When Adam Schlesinger was a young musician growing up in Montclair, New Jersey, his enterprising mom regularly interrupted his rock 'n' roll daydreams. Proud of Adam's growing mastery of piano, she envisioned herself as Brian Epstein to her son's Paul McCartney, offering wacky ideas and career advice. One day, she came up with an idea that her son couldn't refuse.

"Mom concocted our band name," says the fully grown Schlesinger over bagels in a Manhatten diner. "It was one of those terrible ideas that parents foist on their rock-musician kids. She also wanted us to go onstage with two white pianos, like Liberace. but when she thought up the name Fountains of Wayne (after a store in Wayne, New Jersey, that sells- what else- fountains), it was such a horrible idea that we had to use it. Now she's saying 'I told you so.'"

Rock-candy popsters Fountains of Wayne make a crystalline sound any mother could love. Their melodious tales of lovesick troubadours fly in the tattooed face of the angry eponymous debut album (scratchie/TAG/Atlantic), songs cruise from the grooving power pop of "Radiation Vibe" to the languorous reverie of "Sick Day" and the antirock anthem "Please Don't Rock Me Tonight". Echoing the styles of the Beach Boys, Cheap Trick and even 70's crooner Stephen Bishop, Fountains of Wayne relishes boldly gooey choruses and tonue-in-cheeck lyrics. They're soft boys--and damn proud of it.

"We've been interested in wimpiness for years," jokes Schlesinger. "We instinctively know what works when we write. With Chris (Collingwood) handling the vocals, I know what he won't sing. So it's his fault that we write about wimps."

"Yeah, I'm a wimp," Collingwood retorts, "I'm going to be releasing a book of my poetry soon, too." Beneath humorous titles ("You Curse at Girls," "Leave the Biker") lie savvy songwriting and a clever business sense. As copartner in the Scratchie label (with James Iha and D'acry Wretsky of the Smashing Pumpkins), Schlesinger released the album on his own major-label-distributed imprint. He also penned the title track to Tom Hanks' recent ode to the 60's, That Thing You Do!

Good fortune follows Fountains. Call it synchoroncity, but Schlesing and Collingwood are well aligned with the stars of the entertainment biz. The pair met in 1986 while attending college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. "we were literally on different ends of a roof playing guitar when we met," says Collingwood. After forming a band that played "R.E.M.=generic college rock," they parted ways, and Schlesinger went on to join up with that band of sassy pop sophisticats Ivy, of which he remains a member. He and Collingwood eventually reunnited in New York in '95 and formed Fountains not long after. The songs that appear on Fountains of Wayne were written in one week and recorded just as fast. "Strong pop," explains Collingwood, "is often the result of quick and easy inspiration, unlke the angst-ridden seriousness of the grunge elite." "So much of that angry grunge music is not based in traditional songwriting structure," he says. "There are also bands trying to do pop music and refer to those 60's sounds," adds Schlesinger. "Fortunatly, we happen to [do this] better than most of them because that's what we've always done. We take traditional pop-song structures, then get goofy with them."

Though Collingwood and Schlesinger would rather play their music live than hole up in some recording studio (they'll be joined on tour by drummer Brain Young and guitarist Jody Porter), their considerable skills recall such hit writing teams as Goffin and King or Leiber and Stoller. But do Fountains of Wayne long for those glory days of 60's pop? Nah. "We want to bring back good-time rock "n" roll," Schlesinger says with a smirk. "Keep it rocking', boys!"