STACY'S MOM

"'Stacy's Mom'" is a hit single by American band Fountains of Wayne, released in 2003 and taken from their album ''Welcome Interstate Managers''.
"Stacy's Mom" appeared in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart (#21) and was one of the first songs to reach the #1 spot on the "Most Downloaded Songs" list of the iTunes Music Store. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Pop Performance at the 2004 awards. The video reached #1 on both MTV's ''TRL'' and VH1's VSpot Top 20 Countdown.

Contents

Music

Subject matter

Music video

Influences

Spoofs and commercialization

Notes and references

External links

Music

"Stacy's Mom" was written by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger. Stylistically it is power pop. It begins with an intro inspired by (but not the same as) the intro to "Just What I Needed" by the Cars. Overall it presents the listener with a very accessible melody starting with a ''I - IV'' - ''I - IV'' chord progression in E major, and launches into a crescendo as a segue to the refrain that is complete with vocal harmonies. Standard rock instrumentation comprises the orchestration: drums, bass, guitar, vocals, and keys.^[1]

Subject matter

"Stacy's Mom" is about a boy's adolescent fantasies about a female friend's mother. The boy spends time with the friend in an attempt to get closer to her mother in a reversal of the ''Lolita'' story and a nod to the concept. The part in the video in which Stacy, the friend of the boy, is laying out in the sun with red heart-shaped sunglasses is also possibly a reference to ''Lolita''.

Music video

"Stacy's Mom" became a hit widely due to its music video, directed by Chris Applebaum, which features several comedic scenes illustrating the boy's attempts to get closer to the object of his affections and fantasies, played by model Rachel Hunter. In the video, Stacy is played by Gianna Distenca and the boy is played by Shane Haboucha. It also pays homage to the 1982 movie ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High''; near the end of the video, the young boy begins to masturbate by the bathroom window after staring at Stacy's mother come out of the pool in her red two-piece bikini. Before he reaches the point of ejaculation, Stacy opens the door and catches him in the act — differently from the character Linda of ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' — she leaves, closes the door behind her, then giggles, believing that he is thinking of her. The video ends with the bathroom door closed, still with the sign ''Ocupado'' (Portuguese and Spanish for "occupied") hanging on the doorknob, which Stacy had ignored when she entered.

Influences

Adam Schlesinger says "Stacy's Mom" was a tribute to The Cars, which explains its intro (similar to "Just What I Needed"). Cars frontman Ric Ocasek thought that the intro was a sample from "Just What I Needed"^[2] but the band says they performed it in the studio and just "got it right." Fountains of Wayne had asked Ocasek to be in the video for the song. Schlesinger explains that while Ocasek acknowledges that he "politely declined", he actually just never responded to the request. Schlesinger holds no ill feelings and expresses the highest regard for Ocasek.^[3]
There remain several references to The Cars in the song's video: a license plate reads "I ♥ RIC", a reference to Ric Ocasek; and the recreation of the ''Fast Times'' scene, which featured The Cars' "Moving In Stereo". The narrator stutters on the final words of various lines, similar to the stuttering style employed by Ocasek. One of the boys at the beginning also wears Ocasek's signature hair, tie, and sunglasses. Further links to The Cars and New Wave music are given by the magazine ''Nu Wave'' that is featured in the video, the Roland Juno-6 keyboard (a synthesizer of the 1980's), and the record sleeve showing 'Stacy's Mom' in a car, in homage to a number of Cars' album covers.^[4]

Spoofs and commercialization

Following the success of "Stacy's Mom", a band called Uncle Izzy^[5] released a spoof of the song named "Stacy's Dad", where a boy fantasizes about Stacy's father, changing only select lyrics to humorously implying a gay/pederastic relationship.
In addition, a Christian parody band called ApologetiX released a song named "JC's Mom" (on their album ''New And Used Hits'') describing Jesus Christ's mother, Mary, having a growing son, and his journey as a boy.
In 2005, "Stacy's Mom" was used in a commercial for Dr Pepper. In this case, the boys (part of a local youth sports team) adore "Stacy's mom" – because she brings the desired soft drink.
Parody band Frances Dogfish parodied "Stacy's Mom" with "Stacy's Grampa", describing a young boy in love with an old man with a bladder problem.
Webcomic xkcd published a note from Stacey's dad [sic]^[6]
Eric Schwartz (Also known as Smooth-e) also parodied the title and made a gay song called "Stacy's Dad" (Not the Uncle Izzy song) where a teenage boy is in love with the title's dad.

Notes and references

1. Fountains of Wayne - "Stacy's Mom" sheet music, , , , Hal Leonard, 2003, UPC: 7399952767
2. [1] Fountains Of Wayne US, "February 08, 2006 - Ric Ocasek"
3. Interview with Adam Schlesinger, May 2007
4.
Left of The Dial
5. [2]
6. [3]

External links

★ "Stacy's Mom" lyrics at LeosLyrics.com

★ FountainsOfWayne.com

★ Youtube video