"When my last album came out, people kept telling me how dark and weird the songs were. So I sarcastically told everyone that I was going to call my next album 100% Fun. Now I'm hoping the title will predispose people to think the record is more pleasant than it really is." — Matthew Sweet
100% Fun, Matthew Sweet's fourth Zoo Entertainment and sixth career solo release, is a focusing and crystallization of the ideas and emotions he's been exploring for the last five years. The Lincoln, Nebraska, native has exhibited shrewd composing instincts on such critically acclaimed recordings as Inside, Earth, Girlfriend, Altered Beast and Son of Altered Beast, evolving into an artist of unwavering integrity, affecting emotion and purely personal vision. His hook-laden music is at once melodious and monstrous, intelligent and absurd.
With the release of 100% Fun, Sweet offers up his most spontaneous and creative recording yet. Produced by Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Bob Dylan, Pete Droge, Soundgarden), 100% Fun is the work of a brilliant tunesmith, musician and stylist. The album features 12 songs ranging from endearingly sloppy garage-rock to acid-etched psychedelia to poignant balladry.
From the raucous opener, "Sick of Myself," to the soulful conclusion, "Smog Moon," the music is driven by Sweet's trademark vocal harmonies and bittersweet lyrics. And though 100% Fun certainly lives up to its goodnatured name, many of the thrills delivered here are of the complex nature. Tunes like "Lost My Mind," "Walk Out" and "Super Baby" are curious studies in nightmarish sound, vertigo-inducing guitars set against sweeping keyboards and thunderous percussion.
At the other end of the spectrum are heart-rending ballads like "Smog Moon" and "I Almost Forgot," characterized by strikingly beautiful melodies and the mournful ache of steel guitar. All in all, 100% Fun is an artful pastiche of roots-rock grit and sincere songwriting sensibilities. It's Sweet's most economical album, and his best-sounding as well.
"I wanted this record to be simple, direct and absorbing," Sweet says. "It's sort of a blend of Girlfriend and Altered Beast. It's got the roomier, more rackety aspect of Altered Beast with the directness of Girlfriend. I worked really hard to make it lively, and not too relaxed."
Toward his goal of obtaining an emotional balance, Sweet once again took over the bass and rhythm guitar chores, as well as using a more streamlined group of musicians. Returning from the previous albums are Richard Lloyd (Television) and Robert Quine (Lou Reed, Richard Hell) on guitars, pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz (k.d. lang, Dave Alvin) and drummer Ric Menck (Velvet Crush). Stuart Johnson (Love Jones' drummer) rounds out the 100% Fun personnel lineup.
Sweet had always admired Brendan O'Brien's ability to bring out the best in bands like Pearl Jam, the Black Crowes and Kings X. When the singer approached O'Brien about the possibility of a collaboration, the producer agreed to remix "Devil With the Green Eyes" for Sweet's 1994 odds-and-sods EP, Son of Altered Beast. "I really thought it was an instinctively good mix — a more acoustic interpretation," Sweet says. "It really got me excited about the prospect of working with him."
The Sweet/O'Brien tandem jelled spectacularly in the studio. Not only did O'Brien produce 100% Fun, he also served as an adjunct member of the band, playing keyboards and occasional guitar. "Brendan is amazing," Sweet says. "Not only does he get great sounds, he creates a great atmosphere in the studio." That spontaneous ambiance is apparent all through 100% Fun. "Sick of Myself," with its fuzz-saturated guitars and bashing beat, is as compelling a paean to self-loathing as radio listeners will ever hear, a song that articulates the wonderment and insecurity that flourishes in the wake of infatuation. To wit:
I don't know how you move me
Deconstruct me and consume me
I'm all used up
I'm out of luck
I am starstruck
By something in your eyes
That is keeping my hope alive
But I'm sick of myself when I look at you
Something is beautiful and true
In a world that's ugly and a lie
It's hard to even want to try
Surprisingly enough, "Sick of Myself" was composed in the studio during a jam between Sweet and drummer Menck. When O'Brien overheard the inspired goings-on, he urged Sweet to complete the tune. It's an all-too-appropriate opener for Sweet's bittersweet album.
The sum of its respective earlier influences, 100% Fun is musically assured, yet its lyrics are awash in the sort of vulnerability that ingratiated the Beatles' and the Who's best work. The relatively upbeat "Not When I Need It" is a case in point. The song was written during Sweet's last tour when he was "on the road and feeling lonely" — emotions that shine through in lines like, "Late at night I'm filled with fear/ That I can't take for granted that you'll always be near/And it makes me hate myself."
Those feelings of uncertainty come to a head on the eerie, contemplative "Smog Moon," in which Sweet catalogs a wealth of worries. Sweet croons, "We are all made as an afterthought/Destined to believe that we are what we are not."
But as its title playfully underlines, 100% Fun isn't all despairing soulfulness and introspection. Tripped-out songs like "Super Baby" and "Lost My Mind" expand on Sweet's fascination with spacier themes. "Though this record deals with the more human side of life, there are also some songs that have a weirder, wackier perspective," Sweet says. "I'm really into sci-fi monster music and I think those songs help give the album an added kick."
With its spirited mix of rock spontaneity and pure pop charm, 100% Fun finds Matthew Sweet playing at the very top of his idiosyncratic game. It's that rare album that reverently echoes the music of the past, yet possesses the distinct personal stamp of its creator.
"I'm really satisfied with this record, "Sweet says. "I usually have a harder time assessing my work when I'm finished recording, but this album still feels fresh. I didn't have to overthink anything. It's a very immediate sort of record."