I've seen the posts from time to time from some of those I follow but I've never done anything for Three Tune Tuesday sponsored by @ablaze. However, a recent tragic event inspired me to do this post.
Matthew Sweet may not quite be a household name, however if you had to pin me down for a favorite musician he is probably the one I would pick. He suffered a debilitating stroke while in Toronto on tour a couple of weeks ago. A GoFundMe has been started to help him defray medical costs. Why would a famous musician need help paying for medical costs you might ask? Well, he isn't famous enough to be independently wealthy and like most musicians, he relies on income from touring. He is not able to do that and it is unknown when he will be able to do so again.
There aren't many details. He received initial medical care in Toronto and then was transported to his home state of Nebraska where he is in a rehabilitation center. Information so far suggests that recovery is expected to take on the order of a year.
Enough for the depressing part, now on to the awesome music.
If you recognize any song by Matthew Sweet, you would probably recognize 'Girlfriend' which is from his 1991 album of the same name and is still his biggest hit. It was the first song of his I heard and it was the video featuring the anime Space Adventurer Cobra on MTV that first caught my attention. Trivia note: the album was originally going to be called 'Nothing Lasts', the title of another song on the album, but Tuesday Weld (featured on the cover) objected. 'Girlfriend' was also featured in Guitar Hero.
If you recognize any two songs by Matthew Sweet, then 'I'm Sick of Myself' would be the second. It's off of his 1995 album titled '100% Fun'.
Picking the first two songs was easy because I wanted to pick what were likely Matthew Sweet's most well known songs. Picking the third is a bit harder. There are lots of great songs and several others that were more minor hits. I decided to go with 'Superdeformed' both because it is one of my favorites and it fits into the same era as the songs above. It was also the second Matthew Sweet song I heard because a demo originally appeared as a b-side on the Girlfriend single. A fully produced version appeared on a compilation called 'No Alternative'. This is the version featured here (though I kind of like the demo version slightly better).
Maybe I'll feature some more Matthew Sweet music in the coming weeks.
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