Whether creating wily pastiche or heartfelt hits, Schlesinger - who has died of Covid-19 - was driven by a puristīs devotion to old-fashioned songcraftYou got a sense of the breadth of Adam Schlesingerīs talent from the tributes. There were people from alternative rock: Ted Leo, Dashboard Confessional. There were people from Hollywood and theatre: Tom Hanks, Fran Drescher. There were TV personalities (Kathy Griffin) and politicians (New Jerseyīs governor, Phil Murphy) and novelists (Stephen King). There was the superstar producer who summed it all up: `Adam Schlesinger took pop music writing to its classiest and most untouchable place,` said Jack Antonoff. `An honour to live at the same time he made his work.`So many people, from so many different strands, because Schlesinger wasnīt one thing; he was a musical omnivore. He was the Grammy-winning rock musician with Fountains of Wayne; he was the pop sophisticate of Ivy; he was the songwriter providing faux hits for movies about musicians (That Thing You Do!, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, Hugh Grantīs 80s pop hit in Music and Lyrics); he was the writer who soundtracked a musical TV series (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and who wrote for Sesame Street. He even managed to pick up an Emmy for a song written for a different awards show - his musical pastiche Itīs Not Just for Gays Anymore, for the 2011 Tony Awards - and then do it again with another song for the same ceremony the following year. There was seemingly no style he could not master. He was, genuinely, one of the pop geniuses of the past quarter-century. Continue reading...
|
