FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Making mom and dad proud is getting tougher and tougher to do these days. People like Tiger Woods and Jacques Villeneuve, who are nauseatingly young and successful, make it difficult for all of us. "Hey, we're famous and have more money than God!"Hey, I'm 26 and I can dress myself!
And then there's Matthew Sweet. Not only has he consistently written some of this decade's most memorable chunks of melody, but get this: for his mom's latest birthday, junior played on David Letterman and, here's the capper, sang a duet with Kathie Lee while his folks watched from the audience. For my mom's last birthday - as a special treat - I think I may have not been arrested (the smile on her face was thanks enough).
"In the beginning I think those things really meant a lot to my parents in terms of validation of me not going to school or whatever," says the little goody-goody. "They've always been supportive of what I've done and now they're more intense than anybody about it. They're just psycho fans - where they just want to know about every little thing and I'm like, 'You guys, I'm just me.' But I can't deny them their enjoyment."
But make no mistake, the Regis and Kathie Lee appearance was as much for him as it was for ma.
"It was unbelievable, the most surreal experience of my life," he laughs.
"We almost did the show on the last record but I got in a big argument with my manager. He was like, 'It's not cool, you shouldn't do it.'
"So that of course had gotten out in a radio interview and they immediately focused in on my manager not thinking they were cool. After we finished filming they called him over and said, 'What's this about us not being cool. You'll get more from this than seven Lettermans.' They went crazy - Regis bitching out my manager. I loved it."
Well, I guess Sweet can die a happy man now, confident that he's a credit to his family's good name. Kathie Lee, Letterman and let's not forget his latest record, Blue Sky on Mars. Sweet's sixth and latest full-length is his crowning achievement; an album so ripe with pop edification that it leaves a stain. It's the kind of album that musicians all over the world would sell their parents for the bragging rights to, and it's one you think would alone be enough for Sweet to validate himself. But that's not necessarily the case.
"I'm still kind of nervous. Wondering, 'Will it be rejected?'
"I get a little bit of the vibe of Altered Beast time," he says, referring to the 1993 album many thought was a letdown after Girlfriend. "This year all everybody does is tell me how great Altered Beast is and that's their favorite record even though at the time it had leprosy and everyone was all bizarre about it. And I get the feeling this record will be somewhat that way."
Being fair, I guess Sweet has good reason to be a little timorous with Blue Sky. In recording the album the musician parted with longtime collaborators and soloists Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine - who were credited with filling in much of the blanks on Girlfriend and its two follow-ups - and relied instead on his own abundant abilities. The result is that the album is a fleshier demo session and in some ways a little more personal than previous outings. It's probably the most solo his solo albums have been in the '90s.
"I think at first I didn't even have the plan not to use other people, I kind of thought I would. But as I got into doing it it was almost like I didn't need to. I got to a point where I couldn't decide did I want to use them because I was afraid they'd be mad or did I want to use them because they were great?
"By the time we got into finishing talks we felt like this was part of what made this record a little different. And that was the idea going into it was to somehow not make the exact same record. At one point I had to say I have the guts to do it."
The guts to stand on his own and follow his own destiny. The gumption to break free and go his own way. Mom and dad should be proud. (Bastard.)
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