Flashback: Matthew Sweet’s Early ’90s Power-Pop Perfection

March 12th, 2010 by Ellen Carpenter Leave a reply »

Green Day’s American Idiot begins previews on Broadway in two weeks and we’re stoked (obviously) but that’s not the only musical we’ve got our eyes on this spring. Next month the Berkeley Repertory Theater will premiere Girlfriend, a new show built around the perfect pop confections of Matthew Sweet’s 1991 album — a.k.a. the best power-pop album of all time. (Seriously. It’s amazing. We wouldn’t joke about power-pop.)

The musical is actually a boy-meets-boy love story, so we’re curious how they’ll spin the title song. The album’s other star single, “I’ve Been Waiting,” on the other hand, bypasses personal pronouns entirely, so no rewriting there. Check out the videos for these two “rock and roll valentines” and lap up the chiming guitars, layered harmonies and wickedly infectious melodies. For all you manga fans out there, “Girlfriend” features animated clips from the movie Space Adventure Cobra, and “I’ve Been Waiting” uses clips of Lum Invader, a character from the series Urusei Yatsura. Plus, check out Sweet and Susanna Hoff’s Live at Rolling Stone set.

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Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily
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