In a message dated 2/1/03 9:39:05 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
ElBroome@earthlink.net writes:

> Thumbs down. Cloying and contrived.
> 

Hey, some of us *like* cloying and contrived!

If you're going to spoof junk culture, you might as well celebrate it at the 
same time. For what it's worth, Fountains of Wayne are, hands down, my 
favorite power-pop group and are easily the band that led me to find this 
whole "scene" in the first place.

That said, I can see why some wouldn't like them (too many smirking inside 
jokes, an occasionally bitter/nasty sense of humor, visible disdain for their 
own fans, a reliance on traditional song structures grafted to modern 
production, thus often alienating fans of one or the other, etc.) They ARE, 
however, probably even more popular outside of our little cult than they are 
inside our cult. :)

--Jason