[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tnw_promo041.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: (L-R) Brian Young, Jody Porter, Chris Collingwood, and Adam Schlesinger]]
->''StacysMom has got it goin' on\\
She's all I want, and I've waited for so long!\\
Stacy, can't you see, you're just not the girl for me\\
I know it might be wrong, but I'm in love with Stacy's mom''
-->-- "Stacy's Mom"

Formed in New York in 1995 and named after a now-out-of-business lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey, Fountains of Wayne was a PowerPop band formed by Chris Collingwood (vocals & guitar) and Adam Schlesinger (bass) with Jody Porter (guitar) and Brian Young (drums). Collingwood and Schlesinger originally met as freshman roommates at Williams College in Massachusetts and would record with various bands before splitting up to start two separate bands before coming back together and forming Fountains of Wayne under a deal with Creator/AtlanticRecords. Their SelfTitledAlbum dropped in 1996, and their most famous song is the Grammy-winning "Stacy's Mom" off their 2003 album ''Welcome Interstate Managers''.

The band would continue to be active until the early 2010s, whereby the band has more-or-less dissolved after having a frustrating experience recording their final album, 2011's ''Sky Full of Holes.'' The group had not ruled out a future reunion, but Adam Schlesinger's death from COVID-19 in April 2020 has put a possible return into jeopardy. The band reunited for a virtual tribute show for Schlesinger a few weeks later, with indie rock singer Sharon Van Etten filling in on bass, which has been their final appearance as a group to date.

Their music often describes the lives of ordinary people, and alternates humor with a certain wistfulness.
----

!!Albums Released:
* ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Fountains of Wayne]]'' (1996)
* ''Utopia Parkway'' (1999)
* ''Welcome Interstate Managers'' (2003)
* ''Out of State Plates'' (2005, Compilation of previously unreleased songs.)
* ''Traffic and Weather'' (2007)
* ''Sky Full of Holes'' (2011)

----
!!Tropes:
* TheAlcoholic: The POV character in "Bright Future in Sales". In real life, Collingwood blamed his [[CreatorBreakdown own problems with Alcohol]] as the reason why he contributed far less than usual to ''Traffic and Weather''.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: The narrator of "Maureen" is bothered by his friend Maureen telling him TooMuchInformation about her romantic exploits because he has a secret crush on her, and because she constantly tells him about romantic encounters she has with other guys, he feels like she's taunting him.
* BaitAndSwitch: "Someone to Love" sets up the expectation that Seth Shapiro and Beth [=McKenzie=] are going to meet and fall in love in the final verse. [[spoiler: She instead steals his spot in a taxi he was hailing during a heavy rainstorm]].
* BookEnds: "New Routine" begins and ends with two middle-aged men sitting in a diner having a SeinfeldianConversation. While all the other characters have moved around, these two guys stay the same, and their conversation reinforces what all the other characters learned: moving around won't make all your problems go away. The lyrics {{Lampshade}} this, as the song ends with "Bring it back" repeated over and over.
* CarSong: "'92 Subaru", a song about a ridiculously cool used car.
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: In a parody of the scene of similar nature from ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'', the music video for "Stacy's Mom" has Stacy catching the narrator stand-in going at it. She didn't mind the "[[GratuitousSpanish Ocupado]]" indicator on the door! She's flattered because she thinks he was thinking about her, when in fact he was thinking about her mom.
* {{CloudcuckooLander}}: Dora in "Revolving Dora", who dances by herself and seems to be able to fly.
* CockFight: Deconstructed in "Leave the Biker" as the singer makes it clear that he cares more about hurting the other man than he does about the woman.
* CoolCar: The subject of "'92 Subaru". The supposed attributes of the car get more and more elaborate with each verse.
* {{Determinator}}: A tragic example. The titular character in "Action Hero" is determined to keep moving through his life as a husband and father of three young children without making any changes to his life, despite the advice from his doctor that he needs a break every now and then.
-->''The doctor says "It's really just an educated guess\\
I suggest you get some rest\\
Try to cut back on the stress\\
'Cause I don't like what I see"\\
But the action hero\\
Swears he feels just fine\\
He's got to finish saving\\
The world for all mankind''
* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Stacy's Mom", when the narrator is mowing the lawn in Stacy's garden, he gets distracted by the sight of Stacy's mom getting a massage and runs over the mailbox.
* DownerEnding:
** "Someone to Love" - Seth and Beth [[spoiler:don't get together and are still as alone and lonely as they were at the start of the song.]]
** "Everything's Ruined," which ends their self-titled debut. The title says it all.
* DrowningMySorrows:
** "Mexican Wine", about trying to make the best of things after sad live events happen, and drinking many glasses of the titular drink.
** "No Better Place" is an extended account of the narrator being repeatedly reminded of his friend/lover who's leaving the city, and drinking heavily in response.
** In fact, many Fountains of Wayne songs describe binge drinking, including "Bright Future in Sales," "Hung Up on You," "Red Dragon Tattoo," "A Fine Day for a Parade" and "Prom Theme."
* GirlNextDoorTurnedSuperstar: "Hackensack" is about a guy who keeps seeing a girl he knew in high school in movies and magazines while he's still stuck back home in {{Joisey}}, hoping that someday she'll come back for him.
* HippieVan: The hippie narrator of "Peace and Love" owns a Volkswagen van.
* IntercourseWithYou: "Traffic and Weather", off the album of the same name, is this from a news anchor to his co-host.
* InTheStyleOf: "Stacy's Mom" is based on the early output of '70s NewWaveMusic band Music/TheCars, accentuated by the many references to them in the song's music video.
* JadedWashout: The narrator of "Hackensack", who's still stuck in his hometown pining for his high school crush.
* {{Joisey}}: Adam Schlesinger was raised in Montclair, so the setting or a reference to New Jersey pops up in a number of songs, most notably "Hackensack". According to Chris Collingwood: “Usually, a rule of thumb is if one of our songs has a New Jersey reference, or is about high school, that’s one of Adam’s”.
* KidsRaidingTheWineCabinet: "Fire Island" includes "drinking all the alcohol" as one of many forbidden things two kids do while their parents are on vacation.
* LeadBassist: In addition to his role as bassist, Adam Schlesinger was co-founder and one of the two main songwriters of the band. He also had an extensive career in other bands and writing music for movies and tv shows; perhaps most notably, he wrote "That Thing You Do" for, um, ''Film/ThatThingYouDo.''
* LoanShark: "Strapped for Cash" is about a guy attempting to avoid paying back various loans. Eventually, a bunch of "bodybuilders" show up and start beating him up, and he finally pays them back... with a credit card.
* LoveTriangle: In "Stacy's Mom", between Stacy and her boyfriend the teen narrator, who prefers her mom. It's ambiguous whether Stacy's Mom reciprocates the narrator's lust.
* LyricalColdOpen: "Mexican Wine" and "Utopia Parkway" start this way.
* LyricalDissonance
** "Halley's Waitress" is a downtempo, serious-sounding ballad... about a waitress who won't come refill the POV character's coffee.
** Likewise, "Fire Island" is a relaxed, melancholy song about a group of kids planning a WildTeenParty.
** "It Must Be Summer" lives up to its title by being a bright, sunny, immediate power pop number. Meanwhile, the narrator of the song is worried sick that he and his girlfriend are drifting apart.
* {{Manchild}}: The POV character of "Utopia Parkway" (from the album of the same name) explicitly states that his comfortable life means that he "never turned from boy to man."
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: "Revolving Dora" is about falling in love with a very quirky girl who seems to be able to fly.
* NewAgeRetroHippie: "Peace and Love" is about one of these, a guy who drives a VW bus, becomes "one with the universe" with his girlfriend, plans on retiring to Vermont to run a vegan restaurant, and, of course, is always singing about peace and love.
* NonAppearingTitle: ''Welcome Interstate Managers.''
* OdeToIntoxication: "Planet of Weed", about how great being high is.
* OutOfGenreExperience: Several of their songs break away from a power-pop theme for a slight Country/Western vibe, such as "Hung Up On You" from ''Welcome Interstate Managers'' and "Fire in the Canyon" off of ''Traffic and Weather''.
* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: In "I'll Do The Driving", the narrator's ditzy girlfriend seems to think [[Music/TheRollingStones "Jumping Jack Flash"]] is by Music/JohnnyCash, who she identifies as "the man in red" (instead of "the man in black").
* {{Salaryman}}: "Bright Future in Sales" and "Hey Julie", both off of ''Welcome Interstate Managers'', are about the problems faced by low-level office workers.
* {{Scatting}}: This band uses the "La la"s and "hey hey"s extensively, with appearances in almost every song.
* SelfTitledAlbum: Their first album was called ''Fountains Of Wayne''.
* SexySurfacingShot: In the music video for "Stacy's Mom", the titular Mom is seen climbing out of the pool in a bikini in SlowMotion in homage to the ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'' scene.
* ShaggyDogStory: "Someone to Love" profiles two lonely people and seems to setting up for them to MeetCute. Instead, the song ends with no resolution for either one, seemingly disproving the chorus' insistence that "One of these days, you might find someone to love."
* ShoutOut:
** "Someone to Love" namechecks Music/{{Coldplay}}, ''Series/TheLateShow'' and ''Series/TheKingOfQueens''.
** The video for "Stacy's Mom" contains several nods to the song's primary musical inspiration, Music/TheCars, including a license plate that reads "I ♥ RIC" (a reference to guitarist and songwriter Ric Ocasek), a character that is dressed in Ocasek's style, and a recreation of the SexySurfacingShot from ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'' (which originally used the Cars' "Moving In Stereo").
** In "Hackensack", one of the signs that the singer's former crush is now a GirlNextDoorTurnedSuperstar is that he once saw her "talkin' to Creator/ChristopherWalken" on television.
** "Laser Show" mentions ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' and the then-current lineup of {{Music/Metallica}} in the context of the soundtrack to a planetarium laser show.
* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: The title character of "Maureen".
* SliceOfLife: Invoked often in their songs - in fact, it's one of their trademarks. The band are fond of including mundane aspects of life in their storytelling.
* StacysMom: "Stacy's Mom" is, of course, the TropeNamer.
* TakeThat: "Someone to Love" implies that watching ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'' is a sign of loneliness.
* TelephoneSong: "Hung Up on You" tells the story of a guy who keeps calling his former lover from lots of different places, hoping to get through to her.
* TitleTrack: "Traffic and Weather" from the album by the same name.
* TruckDriversGearChange: The key ramps up dramatically during the guitar solo before the last chorus of "Stacy's Mom".
* WhatDidIDoLastNight: "The Girl I Can't Forget".
-->''I think I asked her back to my place\\
But that's all I recall\\
And when I woke up in the hall\\
I was alone and softly groaning\\
And I'd lost my keys and lost my phone and\\
I wondered what I did or said\\
That I might soon regret\\
It was a night I can't remember\\
With a [[TitleDrop girl I can't forget]]''
* WildTeenParty: "Fire Island" is a surprisingly gentle song about kids planning a wild party during their parents' upcoming vacation.
-->''Driving on the lawn, sleeping on the roof''\\
''Drinking all the alcohol''\\
''All the kids from school will be naked in the pool''\\
''When our parents are out on Fire Island''
----