From the Publisher
Treasured by Wal-Mart shoppers and reviled by critics, the big-eyed paintings of pensive or sprightly urchins, harlequins, and puppies are finally taking their place as a major kitsch collectible from the 1960s. Collectors of big-eyed art include Joan Crawford, Jerry Lewis, and the Kennedys. This fun, splashy, colorful book traces the evolution of the big-eyed school and its major exponents.
This is an “interview” with Matthew from the November issue of MAGNET. The’ve got a history of power-pop and Matthew get’s most of the attention in the 1990’s, along with the Velvet Crush. Here’s the meaty stuff:
A Lincoln, Neb., native, Sweet cut his musical teeth in the bubbling hotbeds of Athens, Ga., in the early ‘80s, first as a guitarist for Oh-OK… then with his own similar combo Buzz of Delight. The Precocious Sweet signed a solo deal with Columbia in 1985 provoking resentment from local scenesters who pointed to the grassroots path R.E.M had followed to stardom. “I was young and didn’t know what I was doing,” Sweet told me… “and I was hated for it.”
Still trying to find his sea legs after two uneven major-label albums, Sweet new immediately that Girlfriend was the one. “I always felt I’d been getting away with murder,” he admits… “I never thought my records would make it to a major label. But I had a sense that something special would happen with Girlfriend. I had this real breaking-free, f*ck-you kind of attitude. I didn’t care if the label didn’t like it. I was doing it for me.”
When Altered Beast, the wide-screen follow-up to Girlfriend hit the racks in 1994, Sweet believed the keys to the kingdom were in his grasp, He’s still looking for them. “All of a sudden there was this demand,” he says. “I’d never had that, where the label actually wanted my music. I recorded way too many songs, used a million different people. I was hard on the drummers, including Mick Fleetwood and Jody Stephens. In retrospect, I kind of crushed everybody on it
“All during that time I felt like a loner because there weren’t too many solo guys doing this,” he adds wistfully. “But we were on the radio, and I really thought it was possible for music like mine to make it.” Live performances proved Sweet’s undoing. “I was never comfortable in a roomful of people,” he says. “And because of that, I never quite felt like we were really making it. Now I look back on those days and wish we were that successful all the time.”
I need the book and new Matthew Sweet music now!