financial problems. BMG took them over and sold them to Volcano Records owner Kevin Czinger in 1996. Zomba Records took them over in 1998. Sweet continued to record for Volcano until 1999 but they couldn't promote him. This budget comp is a good intro to his music. In 2002, Sweet formed The Thorns with Shawn Mullins and Pete Droge. He is currently with Shout! Factory and has a new CD scheduled for 2011 release. He has also recorded music for The Cartoon Network. He seems to like Scooby-Doo. Here's the video for Sick Of Myself by Matthew Sweet.

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