One of the most gifted, prolific and all too underrated songwriters of his generation, imo. He had so much talent for writing these flawed, delusional and somehow all too relatable characters just barely surviving in an increasingly hostile and alienated world, and for capturing the brief moments of beauty, boredom and frustration of their day-to-day lives. Not to mention his "invisible" career as a songwriter for so much media you've probably come across and loved.

He wrote absolute wonders both with Fountains of Wayne - on records like their self-titled debut (1996), Utopia Parkway (1999) and Welcome Interstate Managers (2003), but also excelled in fictional scenarios: he wrote songs for That Thing You Do! (1996), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015-2019) and so many more works. And yet, just as his career outside FoW was fully taking off, was taken from us on April 1, 2020.

Spin some of his best work today in his honor, and share some of your favorites in the comments. Here are just some of his highlights / my personal favorites from his earlier days:

\- [That Thing You Do!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuUzk3Yjel0)  
\- [Radiation Vibe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmqswLKKYyU)  
\- [Hackensack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-W3aJVA-Pk)  
\- [She's Got a Problem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLcEsdU3cr0)  
\- [Sink to the Bottom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgLZMvnWxRU)  
\- [Prom Theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-T-0Uvvn7U)

... and of course:

[Stacy's Mom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT_hnNDstnE)

Rest easy, Adam. You soothed and amped up more souls than you were ever aware of <3

6 years ago today, Adam Schlesinger, co-founder of Fountains of Wayne, died of COVID-19 at the age of 52.