Matthew Sweet : Classic or Dud?

i'd say 'girlfriend' is an utter classic, though. bitter lyrics plus sugary Revolver pop = sweet.

I've never heard the first one, but Earth is not as terribly as you'd probably expect. "Easy" is one of the better songs in his repetoire.

At any length, I would have to say classic with this artist, if only for the nostalgic factor.

Plus oddly enough, he was an artist I have always wanted to see live and never had. I missed seeing him 3 times in a year and a half time frame during the Girlfriend days. The first time I was to see him there was a hurricane. The second time when he was the opener, he canceled. The third time I had to go out of town.

he did work with hanson -- helped them write a couple songs, and produced takes of 'em -- but last i heard, that stuff all got shelved. rumor has it that the middle hanson brother is actually some kind o pop genius, but his family has him in a bit of a creative stranglehold.

he also did lots of great stuff with (produced,played with and toured with) Velvet Crush, and all of that stuff is ace.

Well in the case of 100% Fun, the taste of the record buying public = crap (also the label probably had too many manufactured).

(Is there another thread for this subtopic?)

Let's revive this thread for this sadly underrated fellow. A few thoughts:

100% Fun may be his most consistent release in all. "Super Baby" is so stupid it's brilliant. But Altered Beast's "Someone To Pull the Trigger" may be his best song.

I was looking for my copy of In Reverse this am and couldn't find it, sadly. I'm not sure I would love the ProTools Spector production as much anymore, but there are some great tunes on it -- opener "Millennium Blues" and all the ELO-inspired stuff (he even namechecks "Message From the Country" on one track).

He was opening for Robyn Hitchcock in 92 and my friends and I were at the front of the stage while some roadies were setting up for Sweet. I was telling them how I liked his contributions to the Golden Palominos but was unimpressed with his solo records.

The roadie was Sweet. He glared at me through his set.

Also, Matthew Sweet's cover of "Every Night" on one of the McCartney tributes is outstanding.

Without Quine and Lloyd he's just a nice boy, a second-tier songwriter; with them he's got something to prove, and often does.

A bit of an oversimplification, I think, Alfred.

There's lots of forgettable songs – rote verses, mushy singing – on the "classic" trilogy (at least three per album).

Jim Parsons and Ben Gibbard also chipping in with nice donations. Biggest so far is from JAM Productions, which I didn't expect to see.

It's crazy for a 60 year old touring musician to not have health insurance.

I read somewhere that he's had some ongoing health issues that made it really cost prohibitive to get insured.

xpost -- yeah but...America. I guess I'm just not that surprised, sadly. Dick Dale essentially had to keep touring just so he could fund his dialysis treatment, for instance. It's a shitty world on that front!

Tim Meadows and Susanna Hoffs coming up with big donations too. Currently over $343K raised.

Go-Fund Me is up to 365 thousand now

https://www.stageit.com/robyn_hitchcock_emma_swift/live_from_tubby_s_house_fundraiser_for_matthew_sweet/117098

Robyn Hitchcock is doing a live-streamed fundraiser - Live from Tubby's House on November 13, 2024

Awesome.

I'm still shocked he was uninsured, not even catastrophic. I don't know the details of Obamacare, but isn't it based on income, and caps out at something like 8% of your annual income? I don't know Sweet's specific (pre-stroke) circumstance, but I thought the whole point of the ACA was to, well, make health care affordable.

I don't think it's shocking at all that someone in this country without a 9-5 job with employer provided healthcare would be uninsured.

From Wikipedia: "In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract ever."

I absolutely don't want to cast shade on anyone, but it seems to me that Buck and Mills alone could have covered all of Sweet's expenses with barely a dent to their bank balances. It's great that they donated, but the sums they contributed... don't seem particularly generous for multi-millionaires? I dunno, I know his life is not their responsibility, and maybe I'm out of line here.

Gotta leave open the possibility that some people are giving to the GoFundMe to encourage other people to give, but are also sending separate checks. If you publicize that you donated 5 figures or whatever, setting yourself up for lots of other people asking you for the same.

Yeah, you're right. I get that they don't want to make themselves targets.

PBKR otm — rude to blame the victim of a stroke for their willingness to shell out for healthcare in this damn country.

Unwillingness even

In any event they're just a little over ten thousand away from the 400K goal. So I say look on the bright side here of a horrible situation -- people have stepped up.

It's not MS's fault that health care in the U.S. is so fucked, obviously, or that these sort of fundraisers are necessary. But it also always feels weird that their success is tied to social networks and fame, when I see friends in equally dire situations having trouble raising much, much smaller funds.

That, absolutely, is terrible indeed.

I'm not blaming him at all! It's not his fault he had a stroke. I just thought Obamacare was supposed to solve this problem by being reasonable and affordable.

Thanks Obama!

Jesus people, considering this is my industry I thought I should chime in. He doesn't even have Obamacare, he has No insurance whatsoever. There are approximately 50 million people on it but not every uninsured person are on it for whoever reason.

From Wikipedia: "In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract ever."

if there's one thing we can be sure about is that artists always get 100% percent of the big number thrown out on a press release and there's no fine print or label and management hijinks that could make the actual amount they get far less, and that the money is equally divided between all members

judd apatow gave 1000 less than mills and those two i guarantee aren't even on the same planet of wealth

So, do you reckon that Mike Mills is not a multi-millionaire? I'm not asking out of any hostility towards him, I'm just interested.

Every member of REM is a multi millionaire.

Just read the Moon Unit book and Zappa didn't have insurance when he was diagnosed with cancer either.

Makes sense, when you have to pay out of pocket it's an outrageous amount per month that most people cant afford.

When Zappa was around, sure. But now - and maybe Bee OK can correct or explain? - through the ACA I thought it was capped at around 8% of your income. So if you make, say, $60,000 a year, ACA cost would be about $5000 a year, which means around $400 a month? And at a certain lower income level medicaid takes over, right? Again, not blaming, trying to understand how this works, or why someone would be totally uninsured, because again as I understood it it scales reasonably with your income. Not saying this is the best solution, either, because it's not, but I thought the whole idea of the ACA was, in conjunction with medicaid, making health care somewhat accessible.

As a person who pays out of pocket for healthcare I can assure you that decent (not catastrophic) healthcare is more expensive than $400/mo. Fuckin sucks!!!

I'm guessing the erratic nature of his income didn't help things either.

Again, there are millions of uninsured people in this country. I can’t believe this has to be explained.

neither can I!!
$400 a month is a LOT for bottom of the barrel catastrophic coverage. you cannot blame (or IMO be vocally surprised/shocked by) a person who makes $60K for preferring to take their chances. and OF COURSE that is a risk but $400/month ($100/week) is a lot of money to fork over for coverage that only kicks in when catastrophe does. would you consider taking my word for it as a person who makes less than that annually, is not covered by either of my employers, and pays out of pocket? what more would you like to know?

Anonymous $10k (!) donation just catapulted them over their $400k goal.

IIRC, as it was designed (or rather as the final compromised version was designed when it finally passed), Obamacare really needed to push everyone on to insurance in order for it to work, hence the original penalty where if you weren't uninsured, you'd be paying a penalty that was virtually the equivalent of being insured. (Something Roberts interpreted as a tax which ultimately saved the ACA from its Supreme Court legal challenge.) What the GOP was able to do once Obama wasn't around to veto their Congressional bills was zero out the penalty - so even though you're supposed to be insured, there was no longer a "tax" to collect if you weren't. So from that point on, one could be uninsured without worrying about a penalty.

I knew a few people who were in dire straits financially, trying to make it in NYC at some unpaid internship or as an actor on Broadway, etc., who actually stressed out when the ACA went into effect because they had been uninsured as a way of scraping together money. I think their peers were able to stay covered on their parents' insurance from work, but unfortunately these people had a different situation where that wasn't an option. I think they ended up borrowing money or something like that until they could get better jobs, but for an older guy like Sweet with a history of health problems, I imagine decent health coverage through the ACA would be far more expensive. One criticism of the ACA is that the most affordable plans don't really give the patient great health coverage. It really depends on the person, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sweet just thought whatever plan was available to him was financially untenable while providing inadequate health coverage.

Everyone gets kicked off their parents health insurance at age 26.

You can get your own beforehand but I don't think I have ever seen a policy, with their parents, past 26. Disability are different, just talking about most people.

That 26 cutoff was new w the ACA — i didn’t get that when I was in my early 20s. I was uninsured!

botched a sentence:

*weren't insured, you'd be paying a penalty that was virtually the equivalent of paying for insurance

That 26 cutoff was new w the ACA — i didn’t get that when I was in my early 20s. I was uninsured!

Yup, that was one of the few things that actually gave Trump pause before he went ahead and demanded the GOP get rid of the ACA. No replacement, their campaign promises on that were bullshit - he and the GOP were just going to kick a lot of people out of their insurance plans and in many cases doom them. When the vote failed by ONE vote, they still had time to get rid of the ACA, all they needed to do was come up with an alternate plan, but they simply didn't give a shit about what would happen to people forced out of their insurance and didn't bother. I'll always remember this town hall where Ryan straight up lied to this guy's face and ultimately tried to do exactly what he said he wouldn't do, which is repeal the ACA with no replacement. (A former Republican who initially refused to comply with the ACA, this guy found out he had a curable form of cancer that would kill him in six weeks if left untreated. The only reason he was able to afford its costly treatment was insurance which he didn't have before and had to get it on his own a small business owner, and had the ACA never existed, he would not have been insured as companies routinely denied coverage to what were deemed pre-existing conditions. He thanked Obama and said he owed him his life.)

New update:

Russell Carter here, Matthew's manager. Matthew is checked in and has already had a successful but tough first couple of days at the rehabilitation and therapy hospital back home in Omaha. After going through several rounds of testing and evaluations, we're thrilled to report he's begun physical and speech therapy. His doctors have told us with reasonable certainty that Matthew will need to remain in the hospital's care until early December at the soonest when he will then transfer to home care with a professional caretaker. That next stage of outpatient therapy will last anywhere from six months to a year. Furthermore, the doctors have told us he'll have to convert a den into a bedroom on the first floor of his house and upgrade the adjacent bathroom to be ADA compliant.

We've heard from many friends, fans, and doctors in the last few days who have shared stories of stroke victims who, over time and with perseverance, have made full recoveries. This is very heartening for all of us to hear. Our gratitude for the deluge of kindness and generosity toward Matthew in the last 72 hrs. is immense.

The chart posted at Matthew's bedside gives his basic vitals and measurement along with his primary therapy goal. Matthew's goal is not to walk and talk - it reads very clearly in black sharpie, "my goal is to play guitar and sing and make art". He is very determined and we all can put faith in that!

They’ve updated the goal to $750,000, which honestly from the sound of it all makes sense.

I'm in a coffee shop I mention a lot on the CVS thread, and they have a guy playing guitar who just did "Sick of Myself." After he finished, I went up to him and mentioned having contributed to the GoFundMe, and said how unfortunate this was. He said he loved Matthew Sweet, but from his response, I actually wasn't sure if he knew what happened.

"Sick Of Myself" greatest rock song of the past 30 years? sure, why not.

def not many songs with like five fake endings, that's for sure

Once upon a time, back in 1996, Matthew Sweet took time out of his life as a very popular recording artist to sing at our Wild Honey Pet Sounds/Friends Show at the El Rey Theatre. He was magnificent. He became a member of the extended Wild Honey Foundation family and remained so ever since. We take care of our own. Please support Wild Honey's benefit concert for his stroke recovery at McCabe's Guitar Shop on Sunday, November 10th. It is going to be unforgettable! Tickets are moving briskly.

Get tickets here

Matthew's musical friends and bandmates(past and present) have stepped up and immediately volunteered for this intimate event at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. Bangles Debbi Peterson and Vicki Peterson, Dan Wilson, Richard Lloyd (Television), Val McCallum (Jackson Browne), Greg Leisz, Tony Marsico, John Moremen, Nick Vincent, Willie Aron, Lyn Bertles, Jim Laspesa, Gabi Lima, and possibly several surprise guests will perform an amazing evening of music to support and inspire Matthew in his recovery. It will be an unforgettable night in this very intimate venue. All performers subject to change

Nice to read at least the first half of this sentence in a GoFundMe update:

The doctors and hospital care in Toronto were instrumental in saving Matthew's life, but health care is not free for Americans in Canada.

For what it's worth, it's not free for Canadians, either, which I think is a misconception some Americans have. We pay, it's just that it's deducted through payroll--and past a certain income threshhold, you additionally pay a modest premium. But that covers you--or at least for anything that's not serious. Luckily, I haven't yet had to find out how more serious illnesses are handled.

Oh wow, just read Matthew's update.

Yeah, hell of a read. Quoting it here:

A note from Matthew:
I was colder than I’ve ever been and an icy sweat came from every pore. Then I heard a deafening white noise in both my ears growing, and growing and growing in volume, and my eyes started to scramble like eggs in a pan. “Call me an ambulance” I called out to Evan who was just checking us in to the Toronto hotel after a ten hour drive from Baltimore. Then I was in an ambulance and I heard a man yell, “Sir you’ve had a stroke.” I didn’t know what it meant. It seemed unreal as much of my life has. It’s hard to start here without saying how touched and humbled I am by the success of my GoFundMe page. My future would be gone without it. I stand a chance it is as simple as that. I should first of all thank Russell Carter, Cathy Lyons and everyone at Russell Carter Artist Management, because it was their idea to reach out for help. As I said before, I did not know what was happening to me at the time as I didn’t really know what a stroke was and I was alone in Canada to take in the fact that I could only see double and that I was now numb on the left side of my body and face and arm and legs and feet . I just didn’t realize how much I’d lost as I waited ten days to be given clearance from the doctors at Toronto Western Hospital, where I lay in the stroke unit waiting to be released. “Do you know where you are? What is the date? What is the year? What is your name? Where are you?” These are the things I was asked every day - “Push up with your right leg. Push up with your left leg.” I noticed there were bruises all over my left arm because it was hanging there, unable to move on its own. The only way they would let me travel back to the states was with a medical crew, on an airplane and straight into a rehabilitation hospital. The cost of all these things was already astronomical. What is mankind doing? To not make these things available as part of our culture everywhere. My wife Lisa dutifully prepared for me to enter into Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Omaha. It was a Madonna in Lincoln, NE where my mother spent the last years of her life, so I knew it somewhat, but I found out so much more about it and the people who work there; the Nurses, the Physical Therapists, the Occupational Therapists, the Vision Therapists, the Speech Therapists, the Doctors, the Aides and all those who made it possible for me to undergo the level of care that I did at Madonna until I came to be discharged early in December. I was given what’s called the Madonna Spirit Award by all my caregivers upon my release. “My God, I’m the least deserving ever of this award,” I thought to myself. Because I did not believe in myself, I did not understand what was happening and what these people were trying to do for me and in that way the people of Madonna are a lot like you. I was never a very good friend in my life. I never really understood others very well, as I was born bipolar and I was struggling just to stay afloat in my own body, but that’s another story. As I learned to walk, bathe, strengthen my legs, learn what hard work really was, I cried many times at my terrible fate and yet I also was so thankful for the fate I had in life, because it was a wonderful fate, and I was so lucky and found everything I wanted again and again and again. Not too many people I suppose can say that. But you have taught me what care is. Caring about others, caring about what can be done, caring about what happens. In a way, I never thought anything mattered but caring does matter and of that I now am very aware. I am very aware as I watch my wife. Lisa has to become my caregiver for the rest of our lives. I shudder to think of her fate, there is nothing I could have wanted less to happen to our future and yet happen it did and deal with it we must and we are doing the best we can day by day. I’ve lived through the day where I realized I may never play guitar again, I’ve lived through the day where I realized I may never draw a straight line again or enjoy the pasttime that developed over just the last year of my life, painting with fountain pens and coloring with dip pens and ink. I understand now what it means to need to reinvent oneself, when the self you knew before is gone, you have no other choice, you either quit or you keep going and so I feel I must keep going, and I feel a great burden to do so with such incredible support that you, many of whom I do not know, have given me. I must just say thank you to you for giving me this help. This hope I cannot feel whether I could have had on my own. I will try to make music. I will try to. I will try to make art. I will try to express myself, because that is all I have ever known and all that has ever brought me joy, throughout a life filled with more sadness than anyone could know what to do with, than any of us know what to do with, and that’s life. May you all today find a glimmer of hope and love and a future to strive toward the way you have helped me find it, every one of you.
With love and gratitude,
Matthew Sweet 12/2024

Video interview on his rehab at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital (on their official YouTube channel):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYeWHDDrAoQ

It's really lovely to see.

Wonderful progress. He seems to be in an ok place, literally and figuratively.

A detailed update:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/matthew-sweet-interview-since-stroke-health-update-1235354779/